The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Speed Reading’

In 2011, we’ll embark on a learning journey together where we will unite modern and ancient wisdom. Imagine the possibilities when we discover an ancient solution to a modern day problem.

How will we do that?

Review both contemporary books and those written decades and sometimes centuries ago. We’ll look at ways in which we can adapt solutions from one industry to another or one era to another.

And whenever you are consuming new information, whether it be reading a book, or listening to an interview, be open to learning something new. Have a pen and notebook handy, and always try to connect the new information to what you already know because nothing exists in a vacuum. Refer to the posts How to Use Interviews for Self-Improvement and Another Way to Use Interviews for Self-Improvement to get the most from the interviews that we conduct for you. And view each interview as a two-day workshop.

For the past three years or so, I have been learning a word a day. I subscribe to both Wordsmith – A Word a Day and Word of the Day, and the words are sent to my inbox every day. Many of the words you are unlikely to ever use so I have purchased the Ultimate Vocabulary software which I have to figure out how to use – haven’t tried yet. I purchased the Ultimate Vocabulary as part of a bundle with 7 Speed Reading, which I have started to use already. And remember to add RSVPs (Rapid Serial Visual Presentation) to your browser toolbars to increase the words per minute that you read. Please refer to How to Read Faster While Reading Well to refresh your memory.

In Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale, he recommends that you read a book each week. I’m up to at least eight books a month. If I can ever get organized enough, I will give you a list of the books that I will be reading each month. The danger is that I often change my mind and read other books. If you can indulge me, I am willing to post a list of the books, on the condition that they are subject to change. But the good news is that, if you read the books, you can offer to write a review so that we may all benefit.

Let 2011 be the year when we deepen our connections for the benefit of all! 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.

Book links are affiliate links.

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

Since last week I have been including tools to assist you with your professional development. The Reading & Listening Plan Process has been taken from The Invisible Mentor Toolkit, which is packed with a lot of tools and processes to enhance continuous learning. The Toolkit is also designed to walk you through the process of choosing your five invisible mentors.

1. Invest in a good speed-reading course
2. To get tips on how to get the most out of your reading, read
   1. How to Read A Book
   2. Book-Lover
   3. The Reading of Books
      
   4. How to Read and Why
      
   5. The Art of Thought, (The Thinker’s library)
      
   6. The Thinker’s Guides (Center for Critical Thinking)
3. Set a daily reading goal and schedule it into your day
   1. Try to read about 40 to 50 pages a day, which will allow you to read about a book each week
   2. Get up earlier and/or stay up later if necessary
   3. If your aim is to attain mastery in a topic within three years you have to apply the necessary discipline
4. What to read each month
   1. Choose another two from the list of books that influenced people profiled in Tales of People Who Get It and the CEOs featured in the New York Times article
   2. Have a combination of fiction and non-fiction and every now and again read a children’s book “just because”
   3. Refer to the presentation How to Build Intellectual Power for a possible reading lists
How To Build Intellectual Power
View more presentations from Ambeck Enterprise.
5. Each week listen to an interview and a speech by or about one of your invisible mentors from the list in your Self-Discovery Worksheet
6. Join a Book-of-the-Month Club. Two suggestions are:
   1. Book of the Month Club http://www.bomc.com
   2. Quality Paperback Book Club http://www.qpb.com
7. Subscribe to business book summaries and use them as a guide to decide which books are worth reading. Two good ones are:
   1. Audio-Tech Business Book Summaries http://store.audiotech.com
   2. Soundview Executive Book Summaries http://www.summary.com
8. Make professional development a fun time for the family. And, if you have a long commute to work, invest in:
   1. Unabridged books on CDs and tapes to listen to during the commute
   2. Audio programs that your family can listen to during family time or on road trips
9. Create a form to record information on the books that you have read, for easy reference.

Click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. 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.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN. I can assist you with that too. Visit my sales page for resources such as The Invisible Mentor Toolkit to assist you in acquiring wisdom from a distance. For free white papers click here.

All book links are affiliate links.

Review of The PhotoReading Whole Mind System by Paul Scheele

PhotoReading, a term coined by Paul Scheele, is “mentally photographing” the printed page at rates exceeding 25,000 words per minute. According to Scheele, “The PhotoReading process bypasses the conscious mind and sends the information to storage bins in the other-than-conscious. This means that when you are PhotoReading you will have little or no conscious knowledge of the materials. It is all there some place, but consciously you may not know it. Don’t worry, as long as you can “activate” it to the conscious mind so that you can use the information however you use information.”

The PhotoReading System which is comprised of five steps: preparing, previewing, PhotoReading, activating, and rapid reading, are actually options that you can use depending on what your needs are.

Preparing
In the preparation stage, explicitly state your purpose for reading the material then enter into a state of relaxed alertness.

Previewing
Survey your reading material quickly, looking for about 20 trigger words, words that are repeated, in the sub-title, highlighted and so on. Decide if it’s necessary to read further.

PhotoReading
Ask yourself why you want to PhotoRead the material, relax your body, calm your mind and confidently flip through your reading material.

Activating
Allow time to elapse before you enter into the activation stage. Let the information incubate, then probe your mind by asking yourself questions about the material. Super read the parts that attract you.

Rapid Reading

Quickly move through your reading material from start to finish, at a speed comfortable to you. Zip quickly through the information that you’ve established to be unimportant and spend more time on more important information.

Scheele suggests that to manage your time effectively, you should sort all your reading material into levels of priority, handle paper only once, always have reading material with you – you never know when you’ll have a few minutes, and preview everything that’s important.

Five – 1 Great Ideas

1. When the best readers read, they do so in an active, purposeful, questioning and fully engaged manner
2. To effectively read, you must begin with a clear sense of purpose, why are you reading the material and what do you hope to accomplish?
3. Set specific reading goals
4. After you’ve read important information, create a visual diagram of the key ideas

The PhotoReading Whole Mind System has some very good information, but the concepts may be somewhat foreign to most people. I recommend that you read it, but I think that for you to understand and use the new concepts, you’ll need to follow-up with a seminar on the topic.

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• ZAPReader.com – A Speed Reading Program (killerstartups.com)
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