Get your knowledge off the shelf and into your brain

Corona has presented us all with a tremendous opportunity to learn whilst at home. The variety of online learning options is stunning with people delving into the arts, science, history, personal development and more.

And of course, we have reading, catching up on all those books purchased over the years, as yet unread, gathering dust on your bookshelf or taking up space on your iPad or tablet.

For every title that you have purchased as a download or physical book, you had a goal or intention for that material, which extends beyond the text itself. What you do with the information is far more important than the read itself. Of course, you have to read the book first, to be able to apply what you learn from the author.

A non-fiction read, in that sense is much more than a book, the text takes the form of your own personal learning course written by an expert, who becomes your teacher for the material that you are reading. When left on the shelf, you lose the opportunity of learning from an authority on their subject, who has spent hundreds of hours documenting their knowledge for you to learn from.

Take a look at your bookshelf, iPad, or Tablet, how many un-read ‘personal learning courses’ do you have in book form?

You see, with each book we purchase, we have a goal or intention for the read. We imagine ourselves applying the knowledge from the book to add something new to our lives. We are seeking to transform the text to knowledge and skills which, when implemented, gives us something much greater than a book read, it gives as knowledge and skills to be utilised in our lives.

It’s not just books which are being left on the shelf, our goals and the opportunities which come from the read are being left there too, simply fading away and gathering dust.

How about you give those books a chance to give you their content. Those unread books are waiting for you and they have been a long time. They want to share their knowledge with you, for you to apply in your life, but to do that, they need your interaction, it’s simple

  Step 1. Get the book off your shelf or iPad
  Step 2. Read it
  Step 3. Apply it

A lot of people struggle with Step 2 and thus don’t get to Step 3 which is a shame because, with knowledge, you can achieve so much more.

Speed Reading is an essential skill, with prominent people such as Warren Buffet attributing their speed reading skills to their success in life. John F Kennedy was an avid speed reader, with a phenomenal reading speed of 1200 words a minute. Seeing the benefits himself, JFK actively encouraged all his staff to study speed reading.

People like Warren Buffet are amazing because the assimilate knowledge quickly and apply it. JFK had a lot more than charm, he had deep intelligence and an enormous amount of knowledge collated from his voracious reading habit.

The problem with most people is they have not been taught an efficient reading strategy. Most people are reading with an internal voice. Check it out, are you hearing your voice as you read these words?

If the answer is yes, which it most likely is, you will only ever be able to read as quickly as you can talk and that will not only limit your speed of reading, it affects your recall of what you read.

How long does it take you to read a book, 5 -10 hours of reading with an internal voice, can you imagine trying to remember a 5 hour one way conversation, that is what you are doing with your reading.

What would happen if you could read these words without hearing your own internal voice? Imagine your eyes moving along the lines on this email at twice or three times the speed, you are currently reading at.

Give it a try. Go back 3 or 4 paragraphs in this text and run a pencil left to right across the lines at your normal reading speed with your eyes following the pencil, and then double the speed of your pencil movement. Can you do it?

Would you like to learn how you can double your reading speed and with practice double it again?

I am offering a three hour online ‘Speed Reading’ course designed to help you improve your relationship with the written word, and in doing so, read a lot more, at a significantly faster pace, with deeper meaning and recall, transforming the reading experience to life achievement.

To find out how you can get your knowledge of the shelf and into your brain, click here

Michael Carroll, 2020