Digitizing printed matter has only made some things worse. The same materials still need to be read, and the fact that they’re readily accessible on smartphones and tablets makes it harder to leave them in the office at the end of the day.
What’s more, the Internet provides a seemingly infinite space for publishing and communicating with colleagues via cell phones, e-mail or texting. That only lengthens the work day across time zones.
In response to the burgeoning problem, inundated executives, along with communication and productivity experts, are coming up with creative ways to get to “Magazine Zero.” So reports The Wall Street Journal.
These methods include:
- Apps that can help prioritize reading lists and synthesize important news and industry headlines
- “Underwater” iPods that can read to them while they swim, shower or sweat on the treadmill
- Online speed reading courses
- Organizing reading files in order of importance (and then deleting the files)
- Even to adopting what one executive terms “ABR”: Always Be Reading – whether it’s on a train, a plane or a Starbucks line.