Many times we hear that figures like Bill Gates and Ben Carson stay at home to read what they can. To be a successful entrepreneur you must increase the quantity and quality of the books you read.It is possible that reading is not an easy habit to cultivate, but it is an indispensable one to grow your business. This will help you how to read faster and understand.
When I started reading, it really took me a long time and I did not take advantage of my books. He would finish one or two works a month, but he did not remember well what he had “learned”.My low level of reading comprehension and my low speed frustrated me terribly.One day I was struggling with a chapter and I got so upset with myself that I decided to find out how I could read more books, making the most of them, in the shortest possible time.
How to read faster and understand
With these five tips that I discovered I went on to read 10 books a month, more or less a new book every three days.
1. Learn to read with speed, how to read faster and understand
Attend a course or buy a book on how to read quickly. There are several sources on the internet that can help you, but my favorite work on the subject is Breakthrough Rapid Reading, by Peter Kump.
I use my hand to guide me on the pages. This method allows me to decrease my subvocalization (read “aloud” in your mind). I also push my eyes to read faster through a visual scan. Instead of reading 200 words per minute, now I can pick up a thousand. They say that Josef Stalin read about 400 pages per day and that John F. Kennedy read 1,200 words per minute.
2. Do not read back cover
One of the great myths of reading is that you have to read absolutely everything that comes in a book. If you do this, you spend too much time on trivial content.
Average books offer one or two main ideas, good books offer between two and three, while great books deliver between three and five ideas. Most books are pretty average.
Do not get me wrong, not all good authors fill their straw books. But how many books have you found that deserves to be read “end to end” over and over again?
However, assuming that most books are average – which they are – do you think it makes sense to read them from beginning to end? Definitely not! On the contrary, you can flip through them for about five minutes to get the main idea. Then you can use the index to understand how the contents of the book are accommodated.
Write down the pages you want to review later, as long as they are books of your property. Then, you can read more deeply for 30 minutes on your second reading to review the best parts of the book. Finally, if the book is worth it, give it a third review. If the content really liked you, you can remember the material for a while.Imagine that! You will have read a book in less than three hours.The key here is that it is more important to get the best information from 10 books in the same time than from just one. In a whole year, you can read 120 books.
3. Set time limits
Setting schedules and reading limits can help you focus. Give yourself four hours without distractions to read 200 to 300 pages.
The key here is to know what you want to get from each book you read. If you force yourself to get the most out of a book in four hours, I guarantee that you will be able to do it. However, if you give yourself a month and do not maintain a good discipline plan, you will not be able to maintain your attention.
Many people waste time researching while reading. If you dedicate yourself to discovering what a word means while reading, your attention will be fragmented and it will take you more time to finish the book. If there is a part you do not understand, write it down to review later.
4. Read the “easy” books first
This exercise will help you generate more confidence. You will not be able to generate good reading speed if you start practicing with an academic text of more than a thousand pages. Start with shorter texts of 100 to 150 pages. Try to read one or two a week and commit to gradually increase the amount.
Some books are more difficult to digest (autobiographies and esoteric themes are like that). It is better not to start with these texts. It starts small and then increases.
5. Just read the best books
Before you devote time to a book, make sure it’s worth it. Obviously, you chose the text because you thought it could help you with some problem. In the first 10 minutes of reading, you can identify if the book is what you need.
You can make a rating system from one to 10, with “1” being the lowest rating and “10” the best one destined only for major projects. As a good entrepreneur, you have little free time and you can not waste it on books other than a “10”.
This also means that you must organize your books. Collect between 10 and 20 books per month and choose the ones you will “take” out of the stack to read. Try to always keep your cumulus in this figure and add new books when you finish reading. This will help you how to read faster and understand.
Conclusion
Reading is the best part of life. You can learn lots of thing by reading. If you want to read faster then you have to read the article carefully,I think it will help you.