One of the first things to get dropped out of my schedule when I’m busy is reading. I literally put it on my ToDo list for today: read for 30 minutes. Sounds silly, but it worked. I’m so glad I did! I went outside to be surrounded by tall trees under a wide sky with spotty clouds cruisin’ like they had somewhere to be, fast.

Magazine for those 30 minutes: the December issue of Toastmaster, the monthly journal for the Toastmaster community. Most of the articles were about persuasive speaking tips: use of metaphors, openers, closers, techniques. Some of the tips prompted the repsonse, “Well, yeah, of course,” and some prompted, “Oh my gosh! Yes! That’s exactly what I need to do!” I’m thinking about entering the Motivational contest coming up in February, so the timing was perfect (I’ll bet they planned that!)

So is the magazine going to sit on my desk until I write my next speech so that I can use it for reference?
Correct answer: No.

hmmm, and what if I want to reference one of these articles, in say 6 months? Especially the one by David Garfinkel, called “Persuasive Speaking, How to talk your audience into a whole new point of view”?

Let’s talk Magazine M.O. (modus operandi - i.e. way of operating) tips. There are a few primary tips to mention (have more? let me know.)

1. Magazine boxes. To stick with the Toastmasters magazine example, I store all back issues in a box labeled, “Toastmasters”
2. Of Interest tags. As I read a magazine, I have a pad of small Post-its and a pen with me. When I see or read something of interest that I may want to refer to later, I write a few descriptive words on a Post-it and stick it on the page.
3. When the box gets full, I pull out all the issues that don’t have Post-its (i.e. articles of interest) and toss in the recycle bin