March 14, 2011

Keeping Up with the Headlines

It is a challenge to keep up with all the news -- legal, local, world, financial, government.  Whew, it is a busy world out there!  Here's some tips for keeping you current:

  • Use RSS feeds for blogs, twitter accounts, news outlets, and calendars.  Have the feeds directed into the Google Reader application, where you can sort the feeds into folders by topics, which will help you priortize.
  • Keeping your eye on a specific topic or employer? Create a Google Alert on the topic to receive daily updates directly to your gmail inbox.
  • How are you keeping up with yourself? Speaking of Google Alerts, have you created one on your name? Be alerted when your name pops up on the internet in case you need to proactively request someone remove your name or untag you. You should still do an in-depth search on your name at least once a month.
  • Allow certain emails to be grouped together and automatically routed to specific mailboxes within your email. For the truly important stuff, consider using a priority inbox. Suggested topic areas include bar associations, school, and extracurricular activities so that you can prioritize your time on email and make sure you are adding pertinent action items to your calendar and to do list.
  • Sign up for practice area updates through JD Supra, the new LinkedIn application for attorneys.