Reading methods that will allow you to better understand the information
№ 1. Sort books by content
Conventionally, any literature can be divided into two groups:
Technical. This includes all books with a narrow theme. In particular, textbooks and manuals are practical tips that need to be applied when faced with a specific problem. In business, this may be the following areas: “Creating a sales department”, “Brand positioning”, “Management in small business”.
General development. This is about everything that affects your personality as a whole. Works of art include novels, short stories, novels, psychology, philosophy, business thinking, biographies of famous people. Such books expand your horizons, form beliefs, affect the perception of specific situations.
The works related to the “technical” part, it makes no sense to read, if you do not have a clear problem. Understand that it is necessary to tighten the level of knowledge in the field of sales by phone? Great, start learning the appropriate book. But just loading the brain with scripts, dialogue templates and psychological subtleties of communication with a specific type of clients is not worth it. I hope the principle is clear.
Another thing is general developing literature. Books from this part can, and even should, be read constantly. First, the entire amount of information in them does not necessarily learn at once, because the content can not become outdated, in contrast to the constantly updated “technical” areas, such as marketing. Secondly, they are easier to understand, as they are often presented in the form of stories. Thirdly, as already mentioned, such works develop your personality as a whole, which is never “too much”. In my opinion, arguments are enough.
# 2. Write down key thoughts.
Banal, but underestimated action. It is important to consolidate and repeat those valuable thoughts and lessons that you learn from each new book. But to do this immediately will not work – the brain simply does not digest a large amount of information.
Therefore, take notes of the key quotes from the works in a specially assigned notebook or a separate file on your computer, phone. Always indicate the source of each specific phrase – the name of the book and the page number, this will allow you to “refresh” the memory by returning to the desired work at any time.
If you read books through special applications, you can use the already-built fragment selection function, create a kind of bookmark on an interesting point or an important thought.
No. 3. Carefully choose the next book to read.
With the huge choice of formats and works that has now arisen, it can be really difficult to find an interesting copy. Hundreds of physically shops in each city, dozens of applications for reading or listening to audio recordings, can seriously disperse attention. To choose the right book, use the following guidelines:
- Decide on the format. How is it easier for you to absorb information? People prefer physical, paper books, because when reading them, tactile perception is also involved, and this is proven to improve the digestibility of the text and the amount of memory. But to each his own – solve the issue with the format yourself.
- Read the table of contents. The chapters of the book or at least its summary will allow you to form a rough opinion about the content, to understand whether you are interested in the topic. This item is especially relevant when choosing literature from the “technical” part.
- See the reviews. The opinion of people who have already read the work in question, will make it possible to understand how the contents indicated in the abstract and chapters correspond to reality. In addition, people often talk about the pros and cons of a particular book — it will help to decide how relevant it is in your particular situation.
- Listen to the reviews. The Internet has given us the opportunity to listen to key ideas from many books in podcasts or watch videos. With their help, you can make your final opinion on any work.
Picture Credit: geralt