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I had a little stump-the-coach moment working one of my practice clients on the phone last night, and I'd like to hear others' thoughts in it. She was describing her office to me (no digital camera) and she mentioned her stack of books-in-progress. She was right on when she suggested they should probably go in their own location that doesn't contribute to clutter, but is readily available, but she wanted to know how to "trigger" reading them. Hmmm. That one got me thinking about my own book reading system, and whether it adheres to
David Allen's discipline (AKA
GTD). The answer: No.
As I mentioned
earlier, I love using a portable Read/Review folder for non-book writings, but I realized that my current approach to books does not involve Next Actions. Instead, I was relying on two things: a) my habit of looking for a book to read when I needed one, and b) using the books themselves as triggers. Thinking about this made me realize that I'm not satisfied with the progress I've been making, partly because reading them is
work. (I'm talking about reading for education, in which I take notes, think about what I read, and will want to change my behavior as a result - install a new
habit, adopt a new technique, or create new Next Actions.) I've read a few interesting GTD-based solutions for
blogs and
news, but I've noticed fewer specific to
books.
The solution? A straightforward application of Allen's principles, esp. breaking it down, and asking "What's the next action?" - My next action should be something like "read pages M-N of book X" (where the number of pages is small enough to make the action reasonably concrete), and, because the project ("read book Y") presumably involves two or more steps, I should also add an entry to my "Projects" list. Happily, I found similar advice on the GTD forums (
Using GTD to manage reading books):
1. Write down every book you're currently in the middle of reading -- not every book you own or plan to read; just the ones that currently have your attention.
2. Decide which one would be best to finish first.
3. Make the page you're currently reading in that book your next action (e.g. "Read GTD pg. 118"), not arbitrary quotas like "Read Chapter 12."
I'd use a greater page range, but the advice is sound, and the technique, the author says, "cuts through the haze like magic".
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...
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