Reading Resuscitation or Retirement?
Productivity Enterprise Expert & woman business owner and entrepreneur Leslie Shreve knows a thing or two about time management. Recently we asked her to share her thoughts and top tips about how to maximize reading ROI whether for business or pleasure and here’s what she had to say…
It can take over in the blink of an eye.
It can crowd your desk or hide in the far corners of your office.
It’s important, but not urgent, in most cases and whether it’s consolidated or all spread out, it’s there to remind you – you’re behind.
What is it?
It’s everything you wanted to READ.
And it’s everywhere. At one point or another, you thought you wanted to read it. So, how badly do you want to read it now?
Here’s 7 steps to revive your reading or retire it for good.
When you follow these steps, you’ll be able to take charge, take your reading seriously and be done with it. Or you can later weep at the thought of trying to read your collection… after it’s grown even bigger!
#1 Consolidate
When your reading is spread out all over your office it can skew your perception of how much you’ve collected to read and you could be holding on to way more than you could possibly read. So consolidate it and you’ll get a sense of how much you really intended to read.
#2 Pick favorites
Once you consolidate your reading, pick your favorites and set them aside. From the remainders, pull out the ones you never get to or the ones you’re not as interested in anymore. Unsubscribe to those and toss them.
#3 Rank them
Put what’s left back into one pile again and then separate them into 3 new categories: Must read, Important to read, It would be nice if I could read. Then see if you can toss the last pile entirely!
#4 Give it a week
From what remains, give yourself 1 week to read everything – or almost everything. This would be the “must read” and “important to read” categories. Some reading is weekly and some is monthly. Just remember that the more you read now, the better. Why? Because more is coming! It’s already on its way…
#5 Find & Know your best location
Where’s your favorite place to read? At home? At work? Be sure to take your reading to your favorite places so it’s ready when you are. Put some in your briefcase so you’ll have it when you’re waiting for someone or something, especially when you travel.
#6 Keep it together
From here forward, maintain only one reading pile. Review your new reading possibilities carefully. Don’t add to the pile mindlessly. You only have so many hours in a day or in a week before more reading comes along, so be realistic about what you intend to read.
#7 Protect time to read
Protect time in your schedule to actually READ! Whether you enjoy reading in the early morning, at mid-day lunch or later in the day or evening, decide what works best for you. Whatever you choose, plan to do it every day or several times a week until the pile is gone. Block out time on your calendar as a visible reminder if it helps. Then enjoy your reading! That’s the point isn’t it?
MyCity4Her suggests these other resources to help you stay on top of the kind of reading you want and need to do:
Goodreads.com – An online resource to find great recommendations and better organizing your reading “wish list”
Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. We have more than 14,000,000 members who have added more than 480,000,000 books to their shelves. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more.
Evernote.com – An online platform that helps your remember everything (including links to articles you want to read)
Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web.