6 Ways to Increase Your Signal to Noise Ratio

[JohnPlace]

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the clutter that other people force into our lives: junk mail, telemarketing, spam, and unwanted solicitations of all kinds. I'm not just talking about advertisements, either.

I've also been thinking about the effect that all this clutter has upon our productivity. There is no question that I have wasted plenty of time dealing with unwanted clutter, when it would have been so much easier to stop it from coming into my life in the first place.

As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If you're looking for a few tips to increase your signal to noise ratio, check out this article:8 Ways to Increase Your Signal to Noise Ratio

I also thought you might like to share your own tips for increasing your personal signal to noise ratio.

[brandi]

I can't remember where i read it, i think the four agreements,
but they taught on METOTE.

kinda like when you're at a loud party
you can hardly hear your intended conversation
permiated with noise...
over stimulated

that's why i keep my house clean and orderly
so i can experience the very best in relaxation and focus when desired.
my phone ringers are off.
I have nothing hanging round that i haven't used for 1.5 yrs.
I hardly watch TV.
but i do watch joel olsteen. wow.

[Shamou]

Very insightful and well written article John... I like the concept... now, if you could come up with a way of keeping wives silent... it would be perfect...

.

[JohnPlace]

Originally Posted by brandi

I can't remember where i read it, i think the four agreements,
but they taught on METOTE.

kinda like when you're at a loud party
you can hardly hear your intended conversation
permiated with noise...
over stimulated

That's exactly the way I felt before I got life's spam-fest under control. Good analogy.

that's why i keep my house clean and orderly
so i can experience the very best in relaxation and focus when desired.
my phone ringers are off.
I have nothing hanging round that i haven't used for 1.5 yrs.
I hardly watch TV.
but i do watch joel olsteen. wow.

Good tips.

[JohnPlace]

Originally Posted by Shamou

Very insightful and well written article John... I like the concept...

Thanks Shamou!

now, if you could come up with a way of keeping wives silent... it would be perfect...

.

Sort of like that remote control in the movie CLICK?

[Jes]

One thing I've been moving toward is written letters. I keep my phone off, but near me in case of emergency, so people know that if it's important, leave a voicemail and I'll be in touch when I can. E-mail is almost the same. I no longer check daily, cause there just isn't anything important enough to demand my immediate attention. I log in about once a week, and if I want to get in touch with someone, I write to them. What I find happens is, most people will write back. Which is great, 'cause it gives me plenty of time to think up and write a response, and we don't have to deal with any small talk. Letters cover the important, and usually get straight to the point ("Hey, Jes! Haven't heard from you in a while. We should get together sometime in the future! Here's a picture of the family, let me know when you have some free time!"). Also, in business situations, everything is in writing so I don't have to worry about legality.

The best part is, when I actually DO see people in person, we have a wonderful time because there's so much to catch up on.

Yay letters.

[AirBreather]

Hmm.

You have missed out one other *major* noise generater: The Internet!

My solution for 'dealing' with the "noise of the net":

1) Use Firefox (@ Firefox - Rediscover the Web )

2) Install the Ad-Block Extension (@ mozdev.org - adblock: index )

3) Install the FiltersetG Ad-Block list (plain text file import into the Ad-Block extension, linky @ Index of /filtersetg - NOTE THAT THIS BLOCKS **ALL*** ADS... Even... Eh... The ones on this site. However, you might need to use Ad-Block and make custom filters for other sites/strange names as well...)

4) Install the Greasemonkey Extension (@ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748 ).

5) Use the custom Greasemonkey scripts of (well... No particular ones. Do some searches and find what you like! ).

Cheers!

[JohnPlace]

Jes and Airbreather, fantastic recommendations.

Feel free to leave these wonderful suggestions in the comments section under this article (on my blog), if you like.

Keep the great suggestions coming.

[JohnPlace]

This response is probably better suited for the business forum, but I'll post it here because it's relevant to this particular thread.

I have just learned how important it is to write a solid intro for every article, and I want to share my experience with you. I've been waiting a few days to post this because I wanted to make sure I had collected enough data to validate my point.

We Internet surfers are impatient -- if something doesn't catch our eye within a few seconds, we bolt.

When I first posted my "8 Ways" article, a lot of people followed the link, but very few people actually read the article. The average reader hung around for 17 seconds.

So after 2 days, I re-wrote the beginning of the article to include a personal anectdote involving my experience with business solicitation, and my time-on-page figures jumped through the roof.

The average person now sticks around long enough to read the entire article, and about 75% go on to read other articles on my blog.

So what's the moral of this story? If you're writing blog articles, make sure you lead with a solid introduction or nobody's going to read all the good things you have to say.

Just thought I'd share this tip. Hopefully it helps somebody.

[Matthew Shea]

That's an excellent tip John, and one that should be fundamental to any written composition. It shows respect for your reader when the introduction is solid and interesting enough to capture their attention and enable them to clearly understand what they're about to read.

[JohnPlace]

Originally Posted by Matthew Shea

That's an excellent tip John, and one that should be fundamental to any written composition. It shows respect for your reader when the introduction is solid and interesting enough to capture their attention and enable them to clearly understand what they're about to read.

I agree.

Although I'm familiar with the fundamentals of writing (and always try to put myself in the reader's position), site stats are wonderful because they provide instant audience feedback that may reveal content issues I wouldn't find on my own.

If "bounce-rate" is high and "time-on-page" is low, I'm not doing a very good job of sharing my message and may need to revise.

When I revise, I never change the intent or purpose of a particular article (since my message belongs to me), but revising has done wonders to increase clarity and interest.

The downside to all my revising is that my rapidly growing list of subscribers sometimes has to put up with multiple revisions. I appreciate my subscribers. And because I appreciate them, I am taking time to let an article breathe prior to publication.