Last week a client I was working with mentioned that she had her name put at the end of the list when magazines and newsletters were circulated among the department heads. That way she could take her time getting around to the reading and not feel guilty about holding up others who were on the list. Of course, the end result was a backlog of material that were waiting to be read.

Having a stack of information piled on a credenza where you see it every day is not the best way to jump into a prioritized, productive daily routine. That pile confronts you several times a day and does create guilt for not getting around to it, even when you are the last person and so have eliminated the time pressure.

To keep up, reading time needs to be added to your schedule. I suggest that my clients try to carve out an hour weekly that they schedule and use that hour for catching up on both paper and electronic reading materials that do not have a deadline but that are important to review.

The same week that this conversation occurred with my client, I read a tip from a colleague, Abby Marks Beale (www.thecorporateeducator.com) who suggested sharing the reading load. Her idea was to split the materials, assigning each person certain subscriptions and then sharing with the group, either in a weekly meeting or through a summarized email process.

If you are one of those who struggle to keep up, are there others in your group who share the same frustrations? Developing a routine to lessen the quantity of reading materials can become one of your effective time management techniques.