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We just wrapped up the Productivity Mastermind conference call, and I promised that I would share this post by Matt Cornell that I used as a resource for putting together your reading workflow:

A Reading Workflow Based On Leveen’s “Little Guide”

Many of my subscribers are active readers and book lovers. My post How to read a lot of books in a short time is my most popular, and I’ve even had the pleasure of receiving surprise copies in the mail! Along those lines, Steve Leveen’s book The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life is a great meta book, and one of those “I have to give copies to friends” works that leaves a lasting impact.

There’s a lot to the diminutive tome, but here I’d like to share his suggested workfow, an example of a specialized system (unlike Getting Things Done, which is a general one).
Overall Flow

Here’s the staging Leveen recommends (a “shelf flow,” if you will). The basic idea is repeated reviews over time (including during reading and after) help strengthen recall. (Note: “*” indicates my additions.)

1. Pre-candidates list* (desired books, i.e., your wish list)
2. Candidates library (acquired books - a Someday/Maybe list)
3. Currently reading stack
* Castaways*
4. Après reading 1 shelf
5. Après reading 2 shelf
6. Après reading 3 shelf
7. Living library

Briefly, you have three concurrent phases happening: Collecting (managing your pre-candidates list, and buying from it - steps 1 & 2 above), Reading (”activating” one or more of your candidates - step 3), and Reviewing (steps 4-6). Finally, you continue to return to your living library over time, re-reading favorites, or using it for reference or inspiration (step 7). Of course if the book doesn’t pass the 50 page test (see ), it gets rejected as a castaway.

Thanks for joining us on the call, you can learn more about this reading workflow system at Matt’s blog.

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. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen