Does this sound familiar?
You read an AWESOME article online and you promised you’d save it somewhere… but you didn’t. So you go to find it… but you can’t… and eventually you just forgot about it altogether.
You’re not alone. 
Regardless of where you are on your personal branding journey, true success requires a systematic way to capture the best of what you’re reading so, ideally, you can incorporate it into your daily life. Below are a few ways to get started.
Begin with a system
1. Journals. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to keep (and give) Moleskine journals. In fact, whenever I read a business book, I always make it a point to have my Moleskine with me to write down key thoughts and concepts. Part of my reason for doing this is convenience since I don’t always have my laptop handy. The other part is sentimental as I plan to give the journals to my sons when they enter the workforce. Either way, the benefit is that I have the best career advice I’ve ever read in one place.
2. iPhone Notes / Apps. I also keep various notes on my iPhone. I know it probably sounds like a lot of extra work to keep notes in two places, but here’s the difference: If I’m working through an idea (next book, blog content, etc.), I keep it on my phone where I can access and update anytime. If it’s perennial info from a book or article, I write it in the journal.
3. Google Reader. Just when I assume the whole world is using Google Reader, I always meet some poor soul who has never heard of it. Long story short, this service allows you to aggregate and quickly sort through hundreds of blogs each day. Think of it as a mini-newspaper where you get to pick the articles.
4. Binders. Okay, I’m about to get old school on you now. I love three-ring binders. I have about five going at any given time where I keep printouts of articles, divided by subject, in plastic sheet protectors. Could I save some space by simply adding the content links to my Favorites toolbar? You bet. However, for me, the binders serve a dual purpose. Aside from once again collecting the best thinking on a topic in one place, they are a terrific conversation piece. Since I make sure the spine designs are eye-catching, usually people who visit my office will comment on them, opening the door for all sorts of yummy dialogue.
5. Twitter Lists / Favorites. Since we all probably waste more time than we care to admit sorting through the musings of everyone we follow, thank God for Twitter lists. With this feature, it’s easy to group people into buckets and pull tweets from only select users. You can also favorite great links on Twitter, just be sure to back them up using one of the methods above – lest they get buried and subsequently forgotten.
Review and purge
A final bit of advice: Be sure to review your notes, binders, feeds, and favorites every six months or so and weed out what’s no longer applicable or relevant to your work. If all else fails and you still find yourself drowning in content overload, simply check out for a day or so until you have time to catch up. Trust me, the info stream will keep going… and it will welcome you back when you’re ready.
Author:
Emily Bennington is the author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job. She hosts a popular blog for career newbies at www.professionalstudio365.com and can be found on Twitter @EmilyBennington or via email at ebennington[at]msn[dot]com.
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I have a Startup folder on my desktop. This is the 1st think I look at in the morning. Everything else can wait.
Emily the most useful tool I have found here (syncs between desktop/iphone) is http://readitlaterlist.com/. Between this and Google Reader (Byline on the iPhone) I am able to read so much more – even offline on the tube/plane.
One less known way of organizing stuff from the internet – before deciding if you’re gonna bookmark it or not – is http://www.spaaze.com/. I’ve been using for sometime now, and they just added some cool features.
Keep the great work, Emily!
@TSSVeloso
[...] 5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Organize Information Published: February 14, 2010 Source: Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel Does this sound familiar? You read an AWESOME article online and you promised you’d save it somewhere… but you didn’t. So you go to find it… but you can’t… and eventually you just forgot about it al… [...]
Emily, very good content as usual. How are the 3 ring binders you referenced labeled?
Brendan,
Thanks for the link! I’ll be sure to check it out….later of course. Haha.
A.B.,
They are labeled by subject. I have one binder for “Publishing” where I store articles related to the industry, one for “Marketing” (specifically book marketing), and one for “Leadership”. Over the years, my interest in topics have changed (I have an old binder full of great articles on small business marketing for example) and while I no longer have these binders in my office, I do enjoy browsing through them occasionally. I find the binders tremendously helpful because there’s so much great content out there, if you don’t have a way to keep it and organize it, you risk losing it. I do recognize that binders are a bit low-tech but they really work for me – and I hope others will find this advice useful too. Thanks for reading.
/EB