I have used all sorts of ways to manage all the information which I need and want to be aware. I have been a Mac Mail guy for 10 years. Over that time a pretty elaborate system of folders has developed. About five years ago I adopted that fabulous philosophy of Inbox Zero. On top of email, my intake of newsletters and articles via my inbox and feed readers has run the spectrum from minimalist to overload (and back and forth on that gambit multiple times). I’ve used Reeder, Instapaper, Feedly, Google Reader, ReadItLater, Mail’s RSS Feed, and others, I’m sure. Right now, I’m using Vienna and somewhere in the middle on my information spectrum. However, I’m starting to edge closer to overload everyday (there are just too many good blogs out there!).

Thus, I appreciated the article by Leo Babauta recently about beating the anxiety of information overload. He suggests viewing all the good reading that is available online as a river that is flowing. No one can consume the entire river. To have the expectation that that is the goal is a set-up for a gob of psychic tension. One must let go to survive. He submits wiping the slate clean each day.

So, I did. If it is a good approach with email to keep the inbox clean, perhaps it’s a good approach for all my other feeds and social media outlets.

Where are you on the information spectrum? 1 = minimalist and 10 = overloaded.