Fun Stuff - Speed Read a Newspaper in 10 Minutes
Speed Read a Newspaper in 10 Minutes
1) Firstly get control of the ‘task’ - a rapid browse of the whole paper to see what is in it helps enormously. The browse should be no more than 2 seconds per page - looking for stories of interest, understanding how much space is devoted to main stories. You are simply trying to understand what is in the paper today and which bits you want to return to.
2) Next you need to prioritise. Identify the news stories that are of most interest and return to them. At this stage you may want to ignore the trivia and quirky stories.
3) Before starting to read (as opposed to browsing and prioritising) ask yourself questions - what do you want to know and why? Think about what you already know as well.
4) If time is really tight, focus your attention on the beginning and end of news items - much of the information is often concentrated here and skimming through the material in the middle will often be sufficient since this contains additional background and detail that is not essential to getting an overview of the news item. Look at the pictures and captions since the old adage that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is true!
5) The trivial, quirky or fun items can be read at a leisurely pace over a coffee or at the end of the day.
6) Recognise that when time is tight you are unlikely to ever read the whole paper and that you don’t need to either. Be selective based on your own interests.
Suggestions supplied by Clive Lewis of Illumine Training. Illumine are the leading specialists in helping people to manage and avoid information overload.
Find out more about our Speed Reading courses that are avilable in London and Manchester or, if you want to train a group or team through our in-house training option.
Tags: Effective Speed Reading™ (Training), Fun Stuff, Information Overload, Speed Reading