At times like this when we find ourselves under pressure and overwhelmed with the amount of information required to keep current and up to date in our field I  highly recommend book summaries. Within minutes I had sourced a summary of the book from www.getabstract.com.The book had been summarised into 5 categories, over 5 pages and I was able to read it in less than 5 minutes. When I got to the end, I took a couple of long deep breaths, smiled to myself and felt ready for my meeting.

So what happens when you want to study and develop yourself? Do you choose a book and finish it in a week or do you keep going for 3 months, sometimes you don’t even get to the end?

Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? It states that “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. If you give yourself 2 weeks to complete a project, it will probably take you 2 weeks to do it but if you give yourself only 3 days it will be completed in just 3 days!

Well the same can apply to your reading. Let’s say you start a book without knowing how long it could take you to read, you may find that you’re reading the same book for weeks, sometimes even months.

To get into the habit of reading more in less time, know your numbers. You’ll find it much easier to finish books or even stop reading them half way and still have the feeling of accomplishment which will drive you forward. I believe that this discipline will hugely impact how much more you’ll read everyday.

It’s easy to do the maths:
1. First find the number of words in a book. To do this you multiply the average number of words in one line x number of lines per page x number of pages in the book.
2. Divide the total number of words in the book by your reading speed in words per minute.
3. You’ll now have the number of minutes it will take you to read the book.
4. Divide this number by 7 if you are planning to read it in a week.
5. You’ll now have the minutes to spend reading each day to achieve your target, I bet you it’ll be much less time than you expect.

That’s the planning done,…. Now its up to you to take action!

Move forward twenty five years …. you might be lucky enough to be a naturally fast reader, comparing yourself to your friends and family, you may even be able to read faster than you can talk.

You don’t need to be lucky anymore, it’s a science that will help you develop your reading potential.

Technology helps us to break down the reading process in tiny parts so you can see how to improve your reading speed scientifically.

Einstein said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

So… be willing to try new ways to improve yourself and the results might surprise you!

Lots of people buy new books in the hope of learning something new, some people get all excited about the possibility of reading on holiday and take lots of books away with them only to end up carrying them around!

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You too can get yourself up to speed … and read those books you keep buying.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way!

Have a purpose:  Know what you’re looking for. This will save you time and let you feel free to skim the text in search of meaningful information.

Check action points that come from the document:  Any reference to a date can help you determine the time frame in which you need to read and/or take action on the document.

Re Read: Go over highlighted or important sections again when you have a spare moment. Carry documents with you on your travels to make use of any spare time, such as train or plane journeys or waiting to meet someone.

Don’t focus on every word:  Spread your central vision and look at groups of words together.

Make sure you don’t move your lips when you read:  This will slow you down!

When you finished reading the document, take action:  In the same way as email or any other form of written communication, decide whether the document needs to be stored for future reference, passed onto someone else or whether you can destroy it.

So stop for a moment after reading a few paragraphs and try to remember the most important information there. Stop again at the end of a chapter and visualise what is important or essential. At the beginning it’s a conscious effort but soon the brain starts to retrieve information on autopilot. As your brain becomes accustomed to retrieving information this way you automatically remember more of what you read!

• Slow reader:…2 minutes 46 seconds
• Average reader:…1 minute 23 seconds
• Fast reader:…52 seconds
• Speed reader:…26 seconds

Have you got books just waiting to be read, have you actually started them and just never got past the third chapter?

Would you love to choose a book to read like you choose a DVD to watch?

Well, you can learn to read a book with around 200 pages in a couple of hours with a bit of practice!

You are already aware that your brain is divided up in two sections, each side performs different tasks. The left brain works with words sequentially, the right brain works with pictures and images.

Whenever you read the traditional way, it is by looking at the letters sequentially from left to right that you understand them. Talking is also carried out by the left brain so whenever you read and say the words back to yourself, it’s the left brain that’s active. The right brain functions differently and sees the bigger picture. Basically, if I was to flash a few of words at you, just for a fraction of a second, you would be able to read them all together. This is the holistic approach, which allows you to see everything all at once.

Have you heard that “A picture is worth a thousand words”?

Well, it’s so true! You use your right brain to see the picture and in less than a second you have all the details. But you use your left brain to describe in words exactly what you saw in the picture and you may use a thousand words to do so. Can you see the difference? Instead of a second to see and bring in the facts, you’ll use a few minutes to describe what you saw with words.

By learning how to look at words immediately, as icons, without sounding them inside your mind, you’ll be Speed Reading. You’ll be actively engaging the right side of the brain, which is going to work faster and more efficiently. Can you imagine reading twice as fast? What will having more free time mean to you?

• Slow reader:…1 minute 58 seconds
• Average reader:…59 seconds
• Fast reader:…36 seconds
• Speed reader:…18 seconds

Quick Tips for Quick Reading

With the volume of information and facts that are accessible today, too much time is spent reading everything that’s delivered to us. The more efficiently and effectively you can read through e-mails and paperwork the more time you have to carry out your goals and objectives.

Check out the tips below:

• Read the first and final paragraphs: Usually the author will present the thought in the initial paragraph and sum up the article in the last paragraph.
• Check its importance: If it is not going to relate to you, get rid of it or pass it on.
• Focus on the key information: Read only what you’re really interested in. Look for important terms, captions, subtitles and chapter titles within the documents.
• Scan through the document: Mark any important points as you go (return later to the marked points).
• Use a pointer to help you speed-read: Begin using a pen or your finger to help your eyes move faster. You’ll stop lingering on a word for too long and it’ll stimulate the eyes to go forward at a rapid rate. Attempt to raise your speed and momentum as you read. You’ll find with training that your reading becomes better.
• Avoid verbalising the words: Research shows that when we read the text out loud or in our heads we limit ourselves to reading at the same speed we talk. Those who speed read proficiently discover ways to silence the voice in their heads.

• Slow reader:…1 minute 56 seconds
• Average reader:…58 seconds
• Fast reader:…36 seconds
• Speed reader:…18 seconds

Today…I’m sharing an idea from the book by Tim Ferriss “The 4-Hour Workweek”, it’s a real eye opener!

He preaches that we should “Cultivate Selective Ignorance” so I thought I would give it a go and so far I’ve had great success!

What’s interesting about this “Information Diet” is that you cut out the news, that’s padded with trivia, avoid wasting time browsing the net and avoid opening emails that might be important for no apparent reason!

You’ll save a lot of time that can actually be re-directed, to think and learn about stuff that really matters to you.

You see, it’s all about prioritizing, so you’ll avoid wasting time on low value information and you’ll see that you don’t have to read everything and be OK with it, I’ve got over feeling guilty that I haven’t read every thing in my inbox.

So my recommendation is STOP reading the news for a week or two (like you were on holiday) and see what happens. You’ll end up hearing about big events anyway because people always talk about them and you’ll feel in good spirits because the news can be depressing.

So, how about using that extra hour you’ll save every day to read a book or pick up a new hobby. You too will then experience how “selective ignorance” can be a great thing to cultivate; it will make you smarter and help you achieve more in your day too!