I Failed The 28 Day Challenge - and Built Up my Anti-Library

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In early February, I wrote this blog post stating that I was planning to participate in the "28 Day Challenge" of reading a journal article every day for the month.  I failed.  Big time.

Here's what happened:  I started the challenge two days late and managed to catch up on day three.  I managed to stay on track through day 7.   (4 days... not so strong). And then the weekend came, and I had plans with friends and a job to go to with patients to treat and.... all of a sudden I had six more articles in my "to read" folder on my computer and I just couldn't get myself out of that hole. I think I got through 12 of the articles in total in the month. 

I find that I have been collecting papers to read later on because there's so much to read and so little time.  I have a file of them on my work email all about concussion research, a growing collection of journal articles about shoulders/throwing injuries and anything at all related to ACL injuries at home.  I follow several PTs online and when they recommend an article to read, I add it to the stack.  And so, my list of papers to read keeps growing.  It's the same with books.  My "to-read" shelf on Goodreads is now more than 600 books.  I don't have the space (or funds) to accumulate all those books - but if I did, my house would be overflowing with books.  My continuing education plan for the year is written out and developed and I work my way through it but other things I'm interested in keep coming in my path and leading me off course.

This week I was listening to "The Movement Fix" Podcast Episode #60 with guest Brett Bartholomew, author of Conscious Coaching (which happens to be on order and should be one of the next books I'll be reading). Ryan DeBell (founder of The Movement Fix, headquartered nearby in Lynwood, WA) asks Brett about how much he reads, and Brett presents the point that it's not about how much you read, but about taking the time to digest new learning so you can apply it.  Some days I feel like I'm bombarding my brain with loads of new knowledge, taking in whatever tidbits I can grasp.  Other days I can't shove anything into it no matter how hard I try.  And some days, I can read and take in so much information it's like I'm in the desert and was just given a tall glass of water.

That's right - in addition to journal articles and books, I also have a list of podcasts to work my way through and a list of blogs to read.  The approach I've been taking has been listening/reading from the oldest posts to the newest from the same authors until I've gotten through all of them and can just read or listen to the newest ones as they come out.  A few examples: I'm currently reading through all of Eric Cressey's old blog posts starting in 2002 when he wrote for "T-Nation." He posts several times per month so I need to get through more than he's currently posting to catch up.  I'm doing a better job now of skimming the topic and seeing if it is at all relevant to my practice - but most of the time, I read the whole article and keep track of my progress.  Hopefully in a few months, I'll catch up and then any time he posts something new, I'll have the background knowledge of his prior posts.  Similarly, I listened to all of "The Ask Mike Reinold Show" so now any time a new one is posted, I'm caught up and it's just the new one to listen to.

Sometimes, as I'm working my way through my plan, something with a deadline comes along and pushes me off my track.  I requested the book "Explain Pain Supercharged" from the work library and only have until April 7th to get through it or the Seattle Children's Library Overlords will come take it away from me.  So this is delaying my progress in reading everything Eric Cressey has ever written.

We're in an era of information overload and my colleagues and friends keep getting smarter and smarter and can cite literature easily - which is a struggle for me.  It's hard to keep up when you have so many interests and aren't a fast reader (or even worse, a fast comprehender).  I shouldn't compare myself to them or care - but of course I do. 

Then I came across  this article and the embedded six minute YouTube video that describes the concepts of the "Anti-Library" and the "Black Swan."  An Anti-library is a collection of resources to help you find an answer to a question on a topic you are aware of but that you are not fully educated on.  Because of the internet, we have a virtual anti-library at our fingertips constantly.  The anti-library is where you go to look into "known unknowns." For example, I treat patients who have experienced concussions, but I'm not skilled with vestibular rehabilitation.  I know that my list of saved concussion papers includes some research regarding this area, so if I face a patient who needs this knowledge, I can quickly access it and get better informed.  But right now, this isn't in my case load and to spend time focusing on that learning when I can't apply it doesn't make much sense for me.  In contrast, the Black Swan is the "unknown unknowns."  These are the topics that I know nothing about, where I would need to start from scratch to even start educating myself.  A possible example of this could be a patient coming in with a brand new surgical procedure that I've never heard of or a rare disease with unique complications where I have no knowledge and would need to hit the books and don't even have a list of resources to go through on my mind.

Surrounding myself with knowledge so that I can access it if I need it shows that I am aware that I have so much to learn and that I want to surround myself with ways to gain new knowledge.  The article made me feel better about having a growing anti-library.  Now I just need to figure out a more efficient organizational system to keep track of everything.  Any suggestions?