The Information Age - Blessing or Curse?
We live in an era when information is more freely available than ever before. One of the great advantages of living at the end of the 20th century. Or is it? Here, Clive Lewis, Director of brain training company, illumine ltd, explores why not everyone is celebrating…and gives us some tips on how to read faster and remember more.
A recent report suggested that a staggering 80% of executives occasionally or often suffer from information overload…and the problem is getting worse. More books and journals are published than ever before and then there is the World Wide Web and the internet. It is easy to copy each other on internet or intranet e-mails….and so we do. We know that a seemingly infinite amount of information is available on any (and every) topic and so we expect ourselves and our colleagues to have every conceivable piece of information at our fingertips and rolling off our tongues.
…80% of executives occasionally or often suffer from information overload…
We are forever being told that ‘change is the only constant’. We should expect our companies to change dramatically. We should expect our jobs to change out of all recognition. We should expect to need to retrain and reskill ourselves.
And yet…there is another constant. Most of us spend little or no time learning how to learn more effectively, how to read faster, how to remember more and how to make and take notes efficiently and effectively. We have the same skills we have always had. As a result, as the pace of change continues to accelerate, we feel overwhelmed - we’re stuck in the slow moving inside lane of the information superhighway.
So how do we join those all too few people zooming past at break neck speed, masters of the information that surrounds them, relishing the challenges that the information age brings them, seeing not threats but opportunities.
Investment required
We need to invest in ourselves and in our people. The required investment is not huge, it is not expensive. To continue the analogy of the cars on the motorway - we do not need a faster car, or a better brain. We simply need to learn how to get out of second (or first!) gear!
…In order to read faster we need to start with an understanding of how the eye and the brain work…
Read faster
In order to read faster we need to start with an understanding of how the eye and the brain work. When we run speed reading courses, the average speed at the beginning of the course is 240 words per minute. At the end of the course, that average has always doubled and very often trebled…with good levels of comprehension. How is that achieved? Watch someone’s eyes as they are reading and you will see that their eyes move jerkily from one word to the next. This is because we can only read a word when our eyes are still. We fix our eyes for a fraction of a second at a time. You may also notice their eyes back skipping and occasionally wandering about the page. All of this information is crucial and forms the basis for all speed reading techniques:
- spend less time on each fixation
- group words together
- no back skipping
- no wandering
…Your brain is not a muscle, but it does behave like one; the more you use it, the more powerful it becomes…
It will take some practice. After all, you have been reading at what you probably regard as a natural speed for many years….and when was your last reading lesson?!
Try it, and, if it helps, try using a pen or your finger to guide your eye smoothly, and quickly, across the page.
Stretch your memory ‘muscle’
Your brain is not a muscle, but it does behave like one; the more you use it, the more powerful it becomes. Nearly everyone I’ve ever met wishes that they had a better memory. They berate themselves for forgetting all manner of things and take a perverse pride in being ‘hopeless with names’. They know that when they were studying, cramming was a daft way to work….but they did it anyway. And since they got by, they never learnt another way to learn.
…Give anyone you meet your full attention and you will find it more difficult to forget them than to remember them…
The good news is that there are many better ways to learn and remember than the ‘old-fashioned’ ways of yesteryear. The reason many of us don’t bother to learn more is that our experience is that we are going to forget it pretty quickly anyway, so why bother?
The three questions I am asked most often about memory are:
1. How can I remember names and faces?
2. How can I remember things that I am not really interested in?
3. How can I learn (either formally for exams, or more informally) more efficiently?
The brain is a marvellous organ. It recognises indifference and disinterest. Most of us simply do not pay enough attention when we are trying to remember names… we do not engage our senses and our imagination, we do not make associations nor use the power of repetition. We often simply forget to remember. Give anyone you meet your full attention and you will find it more difficult to forget them than to remember them. 
Remembering things you are not interested in is a problem. In fact it can not be done! Interest and Attitude are two of the keys to effective memory. Somehow you will need to turn disinterest and apathy into fascination and wonder - that makes the task fun and you will make the essential connections needed for an effective memory.
For learning anything, any time in our lives, we need to use the natural rhythms of learning and forgetting both during and after learning. We should take frequent short breaks and, after learning something review it after an hour, a day, a week, a month, three months etc..Combined with an efficient way of taking notes and stimulating the WHOLE brain (Mind Maps are ideal) learning anything becomes a fascinating, fun adventure.
The benefits
Many people feel that the information explosion is still in its infancy. The opportunities are limitless for all of us if we can pull away from the inside lane. There is a virtuous circle in which learning more makes learning easier, which encourages us to learn even more…
There is little doubt that individuals and organisations, who know how to learn, know how to think and know how to access their innate creativity, are the ones that are going to succeed. Deciding to invest in your intellectual capital NOW could just be the best decision you ever make.
Tags: Information Overload, Memory techniques, Reading techniques, Speed Reading