Reading skills go a long way in making your life better. If you are well-read, you gain immense knowledge. You can use this knowledge to learn many other skills. You learn what is going around the world and get to know incredible stories about famous as well as not very famous people. You learn history, explore science fiction and technology, you discover facts about other countries, you get new ideas for business and many more things.
Just like any other skill, your productivity can be boosted if you have the right reading skills. Although the focus of this article is on reading conventional paper books, you may adopt some of these skills for online reading as well. These tips will enable you to remember and learn more from the content that you read.
Know the Purpose of Reading: Learning or Leisure
There are usually two purposes to read books. It is either for learning or leisure. For leisure reading, it is not necessary to develop sharp reading skills. However, if you do enhance your reading skills, then you will have a greater appreciation for leisure reading content.
Write Notes in Your Book as You Are Reading
You must have noticed the margins left on pages of most published books. We are not quite sure if they are there by design. However, by design or not, they can be used by readers to scribble down notes. A lot of skill and personal development books even come with blank pages to do brain-training activities. If you want to remember things, write them down. So if you are making notes in any book that you read, your learning will get enhanced.
However, be sure to write notes only in those books that belong to you. Do not do this in books that you have borrowed from a library or a friend.
Use the Swarm Strategy to Read in Depth
The swarm strategy for reading was conceived by famous author and strategist Ryan Holiday. This strategy entails studying a topic in-depth and evaluating it from different points of view. He also recommends you apply this strategy to non-reading activities as well.
Get To Know the Author
Before you start reading a book, get to know the author. Doing this will give you a considerably deeper reading experience. Knowing about the author will give you a greater perspective on why they have written the things in the book that you are reading. It is not difficult to do a background check on most famous authors, as they have been immortalized in biographies. It may be a bit challenging when it comes to lesser-known and obscure authors. However, in the age of the internet, it isn’t difficult to get to know someone who has been credited with published content. All you need is a full name and you will most likely get plenty of information on that person after a simple Google search.
Write About What You Read
Writing is a great way to remember things. Writing a review on a book that you have read will enhance the way you comprehend it and will also give you a greater appreciation of the effort the author must have put in. As mentioned earlier, you may also make notes inside your book for reference.
Summing Up
You should aim to boost your productivity whenever you can, no matter what task or activity you are involved in. The same is the case with reading skills. Use the skills mentioned here to enhance your reading experience.
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