Read Effectively & Efficiently

How well do you read? Notice, I didn’t ask “How fast do you read?” I asked quite a different question: “How well do you read?”

Like me, you may have wished you could read much faster than you do. There may be a growing pile of books on your shelves, gathering dust; books that you wish you had time to read; books that you wish you could read faster, to fit in the time you have available.

What’s stopping you from reading your collection of books? Is it really time and are you sure you are such a slow reader? Perhaps you are mistaken and it is in fact, neither of these two reasons.

For most of my life, I held the belief that I am a slow reader. I didn’t bother to clarify who I was comparing myself with until I met an expert photo reader recently and I realised that I could read as well as him, if and when I wanted to. In fact I realised that without being able to read effectively and efficiently, I would not have been able to study for and pass all my exams from the basic GCSE level to several degrees including an MBA. This was quite a revelation. It freed me from the desire to attend quite expensive “speed reading” or “photo reading” courses.

Ask yourself: “What is my belief about my reading skills?” “Who am I comparing myself with?”

If you believe that your friends, colleagues and bosses, read much better than you, what are they doing differently? What is it that you are not doing? Are you following effective reading strategies?

Here are a few that I use:

Strategy 1
Environment: Make sure you are physically comfortable and that you are able to breathe properly. Curling your legs up on the sofa is a great position for falling asleep but it will not serve you so well in reading effectively. Your abdomen needs to be free of obstructions to take in a full breath of air, regularly. Also, your back needs to be well supported so that you won’t be interrupted from your reading by continuously having to change positions.

Position the book upright on a reading table so that you are looking at it in the same way that you look at a computer screen (not laid flat on the table). If the book is laid flat on the table, notice that your eyeballs will not have as much peripheral vision as when they are focused straight ahead. When you are driving a car, you rely on peripheral vision to be aware of what is happening to your left and right. You would not be a good driver if you looked down the whole time. Similarly, you will be a much better reader if you look ahead than if you look down.

Strategy 2
Purpose: Make sure you know why you are reading the book. Start with a very clear intention. What are you looking for? Entertainment? Information? Inspiration? The more specific your purpose, usually, the easier it is to decide if the book is meant for you. If your purpose is to find relevant information for an assignment or article that you need to write, effective readers usually scan the contents page; the titles and subtitles until they find what they are looking for. If your purpose is to get a general sense of the book, to help you decide whether to buy it or not, for example, you will naturally skim through the pages to see if it interests you. This does not mean that all books you have bought are meant to be read by you. Your purpose may not have been clear when you bought the book; or that particular purpose may no longer be relevant. There is a time and a place for everything and when you decide what your purpose is, you will know whether the book is meant to be read now, or in fact ever, by you. This strategy may well clear some of your dusty bookshelves and make room for those special books that really deserve your attention in the present.

Strategy 3
Read the book with your mind rather than your eyes: Your mind is full of knowledge and all the new information it receives latches on to the existing knowledge in order to make sense of it. Therefore, the more well-read people tend to read much faster, being able to recognise and make sense of a lot of material they have not previously seen and they use their previous knowledge to predict what the author will express. When you are reading with your mind, imagine that you are having a conversation with the author of the book and this could give you insights that are not apparent in the physical words that you see with your eyes. Our favourite books are often those in which the author speaks to us with underlying messages that are triggered when there is a connection between the mind of the author and the mind of the reader.

If you use these three strategies effectively, you are no doubt, an effective and efficient reader and you will continue to improve as your mind learns to recognise familiar language patterns; familiar themes; familiar content. The more organised the existing knowledge in your mind, the greater the likelihood that the new information will be easily assimilated and integrated to enhance your comprehension skills and your ability to communicate your understanding. So, what is your current belief about your reading skills?

I learnt some of these reading techniques from the following:

Buzan, T., (2003) The Speed Reading Book , BBC Worldwide Ltd, UK

Websites:
PhotoReading Whole Mind System Reading Program
http://www.photoreading.com/ (accessed 12 December 2009)
The Speed Reading Coach
http://www.thespeedreadingcoach.com/ (accessed 12 December 2009)

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© Jesvir Mahil 2009 www.jesvir.com