the ability to read is becoming a source of competitive advantage in the world

What has become exceedingly scarce (and therefore, valuable) is the physical, emotional, attentional, and mental capability to sit quietly and direct focused attention for sustained periods of time

Google found that increasing the number of results per page from 10 to 30 took only half a second longer, but caused 20% of people to drop off.

the two that Read It Later apps can help with:

Increasing consumption of long-form content (which is presumably more substantive)
Better filtering

Getting Things Done cites the work of Dr. Roy Baumeister, who has shown that “uncompleted tasks take up room in the mind, which then limits clarity and focus.” The risk of cognitive dissonance at not being able to finish a long article (much less a book) keep us from even beginning it.

Actionable info ≠ Reference info ≠ To Read pile

Task manager ≠ Evernote ≠ Pocket

Procrastination is the most powerful force in the universe. It will find a way

Instead of pushing a new piece of info through from intake to processing to consumption without any scrutiny, I’m creating a pool of options drawn from a longer time period, which allows me to make decisions from a higher perspective, where those decisions are much better aligned with what truly matters to me.

Highlight > Share > Share to Evernote > Save

There’s another way to learn faster: assimilate and build on the ideas of others. Sure, you won’t understand every tacit lesson their experience gave them, but you can incorporate many of them, and in a fraction of the time it would take you to make every mistake yourself.

Ideas are high leverage agents. They become more so when arranged in highly cross-referenced networks. The only tool we have available that is capable of both creating and accessing these networks on demand is the human brain.

Reading is the closest thing we have to thinking another’s thoughts. It’s long and sometimes ponderous, but that work is required to wrap yourself in another person’s paradigm. Which is the first step in madly letting go of your own.