The Importance of Review

I wrote recently about the importance of writing things down, and of reviewing them. Today I want to talk about review.

By “review,” I don’t mean just looking things over. I mean study. Analysis. Deep thought.

For example, when you come across a really good article in a magazine, what do you do with it? Do you read it, then toss the magazine? How do you make sure that the information in there stays with you?

This is one of the uses for my tickler (43 folders, one for each day of the month, and one for each month of the year). If I come across a good magazine article, after reading it thoroughly—and writing down personal actions from it—I put the magazine in my tickler, so I can re-read the article later. Then repeat.

Moreover, I never read (or, for that matter, watch) anything without a piece of paper or computer file on hand, with which to record my thoughts. Ideas fly at me while I read (they probably do for you, too; you just don’t write them down and they fade away within half an hour).

That which I read, sticks.

How about you?