It’s not a good idea to cut back indiscriminately on what you read. The reason is that reading can save you time, because it gives you the opportunity to learn from other people’s experience.

A popular myth is that learning is largely a matter of motivation. Increasingly, the key to effective learning in the information era is how you think, not how you feel.

Traditional ways to deal with information–reading, listening, writing, talking–are painfully slow in comparison to “viewing the big picture.” Those who survive information overload will be those who search for information with broadband thinking but apply...