The 20 Minute Hour
Manage your information overload by learning how to speed read. Here Clive Lewis introduces us to the first principles of a technology that all executive travellers sometimes require.
You are on your way to a key client meeting or presentation. You picked up a huge file of papers just before you left home and you only have your journey time to read and absorb it all. What are your chances of success?
Well you could bury your head in the detail and see how far you get. Alternatively you could just read the executive summary and the conclusion. Or if you really can’t face it you could just hope nobody asks you too much at your meeting and try to wing it if they do. However none of these approaches are satisfactory. Knowledge is the fuel executives need if they are going to drive their careers forward and they need to be able to assimilate information fast especially when under pressure. And that’s where personal technology tools like speed reading are essential.
For fast moving executives who want to read faster, understand better and remember more speed reading is a must have. It trebles your reading speed allowing you to arrive at your journey’s end having done an hour’s work in 20 minutes. No executive would argue against such an improvement in efficiency so the real question is how to learn it?
Now reading quickly does not equate to reading inaccurately - that would be pointless - but in order to get the promised improvement any potential speed reader will have to challenge some of their bad habits and learn some good new ones. So, for example, most people when reading jerk their eyes from one word to the next, a habit learned from school. Most people also skip backwards every now and again just to reassure themselves that they have understood what they have read. And some readers wander forward as they try to see what is coming and assess where they are going. All these habits need to be broken and here’s how.
…The first secret of speed reading is to start with the end in mind…
The first secret of speed reading is to start with the end in mind. For example if you have a large report to read and you want an overview then one good technique is to power browse. This simply involves spending 10 minutes turning the pages and highlighting those areas which are of particular relevance or which you might need to check in more detail. In effect this allows you to tackle and digest bite-sized chunks of information.
Alternatively if you want to read through everything - but faster -then a key technique is learning how to group words together instead of focusing on each one separately. With just a bit of practice your brain can take in whole phrases and sentences at a time and make sense of them. Start practising this technique by running a pen under the words you are reading and you will find that both your reading speed and comprehension increases. Why? Because you eye is going where it is being guided to go and this massively improves focus.
Not surprisingly your mindset when reading is also key. If you are travelling and feeling apathetic then the chances are that you are not going to remember very much. So what can you do? The answer is to think of a time when you had deep interest or attentiveness in what you were doing. Remember the excitement of the first meeting you attended or the first presentation you made when it was critical to have all that information at your fingertips? Can you remember what it all looked like, sounded like, felt like? If you can consciously draw on that energy and attitude and bring it to what you are reading today then you will find that it makes an extraordinary difference.
…When we are trying to take in new information we learn a lot at the
beginning and quite a lot at the end but not much in the middle…
Finally, don’t feel you have to download everything all in one go. When we are trying to take in new information we learn a lot at the beginning and quite a lot at the end but not much in the middle. So even when you are on a shortish journey rest your eyes, take regular breaks and you will see a dramatic increase in comprehension.
Now an important reminder! I am only talking about speed reading being useful for information and knowledge gathering here. Reading for pleasure is done in a very different way…indeed once you have garnered the information you need from your report you will now find you actually have time for your newspaper or your novel.
Tags: Improved comprehension, Speed Reading, Techniques for Business Travellers