Very important exchange with a reader of the site --
Hey Sebastian
I hope you are well. Quick question for you:
You have a huge amount of insight and are incredibly well read.
I'm trying to up my strategic reading and want a new framework rather than just read and highlight. I read lots, forget lots….
How do you keep on top of/store information?
Your guidance would be appreciated.
J
I replied,
I'm pretty haphazard, sadly.
Probably the most important question, though, is:
To what end?
What are you trying to do, specifically? Without an end goal, building a system for retention is difficult.
And, J replied --
Thanks Sebastian
So lets put in context:
I'm trying to learn new skills, 2 being marketing and strategy. End goal is to better at both (I realise just reading isn't enough and need to implement)
re strategy, so I'm currently skim reading 6 books.
Highlighting
Then I'll go back and read them again in a bit more detail.
Plan then is to isolate useful strategies and then place in evernote for future reference.
I want to build up a solid foundation of different sources and takes on strategy.
Just wondering about your thoughts on the best way to do this?
Or to flip the question on its head:
Lets say I read: http://sebastianmarshall.com/starting-reading-on-strategy
All the books you recommend there.
Instead of just reading then putting away, what would YOU do to absorb and retain key lessons from your reading?
Any insights gratefully received.
Best
J
And here's how it is --
J, you're guilty of something I've been frequently guilty of, and it's really damaging to making progress.
You don't have a lens to focus your efforts through.
If you said, "I'm running a small company, and I'm trying to learn X skill and Y skill" it would be much easier to give you advice. If you had very specific concrete projects.
If you said, "I'm in University and I'm head of the On-Campus Discussion Club, and I'd like to apply two skills" -- that would be easy. If you were writing a book, or if you had a job, it'd be easy to nail down some ways to do what you want to do.
Right now, you're trying to learn skills, knowledge, read, and build a foundation -- but without having a commitment to anything in particular at the moment.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I did this, and it held me back. I'd try to learn abstract lessons because I wasn't committed to anything in particular.
What you need is one (maybe two, not more) places to channel your energies into. That way you can make concrete notes and brainstorms based on what you're doing. Even if you don't implement a particular idea on your current project, just thinking through its relevant applications in a concrete sense is going to lead to a higher retention in thinking and action than if you didn't.
More importantly, it immediately gives you a laboratory to go practice and build.
It's crucial to have this lens to see the world. I've got two right now -- GiveGetWin, and my consulting practice. So if I get some ideas on public relations, or recruiting, or marketing, or operations, or systems, I can immediately go,
"Okay, how is that directly relevant to the success of this endeavor?"
The raw thinking gets filtered into projects. Consulting is great in that way, because I have a few quite diverse clients and I can run my thinking through each of their situation if it's not directly relevant to something personal. But really, any lens is good -- a business, a creative endeavor, a job you really care about, a civic or nonprofit project, and so on.
You need one. It doesn't have to be what you commit your life to, but at least go volunteer for a local organization or offer to help out at a local club. Or freelance or run a small business as a hobby. If you're serious about learning and growing, you need to put the good ideas you come across to work right away, and you need to go to battle with them and see how they really perform. That will get burned into your memory, and you'll have the skills very solidly after that.