We’re living in an age of exponential information increase, with many online events happening simultaneously. This can cause feelings of overwhelm if we can’t figure out which to attend or forfeit.
Most times, we feel these programs are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, but with the advent of many meeting platforms like Google Meet, MS Team and Zoom, what happens when you have two Zoom meetings and another streaming on YouTube, both very important and unmissable?
This used to be the ‘story of my life’ until I decided I had to let some things go. In this e-learning era, when there are so much content online and most of them chargeless, we want to gather them all.
However, we can’t get the most of these programs even if we tried attending both concurrently, so it’s better to sit down with one and squeeze the juice out of it.
There are lots of virtual activities that you plan to attend; there’s a webinar happening here, a conference there, a virtual wedding here, a church meeting there. With practically everything happening online in 2021, most of us have had to make decisions on which programs to attend and which to forfeit.
If we don’t set our priorities correctly, we will be everywhere, trying to grab everything but ending up with nothing but feelings of overwhelm.
So what is the remedy?
There’s an old saying that you can’t eat your cake and have it. So, I guess you have to choose which cake to eat. Here are some questions that I ask myself:
1. Is this in line with my goals in this season? I set goals and even though these online events are educative and useful, they’re not providing the knowledge I need for that season. Building up residual knowledge is good but when there are several events vying for my time, this helps me make a decision.
2. Can I get a replay? Some of these programs are being recorded for people who can’t make it to the live sessions. I try to find out if there’s a replay.
3. Is there another opening? A similar opportunity, or a second batch? This can help if it’s a program that is happening in cohorts. Sometimes, I defer till a later time. Sometimes, I attend programs organised by my friends to support them. I also try to take this into consideration.
If you don’t learn to prioritize and take one program at a time, you’ll most likely end up feeling dissatisfied and unproductive. So, make a resolution to take one online program after another. We can agree with Socrates that ‘better a little which is done well than a great deal done badly’.
If we don’t agree with Socrates, we should agree with the Bible. “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.” -Galatians 6:4-5 (NLT).
Written by Akabuogu Chidimma.
