You have a daily frustration. What to do with that great article you found online?
You can stop to read it and disrupt your productivity, or you can save it for later in a vast sea of bookmarks you never seem to return to. If you just leave it altogether, you may never find it again.
Here’s a simple, effective trick for saving articles to read later:
Try This:
Create a weekly “Read This” email message to save your links with the following steps:
- Open a new email message in Outlook, or other email program
- Enter the subject line as: “Read This” with today’s date
- Copy and paste the article’s link in the message body
- Write brief summary why you should read it
- Email the message to yourself
- Keep working
- Next article you find: open message, hit reply, repeat above steps
- Schedule time each week to catch-up with your reading at work or at home
At week’s end, you can save your Read This message in an inbox folder labeled “To Read” or you can simply choose to delete the links altogether.
Here’s Why:
This simple method keeps your weekly links on one single message that doesn’t clog your inbox, and won’t clutter your bookmarks folders with dated and trivial articles.
It also helps keep you on track while you’re working, because it frees you from the obligation of reading something now for fear of never finding it again.
Try it out today. The key is to make the decision now to read later, and stay focused on your work.
Day-Timer Spokesperson Jeff Doubek can be reached at [email protected] |
I agree with Gordon. Read it later is a better alternative. It keeps all the articles in one place and you can access it from multiple places without having to jump back and forth to email.
LJ, Gordon, you are correct having a program such as Read Later — or Instapaper — is also a very good alternative. The trick is to discipline yourself to make decisions each week or you’ll find your plug-in stuffed with reading .
Alternatively, you could use the “Read Later” plugin for Firefox.