Reading. Might not sound like a big deal as we do so much of it without noticing as we scroll through social media, and I certainly read more than my fair share of books in the first lockdown. However, getting back into the swing of academic articles and really being able to digest their content was a slight concern of mine at the beginning of January 2022.
I’d managed to adopt some great reading habits during my MA – which included the fantastic app ‘pocket’ where I could download the days Vogue Business and Business of Fashion articles to read off line on the tube to campus. But these had definitely not been continued as I moved into the world of work. So what better opportunity to get back into action than starting as I meant to go on in 2022. Reinvigorating my reading habits revolved around three things:
- physical copies – print outs of important articles that were heavily highlighted in pink were crucial during my MA and it was time to get the highlighter back out to start with a few journal articles a week.
- contained notes – I had previously discovered a great note taking strategy that helped to keep information in my brain (thanks law degree) which simply involved only writing maximum of one side of A5 for each article that I read. Then overleaf I’d whittle this down to just 3 bullet points.
- morning tasks – saving the most challenging until last, in order to properly adopt my new reading habit I had to find the right time of the day. To make sure I had no excuse but to get through a couple of readings a week I glanced over my articles first thing once I was sitting at my desk, with a large cup of breakfast tea (not much milk – just like the builders have it).
