Are You Suffering From TMI Paralysis?

TMI -- Too Much Information. It's one thing to gather the facts you need to know the choices you have. It quite another to drown in tangential and irrelevant material.

But how can you know when enough is enough? Start with becoming aware of what process will work best for you.

If you tend to be more intuitive than logical, tune in to your inner sense of when you know all you need.

• Seek out the feeling or sensation or inner knowing that you've hit upon the right amount, or the best direction. Then stop the gathering.

If you prefer a goal-oriented approach, start with being clear about the end result you want -- what's your purpose for gathering information? What decision needs to be made with it? What factors do you need to learn about in order to make that decision or move in the direction of the desired result?

• Search for info to fit your criteria, then stop when start seeing the same advice more than once.

If a preponderance of evidence approach works best for you, start with a pro and con list. You might frame it this way: If I find 5 pieces of info in favor and 3 pieces against, the pros win.

• Set your criteria for what constitutes a pro and a con, do your search, and stop gathering when you reach your pre-set number.

If you have a different process, I'd love to hear about it. Oh, yeah, there's another method right there -- asking others what they know or do. Then have a way to determine if that method would work for you.

A Role Model and 5 Keys for Reinventing Yourself

This morning I caught a segment on the Today Show about Claire Cook who -- in her mid 40s -- wrote her first novel in long hand, sitting in a minivan outside her daughter's 5 am swim practices. Now that's the ultimate in focus and dedication.

Her second novel was sold as an endearing movie you probably saw: Must Love Dogs with Diane Lane and John Cusack. Wow, and that's what happens when you move forward with belief in yourself.

Claire Cook is the epitome of midlife reinvention. She'll tell you herself: success like this doesn't just happen.

One thing stands up and shouts when you look at her website and blog. This is a woman who has unleashed her true self. And she's having the time of her life spreading her reinvention message. Her advice (slightly reinterpreted by me) for all of us midlife women is:

1. Don't pay attention to others' negativity about your dreams
2. Believe -- in yourself, and in being the dark horse winner
3. Live in insatiable desire for doing the work, not for the success it will bring
4. Root yourself in your own strengths -- let go of being driven to please everyone else
5. Find and follow your most vibrant passion -- be dogged in keeping after your One Best Talent

What are you yearning for? Are you secretly longing to reinvent your life before it's too late?

Then take stock of your strengths and talents, capture those lost hours spent waiting or in pursuit of meaningless trivia, prioritize yourself, and make it happen. Get a coach, if need be, to keep yourself on track.

You owe it to yourself.