Thursday 9 August 2007

Google Reader strategy

I'm constantly setting up procedures and processes for actions I take in my mind. When I see that I have a problem, I review my procedures and try to make a fix. When I come across a new situation to handle, I try to add it to my routine. My most recent adjustment has been in handling starred items on Google Reader. I come across a lot of stories that I might like to read, but can't read right away because of time or perhaps because it's more appropriate to read at home. But they were just building up and never getting processed, so I started a new rule. When I am reading my starred items, I start at the top and do not skip items. This forces me to make some hard choices about the articles. I can either read it right away or apply a new tag: "notnow" (when I don't feel like reading) or "home" (if I'd rather read at home). If I come across an article I have previously tagged as "notnow" and I still don't feel like it, chances are that I will *never* feel like reading it, so I dump it.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - The bonus side effect is a ready-tagged list of articles for home reading.
PPS - So far, this is an improvement on the previous ad-hoc reading method.

3 comments:

Erin Marie said...

The logic of your brain never ceases to astound me.

Do you approach emotional problems in the same way?

John said...

Emotional problems in general defy my best efforts at logical explanations, though I do try to identify their cause.

Failing that, I employ a strategy of repression, escapism and humour in the hopes that the problem will either stop bothering me, go away or appear far more trivial. Sometimes it works.

Erin Marie said...

Ahhh, the refuge of an introvert.

;)