The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Reading’

Reading should be an educational journey even if you are reading for entertainment. Great ideas can come from any genre of books, even fiction. While you are reading, always have the questions below in the back of your mind. Study the questions until they become second nature to you. After you have read a book, if there are potential ways that the information can help you make note of it.

While I’m reading, I make notes in the front and back covers of the books. If it’s a book that I’m reviewing, I wait a few days after I have finished reading the book  to digest its contents because I have discovered that I often have a delayed reaction to the book, and some of the points that strike me as most significant often come later.

Questions to Ponder

1. How does the author’s ideas or solutions relate to your life and work?
2. Did you come across any different ways to solve every day problems?
3. What breakthroughs did you have while reading this book?
4. Does the document contain facts that are somewhat surprising because they are different from what you know?
5. Are there any rule breaking in the book? If yes, what are they?
6. What are the additional insights?
7. Is there a method of thinking, or metaphor implied in this book that you can adopt to solve problems?
8. What are the top 5 takeaways from the book?
9. In what ways can you use the ideas/insights/takeaways to increase the value of your product/service to my customers (internal/external)?
10. 10. In what ways can you use the ideas/insights/takeaways to add value to your life?

Type up the responses to the above questions if you feel that the information will help you. It’s also a way to build your general knowledge which is critical to creative problem solving and idea generation.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

This weekend I attended The Iris Reading Speed Reading course, which I purchased from Groupon. While reflecting on what I learned at the Iris Reading course and the High Speed Learning course which I attended a few years ago, I have some thoughts about reading faster without sacrificing comprehension.

Three Habits Acquired When We Learned to Read

1. Regression: We learned to read from left to right, one word at a time
2. Fixation: We focus on one word at a time and break down monosyllabic words into syllables
3. Sub-vocalization: We read phonectically, breaking down the words in our minds first before we move on to the next

We learn best when we are in a happy, relaxed environment. The Alpha Brainwave State is best for optimal learning.

To Go into Alpha Brainwave State

• Sit down in a comfortable position
• Close you eyes and let all thoughts drift away
• Take a few deep breaths, breathing deep into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm (you know that you are breathing deeply when your stomach pushes out when you are inhaling)
• With your eyes still closed, look upwards as if you’re focusing on the point between your eyebrows
• When you feel a slight pressure, start counting down slowly from ten to one
• When you reach one, you are now in the alpha state
• Relax for a few more minutes

• You are now ready to focus on the task at hand

Basic Rules of Reading Faster

• Read groups of words at a time
• Never read over what you have already read. Trust that your subconscious will get the gist, and later fill in the blanks
• Move a finger or pen beneath the line you are reading, in a left to right manner, to force you to read faster

Daily Drills to Read Faster

Like any new technique, you become better with practice. There are online tools called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), which are designed to help you read faster. Using RSVP tools, you can quickly increase your reading speed by practicing a few drills online every day for a few minutes. Some of these RSVPs allow you to use your own reading material, which is simply gold for people who read a lot online. They are also good for people who are dyslexic because the words are flashed on screen in the sequence they should be read.

1. Spreeder.com – very versatile: you can set the number of words you’d like to read at time, the speed at which you’d like to read (number of words per minute), and you can copy and paste your own reading material
2. Readability.com – extension for Firefox and Google Chrome, which clears away the clutter from web pages, and allows you to read faster without unnecessary distractions
3. Reasy – extension for both Firefox and Google Chrome. When you install, highlight the article or page you’d like to read online, the Reasy presentation pops up and you click to start reading)

Process to Read Faster While Reading Well

Before you read, think about why you are reading. Are you reading for entertainment, information or to further knowledge? If you are reading for entertainment, the last thing you want to do is to speed read, and miss out on the wonderful imagery in that romance novel or murder mystery. However, if you are reading for information or to further your knowledge, speed reading is the way to go since at least fifty percent of the information is not important.

• Go into Alpha Brainwave State

• Preview
  • For a magazine article – read the first and last paragraph
  • For a journal article – read the abstract, in addition to the first and last paragraph
  • For a book:
    • Read the description of the book that’s given
    • Flip through the book several times using your index finger to move through the pages. If you miss a few pages, keep going until the end. And while you are flipping through the book a few times, make sure that you also do it with the book upside down a few times. (I learned this process in the High Speed Learning Course I took with Lydia Danner, and it works for some reason)
    • If it’s a textbook or one filled with diagrams, look at the chapter titles, all the headings in the book, the words in bold, all diagrams, then flip through the entire book
  • Create a mind map of what you have learned so far
• Overview
  • For an article – read the first sentence of each paragraph, remembering to read groups of words at a time
  • For a book – read the first sentence of each chapter, then glide your finger down the middle of the page
  • Build on the mind map that you have created
• Read
  • Read group of words at a time and use a pencil on your finger to force you to read faster
  • For a book, spend roughly 30 seconds on each page
  • For a two-page magazine article, spend approximately six and a half minutes, reading 400 words per minute
  • Complete the mind map, which is a good refresher for what you have read

What tips do you use to read faster without sacrificing comprehension? How can you use this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Image Credit: Flickr

To get the most from a book, I often use a Book Summary Template which I created after conducting research. I do not always answer all the questions in the template for every book that I read, because some may not be relevant for that book. Before reading, decide why you are reading, is it for information, to further knowledge or for entertainment? If I am reading for entertainment, I never use the template.

After using the template for a while, it becomes second nature. The template below is taken from the Invisible Mentor Toolkit which I developed to assist you in acquiring information and knowledge from a distance. In the past few weeks, I have been reminded how important invisible mentors are. The interesting thing is that people are talking about invisible mentors but they are not calling them that because the term is not well known. In the blog post Are You Being Mentored by Cat Matson, can you spot where she talks about invisible mentors?

Book Summary Template

1. What is the book about?
2. What is being said in detail and how?
3. Is the author qualified to talk about this topic?
4. What problems is the author trying to solve?
5. Which of the problems that the author had to solve did he/she succeed in solving?
6. What are the author’s solutions?
7. How does the author’s ideas or solutions relate to your life and work?
8. Did you come across any different ways to solve every day problems?
9. What breakthroughs did you have while reading this book?
10. Does the document contain facts that are somewhat surprising because they are different from what you know?
11. Are there any rule breaking in the book? If yes, what are they?
12. What are the additional insights?
13. Is there a method of thinking, or metaphor implied in this book that I can adopt to solve problems?
14. What are the top 5 great ideas/takeaways from the book?
15. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the book?
16. Does the book leave unanswered questions? If yes, what are they?
17. In what ways can you use the ideas/insights/takeaways to increase the value of your products/services to my customers (internal/external)?
18. In what ways can you use the ideas/insights/takeaways to add value to your life?

Let me know what you think about the questions. In another post, I will give you a template that you can use when you are mastering a topic. It is my vow to assist you on your professional development journey. If there are additional ways that I may be of service please let me know.

Please add your thoughts in the comments box below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: via Apture

I got the idea for this post after reading Book Learning vs. Experience a guest post from Adrienne Carlson on the World’s Strongest Librarian blog. It’s a great post and in it she shows the pros of book learning and experience. I think that both are critical in today’s work environment. I learn in many ways which has served me well over the years. Anyone who has been reading this blog for a few months know that I am an avid read, as well as an active reader, so I am always interacting with the words on the page.

I am an introvert and very shy so I have well developed listening skills and I often hear things that the average person would miss. And I meditate so I am very aware of what’s going on around me, and learn things through observation. I have turned my weaknesses into strengths, what about you? Yes, there are times when I would love to be the life of the party, but it isn’t going to happen because of my personality.

How can you build your reading, listening and observation skills to transform yourself into a learning machine? How do you learn best? Are you an audio, visual or kinesthetic learner?

Understanding the way you learn best allows you to capitalize on your strengths and build up the areas where you are less strong. How important is it for you learn in multiple ways? And how might doing so enhance your life?

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Reference & Photo Credit: via Apture

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• Metalearning and Learning Styles (downes.ca)

The most successful people have mental and verbal abilities that would delight any philosopher of yore. How did they become that way? One book and one word at a time. To be smarter than your peers requires  setting aside time everyday to develop your mental and verbal powers.

1. Learn a word a day
2. Read a book each week and choose books that make you think
3. While reading record interesting phrases to use as quotations in your written communications to make them shine
4. While reading always be on the lookout for ways to apply the information to your work and life
5. Connect the new information to what you already know. Never read in a vacuum
6. Join the Great Books Foundation
7. Join the Center for the Study of Great Ideas
8. Sign up for the School of Thinking‘s newsletter
9. Subscribe to book summaries
10. Join an online book club

If you consistently do the above 10 things, in no time people will not only notice, but also admire the change in you.

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Photo Credit: via Apture

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