It’s a wonder I get any thing done in a day. Are you like me, multi-tasking, trying to get a million things done in a day?
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for me; seminars, meetings, networking and family obligations. So much so, that when things finally quieted down I got to thinking about time. Where does it go, how can we feel more productive and can we actually slow time down.
Exploring this idea has created many ideas for me in using social media tools. My goal is to not let the tools steal away time, but to help save time. Managing all the activities I do in a day, and tweaking for time-saving, I want to ensure that it is an activity that supports my goals. Using time efficiently will ultimately slow time down or at least feel more productive and not harried by time.
Today’s Activity: Time Saving Tip for Google Reader (RSS feeds)
I am a RSS junky. I find either an interesting article or site, and “bam” I subscribe. The downside to my compulsion to RSS subscribing is managing all the content, of course Google Reader is brilliant for this. For me I love to hourd knowledge, in fact, if I could download “how to do…” in 3 seconds like in The Matrix, that would be brilliant. I digress. I have so many great feeds in my reader that my morning ritual is over my morning coffee to peruse all the headlines. I then share highlights through friendfeed and twitter etc.
Now with my new goal of time-saving, I realized that visiting my Google Reader page was not as effecient as it could be. It occured to me that I could add Google Reader to my iGoogle. I now I can quickly go through the headlines, and there is a nifty pop-up window with the full content that allows me to skim/read the article. I can also quickly share it out to my social media sphere. I am certain I have just saved at least 5 minutes in my usual 15 minute news gathering period.
If you don’t have Google Reader
If you don’t use iGoogle
I use the Mozilla Firefox browser
Update: Just when I was loving my iGoogle reader, I read, in my RSS feed of course, that a new add-on for Firefox called Integrated Gmail just came out. This app has taken Google Reader and Google Calendar and integrated it into your Gmail. OH BOY! Knowledge and scheduling and contacts all in one place. This definitely works in to my goal of staying organized. I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet, but I will let you know if it will be replacing my iGoogle Reader for my RSS feeds.
