Time Management
Chapter 19. Read Faster, Remember More
To succeed today,
you have to set priorities,
decide what you stand for. — Lee Iacocca
The typical modern businessman has to read thousands
of words from emails,
reports,
newsletters,
business information,
articles and other documents.
To be successful,
you will have to keep up with the reading requirements.
We live in a knowledge-based society
and an important piece of information
can directly impact your work and decision-making.
Take the time to sift through what you read.
The best way to save time
while reading and learning
is the delete button on your keyboard.
Use it to the fullest.
Resist the temptation to spend time reading things
that have no direct value or relevance
to your life and work.
Today a reader,
tomorrow a leader. ― Margaret Fuller
******************
Learn to read fast
You can’t hide from all the information that comes in,
but you can organize it
and research into a more suitable time and place.
One of the most important skills
you can hone is speed reading.
If you’ve never attended a speed reading course,
you should do it now.
This course will help you increase your reading speed
and retention,
possibly in just the first two lessons.
The techniques developed make fast reading extremely effective,
and anyone can learn to read 500 to 1,000 words a minute
with a high level of comprehension.
Light tomorrow with today! ― Elizabeth Barrett
******************
Read with concentration
When you come across valuable compilations
or information online,
print them out and put them in a folder
or keep them in a file on your computer for later reading.
Instead of “moving on to another task”
— that is, stopping what you’re doing to read something new,
put it aside and read it later.
Once you get into the habit of doing this,
you will be amazed at the amount
of additional knowledge
you read and the ability to increase your attention
while reading it.
For newspapers, you can choose
to receive the most important information via your computer daily
or read the paper newspaper.
Whatever format you choose,
skim and read only what works for you.
In newsletters, the most important information
is usually in the headline and the first paragraph.
In many cases you don’t need to read every detail
to understand exactly what happened.
A peasant that reads is a prince in waiting. ― Walter Mosley
******************
Read selectively
Newspapers and magazines are designed
and manufactured to make you read page by page
in order to get the most exposure
to the advertisements contained within.
For this reason,
you must read newspapers,
magazines
and newsletters selectively,
reading only what is relevant
and important to you.
Review the table of contents
and jump straight to the articles
that are valuable to your work or life.
A great technique for printed materials is “cut and read”.
Cut up the articles you want to read,
put them in a folder,
and take them with you to read
when you have free time.
Study the books carefully
before deciding which one
you want to spend your time reading.
You can sign up for book review services
and get the best ideas from any book in minutes.
Knowledge comes,
but wisdom lingers. ― Alfred Lord Tennyson
*********************
Please say no
The best way to save your reading time
is to make the decision not to read something.
By sifting through the document’s foreword,
table of contents,
introduction, and information about the author,
you can decide that the book
or journal isn’t important to you.
In this case,
stop reading
or skip it to have more time to do more important things.
Work hard,
stay positive,
and get up early.
It’s the best part of the day. — George Allen, Sr
*******************
Build a system
Over the years,
I’ve built a pace and a habit of spending three
or more hours a day reading about business,
economics,
politics, and personal development.
So over the course of my career
I’ve had over 150,000 hours of reading.
With the accumulated information,
I was able to write over 60 books including this one.
When people ask how I can read so much,
I can explain in a pretty simple way.
I organize what I need to read
and read diligently bit by bit,
minute by minute,
hour by hour,
flight by flight and whenever I have free time,
such as in the airport lounge.
Remember “The readers are the leaders”.
You cannot stay up to date
and leading in your field
unless you are continually refining your knowledge selectively
about the information generated today
by the brightest minds that have ever existed.
Every great building once begun as a building plan. — Aysa Angel
