Have you Ever heard of an Information Hoarder? I think most Entrepreneurs would probably qualify. Take a look at the controversy around Donald Trump having a messy desk. He could be technically included, although I'm sure he wouldn't approve of the term.
I could easily be called an Information Hoarder. I am constantly having to go and clean out my inbox, I have mounds of books and my hard drive is full of stuff that I could easily do without, yet I keep it because I “might” need it for something.
I realized this watching the reality TV show on Hoarders yesterday. Are we, as Entrepreneurs that much different than these people? They have mounds of junk in their homes, we have mounds of stuff on our hard drives. We are essentially Information Hoarder's.
Successful Entrepreneurs manage to bring some organization to their Hoarding issues. They are able to clean out the clutter and put the needed knowledge to work. To do this, we need to focus on what's most important.
As Information Hoarder's and Entrepreneurs, we have to remember that very few people actually know everything that we do. The knowledge that we have could be valuable, but having it piled in our filing cabinets, stuck in our inbox and and on our bookshelves leaves all of it with little value. We have to put it to work or get it out of our way.
When Hoarders accumulate stuff, that stuff often looses value because it becomes clutter. The good stuff is often damaged as other stuff is piled on top, breaking it down. Information Hoarders often face the same problem. Our notes gets mixed with other material turning it into a mess causing the good material to lose value when it is takes too much time to sort out and organize.
Are you an Information Hoarder? Go ahead and admit it, you might be doing yourself a big favor.