My purposes are geared to my interests and my current calling, which is to be a seminary student preparing for future vocational ministry. So I pass this idea on for fellow seminarians and for current/future pastors; however, I think using Google Reader this way would prove beneficial for any professional career.
The picture is a screenshot of how I currently set up my Google Reader. I have folders, which I assign my websites and blogs. The number in parentheses next to the folder designates unread feeds. Some sites I check pretty much every day; others I check occasionally; some I very quickly skim the headline and only read what catches my eye. This is based on personal priorities. Setting priorities is a must for this to be maintained as a tool versus it becoming a snare and a time-waster.
I then organize posts with tags for further reference. I don't tag everything, and often I assign multiple tags for a given post. These tags are always a work in progress. Occasionally I consolidate categories, and I have edited and even deleted tags that prove unhelpful to my purposes.
I have two main goals for this:
- Ongoing learning by reading a breadth of material (things I agree and disagree with). Doing this increases awareness and sharpens my critical thinking.
- It is a filing system for illustrations, great ideas, articles I would reference again, etc.
I see that you have labels "confidants" and "allies" - are you designating different places as these? What are these referring to?
ReplyDeleteconfidants are website/blogs of people i know; allies are website/blogs i read regularly but i don't know them personally.
ReplyDelete