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Last month I wrote about the importance of adding a note about why you’re saving things, to every thing you save for later consumption. This means articles you don’t want to read now, and notes you make presumably with some benefit for your future self in mind.
Since then I’ve come across two new-to-me perspectives I’d like to share.
The first (PKM Beth) introduced me to the idea that what we save can teach us about how we think and what we need.
The second (Curtis McHale) challenges us to be both honest and realistic about what we are saving, and to stop overloading ourselves with useless obligations.
These are not opposing views. They are wider perspectives that can help refine your approach to personal knowledge management.
What I enjoyed most about Beth’s (Medium member only) article is how much she enjoys the process she describes. Productivity is one thing (Look-at-the-efficient-ways-I’m-doing-all-the-things), but feeling a spark of excitement—and reaping real benefits—is something else. It’s THE something else all of us need.
Each weekend Beth looks at everything she has saved (mostly social media posts), and tries to identify the larger patterns. What do the saved items reveal about the thinking process? What insights appear? What actions were taken as a result?
She gives an example of recognising that many of her saved quotes pointed to a desire to have more structure and rules; to be less permissive. She made a plan to set up a structure for days when she’s not at her best and came to the conclusion that agitation is the doorway to the whole process.
For Beth, the key is to a) process items in a calm, safe environment (her notetaking app), and b) do this reflective process weekly.
Curtis McHale has a great way of prioritising the things that matter most to him. I like how he walks the talk in saying No to things that don’t serve his core values.
Consider: are the things you are saving to read later truly worth your future time? Or are they merely things you think you should be reading, because the kind of person you think you ought to be probably reads stuff like this?
If your read-it-later list isn’t getting cleared weekly, perhaps it’s time to delete the lot.
If you —
…perhaps it’s time to detonate the list and start again with more intention.
Save from a mindset of abundance, rather than scarcity, and process the things you’ve saved each week (or month, at the most). If you are worried that something you deleted truly would have changed your life, just stop.
STOP.
You can’t read it all, do it all, be it all. Trust that those potentially life-changing ideas will come around again, when you are ready for them.
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