Read For Purpose

“Oh I’m just chippin’ away at my inbox.”
– A dumbass.

“Time for me to read all the news!”
– Another dumbass.

There are words everywhere. They are essentially all free, and any jerk can string them together and plop them in your inbox or RSS reader. MaxDisclosure, included.

Just as when we communicate: when we read, we do so for purpose. To achieve an effect, or build valuable understanding. Here’s a way to approach your reading pile with deliberate professionalism.

1. Know your “must-read” criteria. Go as far as to sketch it out in writing. When you’re clear about which type of information is worth your time, you’ll avoid distracting topics unrelated to your mission. For example, I think deep strategic articles about China are interesting, but they don’t make my must-read list on a busy Monday morning. My “must-read” criteria includes anything written by my commander, and all commanders one level down and up; media mentioning my organization by name; and news directly and substantially connected to my organization’s resources, authorities and support. Several journalists are also on my “must-read” list.
2. Batch your reading, for purpose. In 2-10 seconds, assess whether an article or e-mail meets your criteria and deserves your full attention. From there, set the item aside for an appropriate time for you to soak up the info.

• Skimming. For browsing headlines (in an RSS reader) and e-mails. If the item is a “must-read” and if it’s a 30-second read, avoid decision fatigue and knock out the read right away. Otherwise, set it aside to skim over lunch, or at the end of the day. I guess this could include scrolling through Twitter, as well, as long as you’re doing it for purpose.
• Reading. Now you’ve culled the list down to the items you’re interested in, and comfortable spending 5-10 minutes digesting. Best practice, I limit myself to five true “reads” per day, because this list quickly grows out of control. You’ll always go under or over this limit, but the intention helps balance priorities. Print these items if you can and read them away from your desk; no reason to stare into a lightbulb (computer screen) any more than we have to. 
• Deep reading. These are some of the foundational and advanced documents that require full attention, and an open mind. When we look at these, we plan to learn and have our minds changes. Sit somewhere comfortable with these materials and your drink of choice. Actively read by circling or underlining key phrases, and fill the margins with your own thoughts. I make time for 1-2 of these per week, including follow-on time to reflect on the material. Bill Gates commits entire “think weeks” to this type of work.

3. Follow through on the things you’ve read, or else the information dies and your time is wasted. Do you need to add a new task to your tracker – and what are the next steps? Is the information worth sharing, and who needs to know? The commander, your team, or other PAOs? Send it along: summarize the item to save time*, and add a sentence or two’s worth of context and analysis.  

Staff officers read a ton, and that’s not just about PAOs, friend. The SJA and intel fellas are deep in it too, and probably manage their reading stacks better than you. Trade notes on which reports they prioritize, and why. 

As always, break all these rules when following them would be barbarous.

*Be judicious with the things you add to others’ reading piles. PAOs (and Americans) see a lot of news. Each day we see more than 24 hours’ worth of news reporting; and time is our only limited resource. Be brief and scrape words (and seconds) out of everyone’s day.

(Photo by Tech. Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal, DVIDS)