Choose what to read before adding another feed.

Start with a question

Before opening another source, name the question you want it to help answer. What is changing in your work? Which skill do you want to learn? What decision will you need to make soon? A source earns its place when it helps with one of those questions.

This gives you a useful filter. Something can be interesting without being relevant today. Save it if you like, but do not turn every interesting development into an urgent task.

Separate discovery from checking

A short post can help you discover an idea. It rarely contains everything you need to evaluate it. When the claim matters, follow the original source, look for the date and read the limitations.

Notice the difference between an announcement, a demonstration and a result someone has measured in their own setting. They answer different questions. None automatically tells you what will happen in yours.

Make room to think

Try keeping a small list of sources and a single place for notes. For each useful item, write one sentence about why it matters and one question it leaves open. If you cannot write either, you may not need to keep it.

Choose a time to read rather than treating every alert as an instruction. The aim is not a perfect routine. It is enough space between receiving information and acting on it.

A simple reading filter

• Does this answer a question I actually have?
• Can I find the original source and its date?
• What is observed, and what is only predicted?
• Will this change a decision, or can it wait?