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The One Tool You Need to Maximise Your Reading
There’s little point in reading if you don’t have a system
I started questioning my reading habits when I noticed how I would find it difficult to recall more than a few vague ideas shortly after finishing a book.
I would feel inspired and motivated while reading, but specifics faded away quickly after I was done.
For the number of hours it takes to read a book, you would hope for a better return on your investment.
Feeling frustrated, I started searching for advice online and realised that I was approaching it in the wrong way. It’s not about racing through the pages and ticking off as many books as possible — it’s about actively engaging with the content. This means highlighting and taking notes and regularly revisiting those notes.
To make this sustainable, you need a system.
In my search, I came across a concept called Building A Second Brain by Tiago Forte, a methodology for optimizing how we store and access information. That’s how I got introduced to Readwise, which has become the glue that holds my entire reading and note-taking system together, without any effort on my part.
I’ve become such a fan that I decided to dedicate an entire post to how Readwise works, its key features and how I use it.
Oh, and just one caveat: this is specifically for reading non-fiction books with the purpose of learning. Reading for pleasure or entertainment is a wonderful use of time and doesn’t need any maximising or optimising!
How Does It Work?
Simply put, Readwise is a tool that helps you extract all your highlights and notes from different apps and platforms and stores them in one central location.
In their own words, the goal is to “get the most out of what you read” by “making it easy to revisit and learn from your ebook & article highlights”.
When you sign up for Readwise, you start by connecting your account to your preferred reading platforms. Readwise will then pull all of your saved snippets and import any new ones periodically. After that, you can add notes and tags to make them more organised and easier to retrieve.
