Bill Gates and Buffett, you must know these two very well. They are 25 years apart. When they met for the first time in 1991, Bill Gates’ father asked them the same question: “If you just pick a word, it’s because it made you two successful, then, Which word do you choose?" Bill Gates replied: "Focus", Buffett said: "Me too." This is not over yet. In 2002, 11 years have passed. Someone interviewed them and said: "You are both so successful. Is there anything more regrettable?" Bill Gates said: "What I regret most is the young man. I didn't learn the correct reading method at that time." You should have guessed Buffett's answer, he said: "Me too."
I am very relieved that the world's richest man, like me, can't read it! No wonder I always think I can be the richest man someday.
When it comes to reading, I never feel that I am inferior to others. After all, when I was a child, there were 800 books without saying one thousand. But if it's not a novel, I will stop cooking, and I can't finish a page. But that’s okay. We’re not here to talk about reading today. Today’s focus is on the word “efficient”.
What is high efficiency? In today's context, an efficient antonym is called "routine", which is the way most of us usually read books.
What is routine? Open the book, start with the recommendation and preface, and read the first and second chapters page by page. Looking at it, my eyelids started to fight. I knew every Chinese character, and I didn't know what I was talking about when I was connected. When you encounter a paragraph that is particularly difficult to understand, you have to turn it back and read it several times. The more you look at it, the more blurred your eyes. Then what? You use your willpower to tell yourself that reading is very important and you have to persevere, so you turn over a dozen pages, and you really can’t turn it. You say: "Let’s read it next time", then put the book together and put it on the shelf . If you put it away and pick it up again, you don't know what year and month it is.
Therefore, for most of us ordinary people, they cannot read efficiently. It is no longer as simple as affecting the speed. The biggest problem is that we can't read it at all. Then there is this number: on average, a Chinese person reads 0.7 books per year. Look, there is not even one book.
There are two people, one named Adler and the other named Van Doren. These two people came up with a reading Bible. They said that there are four levels of reading, namely: basic reading, inspection reading, analytical reading, and topic reading.
So today our core methodology is here for inspection and reading, because this method is the most efficient way to solve problems. Still, two methods:
First, take off the jacket, take off
You get a book, such as this book called "Self-Control", this book has just a few features. First, it is a best-selling book, I feel sorry for not reading it; second, the topic seems particularly painful, and everyone feels that they have no self-control; third, the book translated in foreign languages is like wearing a stinky socks for a week. It is smelly and long, often inverted, and there are all kinds of obscure translations. You don't know what it said if you don't read it three times. After reading it three times, you find that you actually didn't say anything. Then this book must be read, but I still don't understand it. What's up? Let me teach you: take off your coat.
How to take it off? Look at the cover first, let’s classify it. For example, this book has a subtitle called "The Most Popular Psychology Course at Stanford University." Well, this is a sub-topic, this is a book in the field of psychology. There is also a message called "Stanford University", which seems to be a very awesome university.
Open it? Don’t worry, there is also a waistband with a paragraph like this: “If you always delay to work until the last minute, always moonlight, overdraft your credit card, stay up late to surf the Internet if you want to relax, and always want to lose weight, it’s always frustrating. , Then this book is written specifically for you". what is this called? This is called "propaganda copywriting." Don't underestimate this propaganda copy, at least we can get three useful information: first, the subject of the book; second, the object of writing; third, what problem to solve.
Then, we started to look at the catalog. This book has about ten chapters, but if you classify and summarize it carefully, you will find that there are basically five contents. Which five are there? The definition of willpower, the characteristics of willpower, the importance of willpower, the causes of loss of control, and the countermeasures for loss of control.
So, if you already know that self-control is very important, can we just skim the first three parts about willpower. Because the book is not saying that self-control is very important. Then what? Then you haven't mastered the self-control, it must be out of control. You don't know why you get out of control, and you don't know what to do if you get out of control. Therefore, the latter two major parts, namely the cause of the out-of-control and the countermeasures for the out-of-control, need to work hard.
At this time, did you find out? You already have an overall strategy. I usually take a book and take 15 minutes to take off my jacket. Believe me, these 15 minutes are worth it!
Second, don’t read it back, it’s over
Did you have an obsessive-compulsive disorder when you were studying? For example, if you don’t understand a paragraph, you have to turn it back and read it until you understand it? For another example, think that a book must be turned to the last page before it is finished? Why do I know you so much? I don't know you, but I have not received systematic reading training. Everyone has this problem. What to do then? Learn to skim.
Some people read at an amazing speed. For example, former US President Kennedy claimed to read a thousand words per minute. I don't believe that he can read word by word so quickly. Skimming ability can be improved through practice. The key is that you must first understand the expression routines.
For example, let’s take an example. The first sentence of a paragraph is usually the subject of the paragraph, and the details after that. For another example, some marked words: "first point", "for example", "therefore", etc. These words are like traffic signs telling you to slow down or speed up. In addition, some books have some visual marks when they are typeset. For example, "bold", "underline", etc., are to tell you that this is very important.
Don’t stop when you’re reading something interesting. Don’t look back when you don’t understand it. You can skim it once, turn it back, and skim it a second time. Remember one sentence: Skim twice, then slowly and accurately again, the effect is much better.
The core of this paragraph is mainly to adjust the mentality of reading. It is not that the finer the reading, the better, we are not taking a Chinese test. The purpose of reading is to understand the author's views and methods. You only need to understand it. It’s not good to say that the authors of some paragraphs may not even know what they are talking about. The second half of some books is just to make up the number of words. What are you doing with it?
Myself, after adjusting this mentality, my reading efficiency and confidence have been greatly improved. I am very fortunate that I have read this article, and I hope it will be helpful to everyone!
