I listened to a fantastic podcast by Jim Kwik on The Science of Success podcast, where he spoke about techniques to increase the speed with which you can absorb and process information. I’d like to share a few of the key points with you.
When we read, we often read the sentence verbally in our heads. However, our brain can process information much more quickly than we can verbalise it, so our mind gets bored and starts distracting itself with other things. To avoid this, draw a line with your mouse or run your finger under the words as you read. This reduces the extent to which you try and verbalise it and increases your reading speed without any decrease in comprehension. Another very important part is to connect emotionally with why you are reading this information; understand what you want to get out of it and how it will help you to achieve your goals. If you’re not invested, you won’t pay attention.
He recommended trying to read for at least half an hour to 45 minutes every day, but only reading this much. Your attention span drops dramatically after 30 to 45 minutes. Also if you want to remember more of what you have read, take more breaks whilst you are reading. This increases the primacy and recency effect.
Finally, read something as if you are going to teach it to someone else. For instance, when taking notes split the page into two and on one side write down key things that the individual is saying, and on the other side write down your interpretation of that and how you might use it. This is the difference between taking notes and making notes. Mind maps are another very efficient way of recording and making sense of information.
The main learning I am taking away from this is to underline words with my finger to increase my reading speed. I will also start making notes, rather than taking notes and think about how I would teach this information to others.
To finish off, here is a lovely quote from Jim Kwik: “If you fight for your limitations you get to keep them.”
Worth remembering when we are telling our own stories about who we are and what we can and cannot do...