How to be an Effective Reader!

Reading is the fastest way to learn. Majority of the successful people share the love for reading and more often that not have publicly acknowledged the contribution of reading in their success. However, mere reading does not guarantee success, what matters is how you reads. Have you ever wondered why and how they are able to derive the best value from it. Lessons they draw, inferences they make, or decisions they take are different from ours. It is because they are able to retain the information/ learning from the book. They make the most out of reading. Wouldn’t it be great if you can develop a similar process that will help you evolve better.

Here are few quick tips that can help you in this effort of yours.

1. Define your objective : Be clear with the purpose of your reading. Is it for casual reading, for knowledge acquisition, for research, or something else. It mentally prepares you for the process and output from the effort.Try and align you objective with your goals or interests. Clear objective will influence the kind of books you will read and will allow you to focus on useful things. Whatever

be your objective embrace it fully. Never be defensive about it. Not always you want to read for knowledge many a times you read to relax or unwind. Moreover, keep analysing your reading requirement every few weeks to ensure you are not deviating from your objective, make adjustments as needed.

2. Reflect on your reading : Always analyse what you are reading. Be aware of the thoughts that comes to you while you read, spend time and reflect on them. Engage with the read to derive deeper meaning. Treat the reading akin to having a conversation with the author and not as one way lecture. Thoughtful reflection will aid the process of learning and will remain with you for long.

3. Enjoy the experience : Do not rush through the book and be in hurry to finish it. By doing so you are only focused on finishing the book which in turn puts unwanted pressure on you and reading will get neglected. It will feel more for burden leading to stress. When faced with such situation go back to the purpose of you reading. Take a break but you must take time to go through the read. Enjoy the process and relish the experience. It will keep you relaxed which will help in reflecting and retaining of lessons from the read.

4. Take Notes : Be liberal with your noting and scribbling while reading. Take note of things that quips your interests or intrigues you. You can do more research on these to develop a better understanding. Write down your learnings along with lessons you draw from the read that you want to take away or want to stay with you. Revisit these time to time as learning will evolve with time. Meaning will change with timeline. Thus, get into habit of re-reading your notes.

5. Practise what you read : No lesson is of much use if not put in practise. Make an effort to work on what you have learned. Make a plan to implement the learnings. Then only positive change will come, which is the ultimate purpose of reading and learning. It aid the process of evolving as a better individual. A word of caution though. Plan should tie up with your larger objectives and should not become a hindrance in your growth.

6. Share your learnings : Never shy away from sharing what you have learned. Share your insights with others, can do so at work or with friends over casual discussion. It has multiple benefits. One, it reinforces the learning. Second, it exposes you to new thoughts and different perspectives. Third, It enhances the learning. One simple act of sharing will hep you as well as benefit the one with whom you will share. How to share? By writing summary or review, discussions or casual chat. All works when done with positive purpose.

Reading is simple but powerful habit that has potential to change your life provided you are mindful while you read and afterwards. Make an every effort to convert this into energy into something that will be transformational.