Speed Reading

I’ll have to call upon a much better author and hacker of life than myself for this post. Tim Ferriss is an entrepreneur, internet celebrity, professor, lecturer, tango champion, etc. It’s hard to keep up with his latest ventures, but luckily, he keeps the world filled in via an incredibly informative (and often times useful) blog.

I found his post on speed reading to be quite intriguing, so I tried the prescribed protocol, and have seen significant improvements in my own reading speed. I’m currently working on The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, a 700 page epic in which she lays the groundwork of an interesting philosophy she calls objectivism. More on that in a future post.

Give the speed reading instructions a dry run, and don’t worry if your comprehension is lacking. The more you train your eyes and brain to operate in this manner, the easier comprehension will become. When you are speed reading for comprehension later on, you can adjust speeds accordingly. I’ve turned this once intimidating philosophical tome into a manageable effort, without sacrificing recall or “the joy of reading.”

Among the comments left on Tim’s post is one regarding a deaf speed reader who managed to consistently outperform his classmates. When prodded for an answer as to what made him such a fast reader, he wrote down (being unable to speak) “Do you mean to tell me that people who can hear actually sound out the words in their heads when they’re reading?”

It’s incredibly fascinating that someone would find pronouncing the words in our heads so unfathomable. But try reading without actually saying the words in your head. When you see “carrot” on the page, use the shape/image of the word and relate that to an orange crunchy vegetable, rather than adding the extra step of saying the word carrot in your head. It’s confusing and queer at first, but is a necessity in reaching the upper echelon of reading speeds.

Enjoy Tim’s post, your speed reading ventures, and have a lovely evening.

Change of Scenery

Fueled by bananas and sunshine…

It would have been a sacrilege to write about this topic from the regular confines of my bedroom/office, so I picked up the leather-backed journal, and relocated to a park in town.

My field of view is flooded by many unsuspected stimuli.  Off in the distance, Jews fill the temple, observing Yom Kippur.  Some have shelled out upwards of $350 to obtain entry into this place of worship, but that’s a story for a future post.

The park is filled mostly with children (its 1:15 PM) and their mothers, milfs and soccer moms alike.  You’d struggle to find a vehicle smaller (or older) than a 2005 Ford Explorer in the lot, but this is in fact suburbia.  I think my 1995 Pathfinder takes the cake.

I believe it was songstress Sheryl Crow who said “A change would do you good.”  Too often, we fall into patterns of comfort, repeating and taking solace in that which we are accustomed to.  Whether it be boy/girlfriends, jobs, geographic locations, or the same cocktails at the same bar every Friday night, these “comfort traps” ensnare us into complacency.  I will agree that comfort can be a great thing; routines can keep us productive, and physically and emotionally safe.  But breaking these routines and practices every so often can and will yield new insight.

I believe most of us are guilty of thinking that we know more than we actually do. Socrates says, in Apology, that “I do not think I know what I do not know.”  It is this, he claims, that makes him a wiser man.  I was sure this park would be a peaceful sanctuary, and instead, I am pleasantly distracted by the laughter of children, and wind kicking up the pages of my book.  My favorite songs aren’t playing in the background, but as a daddy long-legs crawls up my ankle, I feel more attached to my present location.  When you make the choice to be consciously aware of your surroundings, you are forced to think and act in a different way.  You can experience live human interaction which would have been impossible at home, alone.

Like many things in life, it’s important to dream big, but start small.  If you’re a beer drinker, try a cocktail you’ve never tasted before.  Take a new route home from work.  Don’t remain in a boring relationship with him or her because of convenience and easy sex.  Instead of watching the news at home, take a drive and catch it on the radio.  Get out, live, and embrace the unexpected.  It is scary at first, but will make you stronger.  When you get comfortable being uncomfortable, the world becomes an easier place to thrive.

Change the scene, change yourself.

One-hundred per cent

Everyone has flaws; it’s a simple and necessary corollary to “Nobody’s perfect.”  It is how we, as individuals, address these particular hindrances that sets apart failure, and success.  Throughout life, a reoccurring lesson I’ve come across is to fail, and fail a lot. To fail intentionally would be foolish, but in most situations, it’s a precursor to success.  You will not become a better guitar player if you abstain from practicing (and sounding awful) for the first few months.  You will not become a Casanova without being rejected by a few hundred women.  Create three ugly websites before your masterpiece.  Put simply, “Throw shit against the wall and see what sticks.”  It’s a much more effective alternative to eternally staring at the wall, with the pile of shit in your hand, thinking about how you can perfectly throw it and maximize its stick potential.

“Failure” is too harsh a word.  It implies a totally negative connotation.  You failed, you screwed up, you wasted your time and effort?  Nonsense.  But every situation where you fail should be a learning experience, a way to improve for next time.  Fear of failure is what often holds us back, when the risk or possible loss won’t even be that great.  More often than not, you’ll walk away with nothing more than a bruised ego, and realize it was totally worth it.

A personal flaw, something I’ve recognized and try to address, is doing things 70% of the way through.  My father would be furious.  I know how to play 70% of hundreds of songs on guitar, but there are very few I can play in their entirety.  When it comes to writing music, I’ll lay out 2 of 3 verses, probably neglect a bridge, and then relegate the unfinished symphony to a notebook on the bookcase.  I’ll start a fiction writing exercise, be happy with where it’s going, and then scrap it, thinking that the next one i write will be better.

All of these situations are inexcusable.  Goals are always more effective when put into writing.  So this is my personal call to action, as well as a challenge to everyone else, to be incredibly thorough in everything you do.  Otherwise, what’s the point?  If you don’t give 100% to the task at hand, it is not worth undertaking.  You have the potential to give it your all, so do it.  No excuses.

I’m curious (and would also like to get some feedback if nothing else) as to the self-recognized flaws of readers, and how they are addressing them.

“Lively up YOURSELF/Nobody gonna do it for you.”

-Bob Marley