Have you ever started what you thought would be a simple research for an idea you have and ended up with receipts in your email, a million leads and options, a million open tabs on you browser and a resounding headache. Soon enough you give up and go out for fresh air or a drink or whatever floats your boat. This particularly happens when you are working on a project that breaks some sort of new grounds or you have little or no friends that will help you. If the latter is your case, please, please, please get some smart friends! You need it! Read on.
The internet is a crazy place (no new information here). Even the smallest topic on the planet is represented and referenced over and over again making it a long read if you go through the trouble of reading every. single. referenced. page. It is therefore necessary to shut out the excess information, filtering out only the valuable bits of data that will add value to your life. Here are some of the techniques that work for me: (they might not be the best for you, but then again they might)
1. Discretion, know when to say no:
You must not read every line of every page, you must not read every page and you must not click every link. Instead of reading every line, read the introduction and scan the rest of the page if you are still interested. Instead of clicking that link, you can wiki the item referenced on the link.
2. Take breaks at intervals during your research:
It could be anything from a few minutes, for urgent research, to a whole day or even weeks. For some urgent research I leave the desk and talk to someone, bunching the idea with them. My aim is not to get an immediate solution in that conversation, but if I do, that great. By talking to another person, I am getting a second perspective on the issue, I could even get some pointers as to the path to trend when I get back to my desk. Other times I would open up some Google searches early in the morning and minimize the browser. I won’t open the window again till evening after I have worked on several other routine projects. This way I allow my brain to work on the idea and the search results I did in the morning. Hey, sometimes, during the day, the light bulbs come on!
3. Consult and more importantly participate in forums:
One word, StackOverFlow.com, for the tech guys (ok ok . . not one word but you know what I mean). Forums and public bulletin boards provide a resource of questions and answers and stackoverflow is the best i have seen. But the most important thing here is to get involved, don’t just read answers and copy codes, open an account and start contributing that way you can ask questions haven’t been answered before, and who knows maybe answer some.
4. Have someone on dial (or to text, Facebook, tweet, whatever):
As I mentioned earlier, You need friends! I am an introvert and I am telling you that. You need friends. In my opinion, surrounding yourself with knowledgable people is the best and fastest way to learn. The more people you know, the chances you will have you answers quicker. The point above on forums does a similar thing but with friends you can get a more focused channel of real information and experiences that will definitely guide you.
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