After a month, look back. Along with identifying your most and least useful sources, you may be able to identify information holes you need to fill with sources you're not currently using. Though there are notable exceptions, often the more costly an information source, the more time-efficient. Watching television news might be free, but we all know how easily TV can turn into a mindless time sink. Don't feel compelled to read everything that crosses your desktop.
Computers can be a help here, or a hindrance.
By connecting to the Internet, you can quickly tap into a gold mine of authoritative information relevant to your needs. Or you can waste hours scanning the Web sites of hucksters and hobbyists and reading e-mail, mailing list and Usenet messages written by rumor mongers and idle babblers. If you're visiting a new Web site, look at it the same way you'd scan a book before reading it. Check the table of contents and author biography before diving in. But make sure you first bone up on the site's search procedures or you might have to wade through scores of irrelevant hits.