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The latest guest blogger to take up our Leadership Inspiration Month challenge is Sterling Raphael, president and CEO of NFi Studios. Sterling addresses one of the challenges all leaders face--information overload!--and an inspiring figure who has helped him find ways to manage the digital deluge.

Here's what Sterling has to say:

Being a leader in the Information Age is not easy. In a world inundated with noise and clutter, and every communication channel competing for our attention, it's not surprising we easily become overwhelmed with distractions. Some experts even call this time period the Attention Age.

Do you feel stressed - weighed down from having too much to do and running out of time? Are you drowning in email? How many days do you start with priorities and a plan, but finish your day feeling like you missed your daily goals by a mile? With social media being an additional channel, how could anyone possibly keep up?

Maura Thomas (@mnthomas) is someone who has influenced my life by helping me become a better leader. Maura is a professional speaker and coach on the topic of productivity. She's as busy as many of us, but never appears stressed or overwhelmed. Why? She lives a life of intention, a life where she chooses where her time is spent, and what consumes her time. Maura is also a social media maven and takes advantage of the power of social media to enhance her life, not derail it.

In my time spent with Maura, she has helped me notice several aspects of my routine behavior. For instance, I constantly check my phone for emails, text messages, Twitter updates, Foursquare, etc. Suffice to say, I have become addicted to distractions. I find it difficult to live in the moment of priority that should be seizing my attention. The spin-off being: I entered the arena of self-inflected Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). I have trained my mind to be endlessly distracted yet call it "multi-tasking."

In a moment of Zen-like clarity, Maura said, "If you're not in control of your attention, you're not in control of your life." That statement played over and over in my mind. Like a magnet, it pulled my thoughts together and definitely got my attention!

Encased in that thought, I found hope for those who want to overcome the challenges of a chaotic life. Through leaders like Maura, and great books such as Getting Things Done by David Allen, one can learn to channel stress into a life of intention and productivity.

A few pointers learned from Maura and other productivity gurus:

- Work on the most important thing first, not the most recent.
- Multi-tasking is actually cognitive switching. The human brain can only hold one thought at a time. By trying to do multiple things at once, you're not giving your utmost attention to any one given task.
- Getting the biggest, most important task out of the way, makes all others seem less daunting.
- Set specific times during the day for processing email. Doing this exerts control over what gets your attention. Your email is not a task list!
- Learn shortcut keys. Almost every action can be automated through a shortcut key.

Suggested productivity tools:

- RememberTheMilk (RTM): An online task management system to help organize your life.
- Evernote: Used to keep track of notes on your computer, phone, and via the web.
- Google Reader and Apple Mail: Google Reader helps organize your RSS feeds. I use Apple Mail too.
- Instapaper: Helps to save items for offline reading later on your phone or an iPad.
- Basecamp: Great for managing projects online.
- Quicksilver: A MUST for Mac users.