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How to Read a Magazine
By JLP | October 24, 2006
I get a ton of magazines delivered to me each month (at last count I think it was something like 10 different magazines, most of which I get free). That’s a lot of magazines. Unfortunately, there’s usually only a small amount of useful information in each magazine. And, my regular habit is to flip through them without ever finishing them and then I put them to the side with the intention of “getting back to it later.” Later never comes and I end up throwing the magazine out 6 months later. There’s got to be a better way to manage this information.
There is!
Here’s a method for reading magazines that I learned from an audio that I heard by Brian Tracy. It’s fairly simple to implement and can help you save time and get organized. His method:
1. Set aside an hour or two per month and sit down with all the magazines.
2. Flip through the magazines one-by-one, looking for articles that you want to read later. If you think there is something worth reading, tear it out and put in a file folder.
3. When you are done, you have created your own magazine. Then, you can take the folder with you and read it whenever you have spare time or have to wait in line somewhere.
4. Once you have read the pieces you saved, you can either file them for later reference if necessary, or you could bookmark them in your del.icio.us account or other similiar account, tagging it with topic tags so you can easily find it later should you need it.
I have been using this method for a couple of months now and I like it. It saves me time because I no longer waste time flipping through the same magazine more than once. If you read a lot of magazines, give it a try and see if it works for you.
Topics: Organization, Personal Growth | 5 Comments »
October 24th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I do the same thing. A couple years ago I noticed that whenever I’d travel I ended up buying 3-4 magazines from a newsstand, and still ran out of fluff to read. For less money I could subscribe to several magazines.
I just pile them in a stack next to my bed. When I have time, I read them. Usually they’re a couple months old by then, but personal finance, popularized science, and car articles don’t go obsolete very quickly.
Now when I travel I’ll bring along 10-15 magazines. I read through them when I’m waiting in the airport or on the airplane, and tear out articles that I find interesting (usually one per magazine). Then I remove the subscription label (with my name and address) and leave the magazine behind for someone else to read.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
My in-laws have a similar system for newspapers. He reads the New York Times and she reads the Boston Globe. They each cut out (or print out) articles they think the other will read, then swap the stacks of articles. That way they can both keep up with two papers in the time it takes to read one.
October 25th, 2006 at 6:46 am
This sounds great in theory, but in practice I’d end up just throwing the folder away after six months.
October 25th, 2006 at 10:01 am
How do you get the magazines for free? Am i missing something?
October 25th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Rick,
I suppose I should have mentioned that most of my magazine subscriptions are industry-related and are therefore free.