Everybody reads. Its essential and I dare to say people who doesnt read have challenges later in life to suceed in other areas of life. We read from academic success to professional development. You can even read for fun. However, there is so much information today that is easy to slip away into the rabbit whole of a new tik tok or a new online personality you were not aware before. Here is where efficiency and effectiveness come to play when reading. There is a subtle difference between both. Someone can read efficiently – many pages, but if he did not retained anything then he was not reading effectively.
This articles takes a deep dive into what it means reading efficiently vs effectively and how you can start with some tips to improve both skills when reading.
Why read efficiently in the first place?
Everything is content. Its hard to express what EVERYTHING means. Its a word with a ton of alternatives. But truly everything can be said and therefore everything can be written and this everything can be read. Today more than ever, there is a record of anything you do on the internet.
With an unlimited quantity of content online, efficient reading will save you time AND improve your learning. That right, improve your learning.
How? Keep reading to know more about the tips that I personally use
Benefits of being good at reading
- Knowledge Acquisition
You become capable to process wider and deeper knowledge - Better cognition
Yes, you read that right. Better skills at reading stimulate your brain. Almost as if you were doing mental exercise - Better management
Save time every time you read = more time to do other stuff - Academic and Professional Growth
Become better at reading reports and memos means you can shine more on every meeting and improve how you perform at your work or school - Meet new people
Do you know what cultural capital is? Literally means the more interesting you become the more influence you have in society. Reading books will make you look smarter.
Number one: Scouting through the text
Scouting is when you look at a sentence, a page and then try to retrieve everything you can. The premise: most of the text is useless jargon and you, as the user, is trying to get to the very essence of what the document is trying to say.
How to this efficiently?
Focus on what is most important: Titles and headings.
No mystery here, really. Thats why people write titles and heading to give readers a cue on what is to come.
Once you get that, remember them when you start reading the text. Most texts summarize the main arguments, introduction and conclusion on the very title. Such as this article!
Look for keywords on the text
Scanning can be challenging. The thing is the more you focus on identifying some keywords the more closer you will get to understand the text.
Pay attention to visual imagenery
Graphs, charts and bullets are key. They want to explain something that is already in the text and quite often you will find that by reading a graph you dont need to read the rest of the text.
Technique number two: Active Reading
What is active reading? Well, is easier to explain with a little story.
Imagine you are a turtle that cant swim in your boat. You better be ready for the open sea – meaning you better be ready with anchor, ballas, hatch, helm. The more prepared you are the better your odds not sinking the ship.
Reading is the same but instead of an open sea you face a flow of words. So you better annotate (mentally or literally) questions, key ideas, summaries.
Strategies for Active Reading
Practice your handwriting. What I try to say, you have to write things down. The more effort you put into writting easier it becomes to understand each word. Write down questions, notes, highlighter and summaries.
Number 3: Speed Reading ๐ฅ
Did you noticed the fire emoji? We mean it. Some intensity on your read is better than you think.
Core Components
Minimize Subvocalization: People reading things in their head aloud is a thing. Reduce that voice and train yourself yo recognize what each word means without mentally pronouncing each one. How? Its a matter of practice.
Peripheral Vision: Use your whole vision area to read texts. Follow with the sight each word is not optimal my friend.
Time your ability: Not only dedicate specific practice session for speed reading, but measure how many pages you read each time.
(BONUS) The SQ3R Method
Survey, question, read, recite and review. You see (S)urvey, (Q)uestion, (R)ead, (Recite) and (Review). Pretty clever acronym, right? But more than a nice shorten word for the method is a full framework you can implement.
Steps to Implement SQ3R
- Survey: Preview headings, subheadings, and any visuals. This things are themselves an overview of the whole text.
- Question: Ask yourself very seriously. What do you want to learn or find out? or if you dont want to learn or find anything at all be sincere with yourself.
- Read: Kinda self explanatory
- Recite: Read aloud – not inside your head – what your eyes are reading.
- Review: Go back to your notes and the text. Do not just mindlessly pass each page over and over
How do you apply this techniques to your routine?
To see an actual change in your life and to improve your reading skills you need to keep a consistent effort. Dont empty your energy reserve every time or you will not get very far – consistency is key. Going at your own peace is probably the best advice in this article. However, set clear goals on what you try to achieve nonetheless.
Daily Challenges: Tell yourself “Today I will read 10 pages of xyz AND tomorrow I will go for 20. ” You have to start somewhere and do not be afraid of taking this goal lightly at the start – thats the easier way to get your own foot wet for this techniques.
Conclusion
Take this four techniques, they are yours now. Keep them at heart and I promise you will constant effort you will start to see changes on your life.
Everyone has been on the same spot as you. Learning is not an easy task on anything, reading is no exception. The ability to read efficiently and effective will make you more keen at processing the loads of content you consume every day.
Challenging yourself is a good practice too. You are not only investing time in your reading skills but also doing a self contract with you. Honor your word and if you say to yourself you gotta use SQ3R or Scouting then act.