Michael Lopp, better known as Rands, describes his process for reading widely and making connections across topics:
I’ve started a significant mental exercise that looks like this:
- Do I care about this item? No? Skip. Yes? Keeping reading.
- Do I care about this more than the headline? No? Skip. Yes? Keep reading.
- Do I care more than the first paragraph? No? Skip. Yes? Keep reading.
I do the same; it’s how I’m able to read more than 40 books a year, consume more than 10,000 articles from my RSS reader in a month, digest hundreds of tweets a day, grade papers from 60 students, collaborate with colleagues near and far on curriculum and instruction topics, work with our Track team, and run 20–30 miles a week, while doing my share of the housework.
I can look a word up in a dictionary and happily lose 30-minutes drifting from word to word. Little of what I read is immediately applicable to my work as either the Educational Technologist for the campus or an AP Psychology teacher… but, all in all, I firmly believe that all that reading and reflecting makes me a better teacher, better colleague, better friend, and better husband.
Surely, I can be better about compartmentalizing this info-junkie habit; I’ve got to work on my mindfulness, on being present to the moment — reading can often wait, or be scheduled.