Some women have a shoe problem.
Some men have a sports watching problem.
I have a book reading problem.
What I’ve learned by digesting over 100 books in the last year is reading from multiple media sources is a skill set all in of its own.
When I wake up in the morning headphones are playing an Audible audiobook.
Before I go to bed the headphones are back on getting some nuggets.
I don’t Google words anymore. I buy the books with the best reviews from Amazon that focus on the words.
In William Glasser’s book Positive Addiction, he talks about how you can turn some of the behaviors you wish to improve upon by creating an addiction around it. Book reading is just one of mine.
In this post I will share with you some skill sets that you may not of heard before so that way you can not just read more but also get more out of books in order to apply the concepts.
Photo reading
Learning Strategies, a company centered around improving reading performance claims that readers can digest one page per second. I have taken this course in person before and have found it to be one of the most eye opening experiences. It combines neuro-linguistic programming, speed reading, and activation tactics which allow you to summarize a book concepts and store them into your long term memory. Like learning to drive a car this skill set takes repetition and practice otherwise it won’t last.
Rapid listening
Audible is my favorite app for downloading books by audio. There is a feature that allows you to speed up the narrator by 3 times which is my default setting. Initially, 3X seems too fast but when you digest a few books and then go back to 1X the narration seems extremely slow. For more advanced concepts and specific details I might slow it down to 1.5X at a minimum but for the most part 3X is the way to go.
Screenshot retrieval
The books I like to download from Amazon into my iPad and iPhone tend to be more visual than narrated. The reason why is because I can zoom in and zoom out without squinting to see what is on the page. Also, the biggest reason why I download books is because I can take screenshots (images) from the book and save those as bookmarks that summarize key points I can find later. I can’t post an example because it would violate copyright laws. These stored screenshots are just for me.
Review writing
After every book you read try to summarize the book in terms of what you will do next, what were the big takeaways, and the feelings it gave you during the reading. You can either write blog posts on your blog or ask one of your supporting organizations to host your book review column. I’ve started writing book reviews for the National Association of Realtors Realtor Magazine Weekly Book Scan. Here I write about the books you might not have heard of before that have been influential for me and others outside of the real estate space.
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