John Naisbitt’s best-seller Megatrends described the transition from an industrial to an information-based economy. Information is vital today, but who has the time to get it? You need it to keep up in your own business and profession. The size of the reading you need to stay current in your field grows almost daily.
In-baskets, desks, and credenzas across the country are overflowing with journals, reports, manuals, memos, and letters - far more than any executive can possibly digest.
Tossing the mail away is tempting, but there is always that one critical item you need. While much of it is junk, discarding your mail doesn’t eliminate the problem. You’d just fall behind and lose your competitive edge. A systematic approach beats self-inflicted chaos. Here are 12 ways to set up a good system.
Reduce your library by reviewing your journal and magazine subscriptions. Periodicals will pile up and not get read. Instead, eliminate the publications with low value and leave just a few that are the best. Free subscriptions often have value, but they also come with an obligation to read. Can you afford the time?
Read the entire first issue or two of a new publication before discarding it. Then pick out the columns or sections of interest. Decide what you can skim and what you can skip.
The quickest way to decide what you need to read is to skim the table of contents. You need to review it every time, but the time spent is minimal. Cut out or copy only those articles in the sections you picked out and put them in a folder. Minimize what you will have to read through again.
Reading Time
Waiting for an appointment and commuting are great times to do your reading. While you’re on airplanes, on trains, and in hotel rooms, you’ve got reading time. Even five minutes here and there is enough to help you get through some of the backlog. Having your articles ready to go helps fill these occasional delays productively.
Put aside time each day to do your reading. Schedule it like any other appointment and honor it as you would any other appointment. An hour a day is usually enough. You need a regular time when it’s quiet and you won’t be disturbed.
Lunch hour or early morning may be the best time to read, when you have few or no distractions.
Read heavy material when you are alert. If you can focus early in the day, then pick up the most difficult material then. Otherwise put it aside until you are best equipped mentally. Read the lighter or easier material when your concentration isn’t at its peak.
Copying or making notes on a hard copy allows you to retain vital points. Pulling out the key sentences may help too.
Take breaks while reading.
Though you may think this is wasting time, studies show that most people concentrate well for about 50 minutes and then need a 10-minute break. If you can afford to pause to let your mind wander, you won’t need to reread slowly, which wastes a lot of time.
A Convenient Place to Put Useful Facts
Keep a handful of manila folders - maybe five to ten - on topics relevant to your work. Put clippings into the files. An analytical chemist, for instance, would keep folders on chromatography and spectrophotometers. Then, when an article reminds you of something you have seen and that you might be able to use, you have a convenient place to put useful facts.
To make the process even smoother, give your secretary a list of people you regularly send material to. Then you can tear out the article and clip on a note that says, “Send to Terry Henderson,” and let the secretary handle the routine detail.
Before you start your reading, have your scissors, your folders, and a highlighting pen handy. Otherwise, you’re wasting time hunting around for these key items.
Trade magazine ads and articles are loaded with opportunities to do business. When you read trade publications, keep the reader service card with a pen handy. Circle key numbers to request product information, then seal and address the card.
An Efficient Speed
Take a speed-reading course or pick up a speed-reading book.
This is especially helpful for slow readers. Some people say each word to themselves as they read (subvocalize). Do you read everything at the same speed? Training will replace your bad habits with efficient reading habits. I recommend the book Speed-reading (John Wiley & Sons, New York).
For many nontechnical materials, about 400 to 800 words per minute is an efficient speed, while 150 to 250 may be best for technical material. These are rough guidelines, and the material you’re reading matters. If you are substantially below those levels, the gains from a little training may be worth your time.
About Delancey Street
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