The human tongue, science tells us, contains about 9,000 taste buds. The human nose, with learning, can discern more than 7,500 fragrances. The human eye, with training, can detect a combined total of more than 10,000 shades and hues of 150 basic colors. Thank God we have these wondrous sensory ranges. Thank God we don't have to use them all.

Even on that sweet morning when you've gotten your life in order, this over-information era in which we live and its incessant rancor will continue to flood you, with more coming in by afternoon. Like the alien in Alien, it just keeps attacking. Unlike Sigourney Weaver, you can't kill it. The overglut in this era is endless. Three of the biggest culprits are: junk mail, mismanaged reading, and other people's clutter.

Eliminating Junk Mail

Books on time management traditionally discuss how often to handle a piece of paper. Some say once. Some say twice. It always depends on what the paper says. The ideal number of times to handle most pieces of paper is zero, by not receiving them in the first place!

When you make a purchase by mail, your name is sold and circulated to dozens of catalog houses. Even your state's Department of Motor Vehicles sells its list of licensed drivers to anyone with money.

In an era when each piece of mail adds to environmental glut, it's your civic duty, as well as an effective technique for achieving breathing space, to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. You can eliminate 40% of your junk mail with one letter. Write to:

Tell them: "I would like my name removed from your direct mail lists." Sending this letter will effectively reduce your junk mail by 40% for three to six months. Thereafter, keep sending them the same letter.

To trace who is selling your name, when you make a mail order purchase or a donation, add a code to the end of your street address such as "1A" or "2D." Later, if you receive mail with your coded address, you know who sold your name to whom.

When making any mail order purchase, feel free to mention or include a preprinted label that reads: "I don't want my name placed on any mailing lists whatsoever, and forbid the use, sale, rental or transfer of my name."

You can also fight junk mail by saving all of it for weeks. Then hire a high school student at minimum wage to send a form letter to every party who has sent to you more than once. Explain carefully that you have no interest in their offer.

Fortunately, low cost services will soon be available that will enable you to eliminate receiving certain types of catalogs and other direct mail.

Managing Your Reading

The typical career professional faces one to four hours a day of job-related reading. Executive or homemaker, managing your reading will enhance your sense of breathing space.

If you can, read periodicals and books at a table. Get paper, scissors, postage, and file folders ready. When you encounter something you choose to enter into your system, you can do so easily.

If you're merely pleasure reading, relax -- the following is not applicable. While it may seem ruthless at first, tear out or copy only those pages of magazines, newsletters, and reports that currently appear important to you. Copy key pages from books. Get to the essence, which is all that you are likely to retain and act upon anyway.

Help me make it though the pile--Practice skimming, reading the first sentence of each paragraph, and scanning, looking through the entire body of your material to see which parts are important to you.

Delegate quantities of reading material to your part-timers or staff at work. It won't take more than ten minutes of instruction and a few follow-up sessions for you to train others to quickly find and highlight topics and themes of interest to you.

While helpful to some people, speed-reading courses may not be your answer. Like speed-listening, it's not clear what the downside effect is on your well-being. We use our senses at certain "speeds." As humankind evolves, we may be able to comfortably intake data faster. For now, the jury is still out.

Read when you're in--Most people attempt to handle reading chores when they go out of town, believing it is a good method of "catching up." When you read while out of town, however, what happens?

While traveling, you don't have your copier, scissors, envelopes and files -- items to help you act upon what you've read. And you may not have the desire or energy to follow through when you return. Cut down your reading while on business travel.

Conversely, many people don't want to write when on travel, and feel that writing is something they must do at home. In terms of efficiency, the opposite is true.

Reading is best handled at a fixed address. Writing, especially with the advent of laptops, pocket dictators and other portable goodies, can ably be handled in the relative seclusion of a plane seat or hotel. You usually can't write when you are "in" anyway, there are too many distractions!

Now a word about the Sunday paper--"You're not suggesting I give that up?!" Maybe. Do you devoutly read the Sunday newspaper? If it's a pleasurable activity that you enjoy, keep doing it. If you are reading the paper because of some belief that you need to (or can) keep up, or it is the thing to do, STOP. Only buy a copy when you choose to read it.

When you read about a government official who has committed improprieties, you consume part of your day. What is the long term benefit to you of such reading?

Dealing with Other People's Clutter

While visiting someone else's office you notice reports and folders piled high and a desktop strewn with papers -- things are in disarray. You immediately know that you have little chance of being treated efficiently by this person. You don't have the resources to straighten him out. Sometimes, of course, you have no choice but to deal with this person. God forbid, he or she may be your boss, or your spouse!

Aaron is a staff writer for a local magazine. His job involves reporting to an editor who is hopelessly deluged with clutter. Aaron knows that the editor's job involves handling an endless stream of paperwork. This editor's office and desk, however, has many more stacks and piles than Aaron has ever seen in one room. Aaron's solution is ensuring that his submitted work will be easily found by buying a box of fire-engine-red report folders and always turning in his clearly labeled assignments in these folders.

When you have the option, avoid dealing with clutter bugs -- a decision you'll have to face with increasing frequency as this era of too much information overcomes more people.

Jeff Davidson is "The Work-Life Balance Expert®," is a preeminent time management authority, has written 56 mainstream books, and is an electrifying professional speaker, nearly 800 presentations since 1985 to clients such as Kaiser Permanente, IBM, American Express, Lufthansa, Swissotel, America Online, Re/Max, USAA, Worthington Steel, and the World Bank. Jeff is Executive Director of the Breathing Space? Institute; a popular speaker; and the author of numerous books, including:

• Simpler Living (Skyhorse Publishing)
• The 60 Second Innovator (Adams Media)
• Breathing Space (MasterMedia)
• Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Time (Alpha/Penguin)

Jeff has been widely quoted in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, and USA Today. Cited by Sharing Ideas Magazine as a "Consummate Speaker," Jeff believes that career professionals today in all industries have a responsibility to achieve their own sense of work-life balance, and he supports that quest through his websites www.BreathingSpace.com and www.Work-LifeBalance.net and through 24 iPhone Apps at www.itunes.com/BreathingSpaceInstitute.