How to Separate the Signal from the Noise in Your Life
Use these tips to be more effective
To really achieve breakthrough performance, I’ve learned it’s critical to become really great at separating the signals from the noise in your life.
What is a Signal to Noise Ratio?
Used frequently to explain the strength of a digital signal, signal-to-noise ratios represent the true signal of something versus the level of background noise surrounding it. In life, your ability to separate signal from noise will ensure you set clear goals, nurture your most important relationships, and help you evaluate your true performance.
Example #1: “Everything” is not a Signal
When I first started in my career, I believed I would be able to create an ultimate system. It would be so efficient that I could successfully react to everything that came my way. As my responsibilities grew in all aspects of my life, I noticed that goal was completely misguided. Instead of making “everything” a goal, I really needed to select those things that are most important (the signals) and separate them from everything else I could do (the noise). The problem is its just not easy to do, especially since that distracting noise is everywhere: in your email inbox, on your to do lists, in meetings, and in the daily interactions you have with others.
Example #2: Eliminating Emotional Noise
I once received a very strong, challenging opinion from someone via voicemail. If I let myself get caught up in the “noise” of the voicemail (i.e. the caller’s emotion and delivery of the message), I probably never would have found the signal in it: we had a major hole in one of our strategies that we clearly had to address, but that I didn’t initially see.
By analyzing this message and searching for the signal in it, I was able to find an idea I hadn’t previously considered. Was it easy? No. Did I have to listen to the voicemail several times, take notes, and analyze the message without emotion? Yep. But, if I had simply tuned in to the emotional delivery of the message, I would have let myself become flustered and completely missed the real idea.
Noise is also amplified in situations where you are new to something or some group of people. In those situations, your ability to separate signal from noise is severely compromised. However, if you truly tune in and develop this skill over time, you can efficiently find the true signal in any situation.
Here are a few ways to do just that…
3 Steps to Help You Separate the Signal from the Noise
1. Take some time to look at your email, to do lists, meetings, and interactions with others in your life over the past week. Are you simply reacting to the noise, or are you finding the true signals? Next, check any goals or personal development plans. Are you spending your time on the right things? Or, perhaps the goals need to change?
2. Ask yourself these 14 questions to break through any self-imposed mental barriers. Far too often, we get distracted and let the noise rule our thinking. This can result in missing problems growing right in front us, or to completely squander the precious time we have in each day.
3. Manage your time. Actively block time in your calendar to work on your signals. If you don’t, it’s quite possible you never will. Time is our greatest non-renewable resource, the great equalizer among us. And, with each day that passes, we are one day closer to not being on this earth anymore. There are few signals truer than that.
So, how will you choose to spend the 86,400 seconds you have today? Find those signals around you, filter out the noise, and leverage a renewed focus to achieve your goals!
