The Efficient Use of Time


While putting this chapter together, I thought about who to interview about using time wisely. Perhaps an air-traffic controller for whom every second counts? An agent I know who handles the biggest stars and whose time is extremely valuable? He would have had secrets to share. Then I heard that in this technologically advanced world, information doubles every 90 days and that more information has been generated in the last 100 years than in all previous centuries combined. So I decided to interview someone who knows how to read, process, and understand information faster than anyone else. He is Howard Stephen Berg, "The World's Fastest Reader" (according to Guinness Book of World Records 1990), and here is some of what he had to say:

"The reason we read so slowly is because we don't see the words, we hear them. Think about how you "read" the road while driving a car. You're reading at 60–75 miles per hour; you have to digest what's in front of you, behind you, and to either side. At the same time, you have to keep track of road signs and weather conditions, monitor the dashboard, turn on the radio, talk on the cell phone, or carry on conversations with other people in the car. But when we're reading, we don't see the page like we see the road; we hear the page as a conversation—one word at a time. We need to see a little more and hear a little more to increase our reading speed.

"There are three simple things you can do to increase your speed and comprehension:

  • Skim the material. Get a sense of what kind of information this particular text is using to provide you with data (charts, pictures, summaries, etc.). Sometimes all the material you need is contained in an appendix at the end. By skimming, you find out what's there before you spend a lot of time on unnecessary material.

  • Read for comprehension at top speed. While you're reading, mark off any passages that you need to go back to, either to analyze or to memorize.

  • Use study skills to break down information that you don't understand, and memory skills to lock in concepts and vocabulary you want to retain.

  • "Using these three steps, you're reading becomes much more effective.

"One of the most important things you can do is read with a purpose. Know what it is you're trying to accomplish. For example, if you're a student, you're trying to get a good grade in the course, which is dependent on test questions. If your goal is to score well on a test, then the information you're searching for could be dramatically different from what you would look for if you were trying to learn the material for use on your job. Knowing the purpose helps you to focus on what is significant, because the brain is designed to selectively filter what's important in the environment.

"Here's a brief demonstration: Look around the room and make a mental picture of everything that is colored green. Memorize this picture. Now close your eyes and try to recall everything around you that is colored blue. Difficult, isn't it? Immediately your brain says, 'That's not fair—you said green!' Whatever you tell your brain to focus on overshadows everything else. You want to have this same kind of focus when you're reading. This is a great time-saver; it helps you focus in immediately on what you need to know."

There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
British writer




Diamond Power. Gems of Wisdom From America's Greatest Marketer
Diamond Power: Gems of Wisdom from Americas Greatest Marketer
ISBN: 1564146987
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 207
Authors: Barry Farber

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