Here’s the cure — have a purpose for the content that you consume. And focus on taking action.
Here’s a five-step strategy that I use to tease out the action points (from the content I consume) that moves the needle for my business:
- Use a content aggregator — applications like Feedly or Flipboard help you organise and house all your content/feeds in one place. Apply the “skim and save for later” methodology. You really don’t have the time to read all the content right now. The best you can do is skim. Do that and use “save for later” to revisit the content you have saved.
- Fix up a time to consume content — I do that first thing in the morning. Some of my peers and friends prefer to do it right before they go to bed (I prefer fiction during bedtime, helps me sleep better).
- Take notes — It could be a notebook or a note-taking app like Evernote. Whatever it is, stick to the basics. Glean out the key action points and takeaways from the saved articles. Anything that interests you gets jotted down. Once you’re through with the week’s quota (I do steps 3 and 4 on a Sunday), go over the notes again and delete the points that are irrelevant to your business or if you think you’re less likely to take any action on them.
- Explore further — it’s important to go deep and wide when exposed to new concepts. I prefer “googling” or asking an expert (if you know one of them) or perhaps just reach out to the author for an elaborate point of view. The more understanding you have of a concept, higher the chances of you applying in your business.
- Take action (finally!) — don’t go all out! It’s the fastest way to get burned out. Focus on just one significant action point and work from there. Rinse and repeat.
Try it and let me know how it goes! 🙂