Getting Maximum Value from Your Reading

Since I read a lot of feeds on a weekly basis and am something of an anal, Getting-Things-Done type of guy, I thought I’d talk a little about what I actually do with all those incoming articles.

There’s no secret that there’s a tonne of information out there and you probably have a shed-load of it coming down on you every day through post, email, RSS subscriptions, phone calls and any other channels you’re connected to. But as so many commentators are saying at the moment, information is worth literally nothing if you can’t or don’t act on it. Information overload happens when you’ve got so much stuff coming in that you can’t see the wood for the trees and end up not doing anything about any of it¹.  That’s silly when there’s so much helpful content around.  With a little common sense and a decent system, you can squeeze every drop of utility out of your subscriptions without breaking a sweat or completely rededicating your life to your RSS reader.  Here’s a few pointers based on the way I do things.

Be Selective

Of course, this goes without saying and besides, everyone has already said it, so I won’t dwell on it.  You don’t have to subscribe to every feed that could potentially be useful and you don’t have to read every incoming article.  My current preference is to subscribe to every blog or site that looks good and give it about a month’s trial.  If after that time it turns out to be a dud or bombards me with more than I can take (Lifehacker anyone?), I’ll simply cut it.  Once a feed has concreted itself in my subs list, I’ll scan the titles and only read the ones that look interesting.  Enough said.

Leave a Comment

Often, the first thing I do when I hit on a gem of an article is leave a comment. Sometimes it’s just to let the author know that I appreciated their work, but more often it helps to formulate my own thoughts on whatever contribution they have made. This can be an incredibly good way of working out what you want to get from the article or where it fits into your life/work/brain. It can take as little as two minutes to type out a thoughtful response to a good article and you’ve invested that time in quickly mentally summarising the main ideas and clarifying, to yourself, what it means to you. It’s like a little revision note on the subject matter of the article. If you’re lucky, you’ll start a conversation based on your interpretation of the topic and will gain the insight and feedback of others, which can lead to even greater personal clarity and appreciation of the original material. Now isn’t that a better reason for commenting than the shameless, self-promoting, cut-and-paste “Thanks for the great article. I have been thinking a lot about this topic.”, that weight-loss blogs leave all over the net?

Share

The next thing I like to do is share the article with members of the communities I am involved with. Why? Firstly, because if liked it, then chances are that people I’m connected to might like it as well. So, I’ll tweet about it, digg it, stumble it or share it in Google Reader. It’s another hats-off to the author and a considerate and useful way to get involved in the online communities relevant to you. But there are selfish reasons too. By clicking on a button to share, I am confirming to myself my interest in the article and desire to do something with it. If I tell people about some great tips to achieve x that I have read, I’d be a fool not to follow them myself, wouldn’t I? That’s a little more self-motivation to gain some benefit from a great article. Also, following on from the theme of starting a conversation, if you start some buzz around a topic, you’re more likely to get input from others which can enhance your and their understanding of the subject even further.

Batch

What? Batch? The chances are that whilst you’re reading your feeds, your not going to be in a position to act immediately on something you’ve read, and even if you are, it might be better to leave it until later. Maybe you’re on the train or on someone else’s computer, or maybe you’re just absorbed in reading and don’t want to interrupt your relaxed thought train with a 10K power run or total re-conceptualisation of your company’s marketing strategy. Whatever the reason, you’re probably going to have to somehow mark or file the articles away for later reference and action. Then, you can ‘batch up’ the points that relate to the same topic (e.g., marketing) and action them at a time which is both suitable and maximises their impact (e.g., when you’ve got a pen and a copy of the marketing strategy plan in front of you). Sounds logical, doesn’t it²?

My way of doing this is with the organised clipping service Evernote, but really you could use any kind of system which allows you to take a copy of the article, tag or categorise it, and file it away for later use. I use a simple system: I clip articles to be actioned and tag them with a couple of words to indicate what they are about (personal development, marketing, running) and then put them into a special folder (category) called ‘To Be Actioned’. Simple. When I’m in action mode, I’ll go to my ‘To Be Actioned’ folder and filter down by the tag or tags that relate to what I’m working on at that moment.

The Bottom Line

There’s no point reading great content if you don’t make it work for you. Sometimes an article can prompt a simple tweak in your workflow, sometimes a major lifestyle overhaul. Either way, you should set yourself up for maximising value. Remember: select, comment, share, organise, store and action. It might take a five-minute time investment for each article, so that’s a good way to filter your focused reading. Think to yourself, “Am I willing to invest five minutes to extract whatever value this article is offering me?”. If the answer is ‘Yes’, then go for it. If the answer is ‘No’, then it’s probably not worth reading. Unless it’s for fun, of course.

Tagged as: Evernote, GTD, Information, Productivity, Social Media