Posts Tagged ‘speed reading’

In order to improve my professional skills I have started to try and do as much reading as possible. A number of books, such as Time Power by Brian Tracy and the famous Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki recommend listening to books as a great alternative to reading. I think they are both good in their own ways and both have benefits and disadvantages. I currently have a one way commute of a little over an hour here in Tokyo and have found that Audio works great for me. However, there are a lot of times I wish I had the book to reread certain sections later.

Books

• Can take the material at your own speed
• Some people learn better by reading
• less chance to become distracted
• Easier to mark sections to read again later
• Difficult to read while commuting
• Great as a past time
• Looks good on the shelf
• May be able to finish a book quicker

Audio

• Can listen to it just about anywhere (especially on your commute)
• Generally much cheaper
• Easy to download and take on trips
• certain subjects can be difficult to understand without pictures/diagrams
• Can listen while exercising
• May be better for those who have eye trouble and therefore difficulty reading

I get most of my real books from Amazon and most of my audible books from Audible.com. I have found both to be great and easy to use. Though I still also by books from book stores since I love to look at books.

Related links

• This Week on L-TV: Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 – This digital collection of audio books, e-books, music and videos is now available to anyone …
• ipod to the rescue – libraries are starting to circulate ipods loaded with audio books (see wired news’ library shuffles its collection and michael stephens’ the ipod experiments). what does this mean for audio book distributors? the book standard reports …
• Ways To Obtain Audio Books Online – How Audio Books Can Help You Get The Best From Your Workout Download Audio Books and Enjoy Your Favorite Books without Reading Downloadable Audio Books…

I notice that a lot of people seem to pretty much stop their education once they graduate from school. I don’t blame them, the last thing you want to do when you finish school is to start studying again. However, if you start to follow the habits of successful people or read books on success you will find that continuing your education is one of the key factors. I was a good student in school, but I didn’t feel that I really started to learn until I got out of college. In fact, some of the most important skills are not really taught in most schools. I think that college is extremely important to gain the basics and lean the fundamentals about the subjects you study, but to really succeed you will need to learn a whole other skill set not taught in schools. I have listed a few of the skills that I have found very useful thus far.

1. Speed reading- This is a skill that I am still working on, but have already seen my reading speed increase dramatically. As reading will be a very important part of any job, and also important to learning, I would recommend this as one of the first to learn. It takes time, but I think it is really worth it.
2. Personal interaction- Basically the ability to work well with other people. This can be very difficult, but there are a lot of really great books on personal and group interactions and how to motivate co-workers.
3. Writing skills-This is taught in college, but I would encourage you to find a good book on writing professional letters. Especially for those in sales positions.
4. Presentation skills- taught in school, but never to a level of perfection. You will be making presentations in almost any job you are in so it’s something worth taking the time to get good at. You can find a lot of great info on presentation skills at Presentation Zen.
5. Language skills-Speaking another language will not only give you skills other people may not have, it can also open up your options.
6. Always be willing to learn- Take classes, read or listen to books, join associations, attend presentations and seminars, and keep up to date on your industry. It may seem like a lot at first, but once you have it down you will find that you have skills that most people don’t take the time to get.

In the following video, Sir Ken Robinson talks about the value of creativity in Education.

I think that he makes a lot of good points. As their are more and more people with degrees it will become more important to distinguish yourself with various skills. Creative thinking is an important one. Companies want to hire people who have great ideas. There are a lot of books on how to learn to be a creative thinker. I recommended one in a previous post on creativity here. Don’t be afraid to try new things or make mistakes. Being afraid to fail will hold back some of your best ideas.Like Sir Ken Robinson says in his speech, “If you aren’t prepared to be wrong, you’ll never be creative.

Helpful links

• Distance Learning Resources
• Top Reasons to advance your education