How to grow your career in 15 minutes a day by reading books
Many great female executives like Dr Patricia Maryland - CEO of Ascension Health Care; Polena Chebotareva - Managing Partner of Cambridge Companies; Marsha Firestone - President and Founder of Women Presidents Organisation and Oprah Winfrey - Media & Business Mogul have shared that reading books has helped them grow their careers.
When I approach professionals to join my Career Success book club, a lot of them initially decline. Their number one reason is that they are unable to fit in the time to read books in their already busy schedules between work, family and leisure. I then go on to talk to them about how reading for just 15-30 minutes a day if pressed for time can help grow their skills and ultimately their career. Curiosity gets the best of them, and they usually start asking me questions on how doable that is. If you are one of the people who has always used time as a barrier to reading books, growing yourself and your career, I have written this article for you. If you learn to speed read, you can achieve your goal to read at least one career success book a month that will help you grow your career.
What is speed reading?
Speed reading is a much sought after skill that enables you to boost your reading speed while also improving your comprehension.
Speed reading strengthens your ability to read any style of writing while still understanding the intended and deeper meaning.
For example, when speed reading, you'll be able to skim right over the less vital pieces of information and pick out the sections which are more important far quicker than by using traditional reading techniques.
Whether you're already a fast reader or not, once you start training yourself to speed read, you'll notice your reading rate and retention will vastly improve over time.
“Just like anything else, when learning how to read more quickly, you can’t expect to read faster overnight. ”
A lot of people give up too soon in the processing of learning a new skill. To learn how to use this skill properly requires time, effort and practice. You'll need to work at speed reading every day to become proficient. I advocate the 15-30 minutes a day rule of learning to speed read and once you get the hang of it, you can protect at least 15-30 mins daily for your reading and growth if you believe you are pressed for time.
Here are some effective techniques you can use to teach yourself to speed read in your 15 - 30 minutes:
Time yourself. When you first begin, time your current reading pace so you'll have a baseline that you can use for comparisons. Time yourself often when reading to see your growing improvement.
Practice improving your speed. Try and force yourself to read a little faster each time you pick up the material. You can do this by skipping over common words like the, to, from, and, etc.
Read for at least 15-30 minutes every day. If you only read when you feel like it, you can't possibly improve. Work a little bit each day; otherwise, you may find yourself having to backtrack and relearn skills all over again. Take time each day to sit down and practice quickly reading a chapter or two, then test your retention by paraphrasing what you read.
Learn good reading habits. Work to break yourself of habits that slow your reading down, such as sub-vocalizing words, which is pronouncing words to yourself or moving your lips when reading. Be sure you're only saying the words in your head.
Read with your hand. Moving your hand down the page helps guide your eyes quickly through the material.
Avoid re-reading. Practice taking away understanding of your material the first time you read it. You can skim through the information from time to time if needed, but avoid re-reading it in depth if you don't have to.
Read in blocks of words. Instead of reading words letter by letter or the information word by word, interpret the author's ideas in blocks of words.
Avoid distractions. Interruptions can interfere with your capability and cause confusion. You may want to try reading in the morning or before you go to sleep when there are likely to be fewer distractions.
Before you can speed read, you first have to commit to refining your skills continually. Practising speed reading will help you improve your reading, writing and comprehension. As you strengthen your speed reading skills, you'll soon find that you enjoy reading and learning new things more than ever!
Suppose the idea of listening to books excites you. In that case, you may want to buy audio versions of your career success books instead and practice the discipline of listening and summarising your understanding of key ideas.
If you are interested in joining my monthly Career Success Book Club for professionals, you can join the membership by clicking the button below.