Amazing New Items... or Stuff?

Today we're constantly bombarded with useful information, so much so we don't have time to go read much of it and if we do there's a danger of all of it becoming uselessly entangled due to overload. I'm not sure what the solution (though speed reading seems to be needed). Blogs are supposed to be all about gathering links to stuff their readers would find interesting as a way of helping people find just what they want or need. I'm not sure. Here's an example.

Here's a piece on managing barriers to thinking and creativity and what blocks us from seeing things in new ways - a theme that seems to fit with my approach: The Seeing Believing Gap. To make it short, I liked the opening story (a good article feature I haven't yet learned to do well myself) and I like the paragraph headings (which save us from reading most sections for detail). From the headings I liked two paragraphs: See Past Isolated Concepts, which emphasizes a key point I make - that seeing connections helps - and I liked the last one: See past your usual circle because it mentions another source, a book that might be interesting, and again, a broader view.

Then I glance to the bottom of the page, a Blog World conference link catches my eye and I wonder 'what's that; maybe I need it' and I'm off again on a hunt for more interesting stuff that might be useful. I realize there's lots I don't know. I don't even know if this page I'm reading on Fast Company is really a blog or just how the two relate. It's all interesting, but not "transparent" or self-explanatory - it's just stuff at some level.

Human beings are great at processing "stuff." The actual work we accomplish today takes up less and less time. Yet we're busy with "stuff" - ideas, possibilities and continuous learning. That seems to be working for us although it often leaves us feeling overloaded and perhaps not having accomplished as much as we'd like.

I don't have the answers for this. If anyone does, I'm always looking for "stuff" to read (and pass on) that might help. Help. Some days I almost want to be back in corporate where constant interruptions demanded that I actually do stuff. But no, I'm happier overall working on my own and deciding when to goof off with "stuff" without feeling like I'm cheating anyone, but me.