The Moment I Realized I Couldn’t Do It Anymore (And What I’m Doing Now)

Frantic.

I looked everywhere.

I consider myself a fairly organized person, but I could not find my jury duty paper anywhere—and I was supposed to show up the next day. Right on the document it states that it is necessary to bring it with you and that you may be fined if you don’t.

Ghhaaaa!

After about forty-five minutes of searching, I finally found it tucked away in a file folder I had already searched through twice. My relief was palpable.

But the experience brought something to the surface for me.

As I looked through my things, I realized I needed a better way of storing my documents, forms, and educational materials.

In reflection, the problem had been creeping in slowly for quite some time and then… BAM.

Overwhelm hit me in that moment like a ton of bricks.

Too much information was coming my way, and the way I was managing it had quietly expired.

Between fragmented digital tools, duplicated documents, emails, and the information I was trying to keep in my brain, I had hit a proverbial wall.

My information system had broken.

And something had to change.

Curious whether this was just my problem, I started digging into the research.

The Facts

Based on what I found, I am far from the only one struggling with this.

Across studies, people lose 1.8 to 3.6 hours every day simply searching for information. That’s roughly 20–30% of the average workweek.

The economic cost of this reality reaches hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

On a personal level, the average person consumes about 34 gigabytes of information per day, according to research from the University of California, San Diego. That’s the equivalent of roughly 100,000 words of information daily.

All of this comes with a cost.

Cognitive performance declines.

People read more, but understand less.

They consume more information, but create fewer ideas.

They feel busy, yet produce very little meaningful work.

If you are juggling work, family, schedules, and a constant stream of incoming information, you know exactly how quickly things pile up.

We simply cannot sustain a system that doesn’t support a good life.

And I, for one, do not want to live a life that fails to maximize creativity, energy, and relationships.

So I began looking for a better way.

A Practical Information Management System for Busy Women

Most systems fail because they are too complicated for real life.

The average working woman is already managing work, family, schedules, and a constant flow of incoming information. Any system that works must be simple, fast, and forgiving.

The most effective approach follows three stages:

Reduce.

Capture.

Develop.

1. Reduce Inputs First

Overwhelm is often caused by too many inputs, not poor organization.

Practical steps include:

• Unsubscribe from low-value email lists.
• Turn off most phone notifications.
• Limit social media to specific time blocks.
• Stop saving every interesting article or resource.

A simple rule:

Only keep information you are likely to use, apply, or think about again.

Reducing incoming information immediately lowers cognitive overload.

2. Capture Only Important Ideas

Instead of saving everything, capture insights.

Use one note per idea.

Example:

Title: Identity shapes behavior

Idea: People sustain change more easily when their identity shifts rather than relying on discipline alone.

That is enough.

Each note should take 30–60 seconds to write.

For example, the realization from my jury duty search might become a note titled:

“Information systems quietly expire.”

Tools that work well include:

Obsidian

Notion (Free Version)

Capacities (Free Version)

The specific tool matters far less than consistently capturing useful ideas.

3. Connect Ideas Occasionally

Once or twice per week, spend about 30 minutes reviewing notes.

Ask simple questions:

What ideas are related?

What patterns am I noticing?

Is there something here that could help my work or life?

Link related ideas together or group them loosely.

This is the step that transforms information into understanding.

4. Use Your Notes When Creating

When writing an email, presentation, article, or planning a project:

Search your notes.

Pull together three to five related ideas and build from them.

Your notes become a thinking partner, rather than a storage system.

5. Keep the System Lightweight

Effective systems share a few characteristics:

• Very few folders
• Minimal tagging
• Fast note creation
• Regular review

If the system feels like work, it will eventually be abandoned.

A Simple Weekly Rhythm

Daily (5 minutes) – Capture ideas that matter.

Weekly (30 minutes) – Review and connect related notes.

Monthly (1 hour) – Look for patterns or insights that emerge.

This rhythm helps generate and nurture ideas for moving forward.

Our time here is limited, and how we spend it matters.

Spending it with the people we love, doing things we enjoy, and investing in activities that are purposeful and fulfilling is so important.

So let me ask you something.

What would you do if you could free up ten hours a week—or more that are currently disappearing into searching, sorting, and managing information?