You've been reading wrong all your life.

by the end of this video you'll be able to read an entire book in a day maybe even in an hour and remember it for life but how is it possible to read faster and remember more especially considering the tricks most how to read fast videos talk about eye training using profl Vision following your finger to increase eye speed reading multiple books at once even Force flashing words cross your eyes at superhuman speeds yeah no don't do that you're not going to remember a single thing when you cram a thousand words down down your throat every minute or subliminally try and incept Concepts into your head no one actually reads like that as a board certifi doctor with three IV League degrees who's had to read a bajillion books to get here I'll tell you my secret to being able to read a book a day and remember it for life in the first part of this video I'll talk about a few important Concepts before introducing to you my three-step framework that gets to what really matters when you read growing new brain connections because think about it what are you really trying to do when you read you don't actually want to read faster you want to learn faster you want your brain to retain it to keep it so your life actually improves in some measurable way first concept is this not all words are created equally put quite simply you don't have to read all the words many authors unfortunately don't have your best interests in mind they'll fill things with fluff they use redundant examples they intentionally use obtuse language to look smarter it's not their fault the author's simply I fall into this trap all the time in fact I often write things because I like the way the sentence flows because I like how it sounds because it makes me feel good point is the words the author puts on paper serves the first Master first him or herself you are but a fly on the wall trapped in the thoughts of another if I'm lucky I've revised the crap out of what I write from the audience's perspective if you're lucky I cut it to the Bone so you get exactly what you need that's how you write relevantly and concisely but not all all authors will do that so it's your job to do so feel free to surgically cut through it yourself to get exactly what you need the way you do so is with the second concept the map how do you know what words are important and what words to skip simply put you cheat get the spark notes Ultra condensed 5minute version of the book first and read that you are not the first person to read this book there are probably summaries and discussions about it everywhere Wikipedia YouTube chat GPT the idea isn't to replace the book with a substandard summarized one but to build a working map for yourself think of each new book as Uncharted Territory a strange in mystical land you are about to explore trying to get around somewhere new in real life without a map is pretty dumb sure you may figure it out eventually and get to your destination but it's going to be as inefficient as hell a book is the same unless you are reading a book for fun never go into it without an understanding of what is about to happen that big picture understanding is your map armed with this blueprint you immediately know what is relevant and what is scan through each paragraph and make a split-second assessment is this relevant or is this if relevant read if very relevant or very interesting take your time to really digest it in fact read it a few times if needed if it's skip to the next paragraph or section immediately think of yourself as a ruthless W winning editor actually tasked with editing the book before publication this paragraph wasn't really needed you didn't get to the point here this is just reiterating the same idea once again this is just transition this is filler wait wait wait wait waa let me read this part again this section this one's money when you do this you'll quickly realize how redundant and inefficient most authors are being succinct and making each word count is an art moreover you quickly become a better reader writer and connoisseur it's like evaluating wine be critical your time is valuable every author should respect that with this method meod you should be able to blaze through pages quickly because again you aren't reading every word but what if what you're reading is more technical like a textbook for example same idea use the table of contents chapter headings and subheadings of each section to help you get the big picture ideas this is called building the skeleton get a sense of the structure and the main ideas of each section without diving into the details build the skeleton before you fill in the meat what's the purpose of each section what are the main takeaways are there prerequisites I need to have before I can understand this again the author is human and has no idea where you are coming from they maybe assume you have the basics they have their blind spots maybe it makes sense in their heads but they suck at delivering at teaching so stop wasting your time is there another resource that simplifies this or approaches it from a different angle better yet how important is knowing this part if it's foundational to the rest of the book take your time and really understand it if it's not maybe just knowing the gist is good enough enough don't get caught in the weeds move on to something more high yield point is reading a book should be like a Choose Your Own Adventure story rarely is a book meant to be read cover to cover this is the Crux of the third concept the purpose let's say you just bought a fancy new vacuum cleaner but you don't know how to install the bag oh thank God there's an instruction manual but are you starting on page one and reading Page by Page word after word until the last page of course not you leave through and zero in on a exactly the section that is relevant to your situation it's probably just a paragraph or maybe a single diagram that explains what you need to know and that's all you need treat all books in the same way approach with purpose with ruthless efficiency there should be a single question in your head at all times some problem you're trying to solve what am I reading this book for what is the point of this I know I know it feels wrong it feels like you can't say you've read a book until you've literally read it from cover to cover but ask yourself what do you value more a seing feeling of accomplishment or actually having practical usable information in your head stop worrying about collecting notches on your belt stop trying to impress reading is not done for others it's done for yourself of course caveat to this is if you're just reading for fun you enjoy the author's Pros how he uses words to paint and tickle the canvas of your mind if that's the case then your purpose is entertainment you are enjoying a book like you would a movie but if you're here to upgrade your brain you need to approach with surgical Precision with this in mind you are ready for the fourth concept the trio whenever you read there's a hierarchy of brain functions you engage and turn on in a stepwise fashion passive reading active reading and applied reading I personified them and given them names ideally they should always be three voices in your head when you read The Collector the curator and the connector most people only have The Collector when they read this is also known as passive reading passively collecting words and doing nothing with them words simp simply enter your brain like ghostly Whispers And vanish into poofs of smoke quickly replaced by the next it's like your mind is an empty tunnel and the words bleed together like a never ending train entering and exiting just as quickly you ever feel like you finish reading an entire page but barely registered what happened the train came entered your head but because you never did anything with it it simply left the tunnel this is the most primitive form of passive reading but even regular passive reading where you do register the words is problematic it forces yourself to dutifully keep Pace with how fast the train runs I.E how fast the words can Flash across your eyes and we already talked about this because you aren't curating the words you read and evaluating how worthy each paragraph is of your time you are forced to keep Pace with the author's whims in fancies and thus you are forced to rely on fancy techniques to speed up the train with eye training finger tracking mental focus which again is just stupid because it doesn't engage your brain at all it doesn't make you you think and just stresses to you the value of speed Above All Else and what's the problem with speed you inundate your brain with information without taking the time to integrate them into your deep memory networks when you speed read 50 pages of dense text filled with ideas and Nuance how much of that are you realistically retaining your brain only has so much bandwidth divert all your attention to speed and you sacrifice comprehension okay but what if you speedread at a level where you still understand what is going on sure you may understand the concepts but you don't get to keep them information hits the working memory centers of your brain but this is short term just like how you can register someone telling you their name in the moment I.E comprehension but because your attention quickly moved on it's not at all surprising when later you're all like crap what's the dude's name again and then you stew in your awkwardness when you realize it's too late to ask again so you just call him bro or dude with the rest of Eternity here's an irrefutable fundamental aspect of the brain superficial Ally gained information is superficially lost speed reading is exactly that you push your mind to hit the next word and the next and the next replacing each one as quickly as humanly possible when you do that there's no way you're focused on learning your brain quite literally doesn't have the resources to grow actual brain connections to actually connect what you're learning to existing knowledge networks you need real reflection and Analysis of what the author is trying to say and that takes effort that takes energy that's why people say to let things sink in after you learn something it literally takes time for your brain to capture and store information if you want a deeper dive into how you actually learn from the perspective of what's going on in the brain check out this video This is why it's so important to engage the higher functions of your prefrontal cortex the executive centers of your brain this is where the curator of that Trio comes in and this is the basis for active reading this is all the stuff we've already talked about Concepts 1 2 and 3 think of it this way there's a little guy in your head doing the actual reading that's the passive reading Guy The Collector he's just collecting information but because you're awesome and you've watched this video you know to bring online another guy doing the actual curation the curator this is the guy standing behind your shoulder telling you don't read this don't read that that's stupid jump over here why are we reading this again where on the map are we now but if you really want to be awesome and retain everything you learn you bring in the third guy this is the plied reading Guy this is who I call the connector he's here to make sure you remember this stuff for the long run and connect what you read to the deepest parts of your brain what does Neuroscience tell us brain cells that fire together wire together you want every time you read to be an actual session where real brain connections are grown so how do you grow brain connections the same way you grow beastly biceps and six-pack apps you expend effort with actual real brain exercise in other words you need to apply what you read and exercise your brain in real time as you read first exercise is called the review we've kind of talked about this already and it's something you should always be doing every time you read something ask yourself what concept is the author trying to say is this concept new to me is this concept relevant to me and my purpose or question after you do that flow directly into the second exercise the debate do I agree with this concept does it gel with what I know could the author be wrong even if I do agree with the author what problems do I see with it if I had to play Devil's Advocate what would I point to what would he or she then say in response do you see what is going on you're taking what you just learned and wiring them together with ideas and Concepts from existing neuronal networks manipulating them together in your mind's eye like a Rubik's Cube feeling around seeking new angles and perspectives you haven't yet thought about you are literally forcing new brain connections to grow from what you know to capture what is new fact of the matter is no concept can exist in the void untethered as an isolated piece of information to keep anything you have to make it relevant and you have to tie it down with context third exercise is called the professor this is where you begin to use and apply the information and make it your own ask yourself can you do a TED talk about what you just learned what stories would you include what examples from your life would you bring into this talk can you then simplify it and teach it to a fifth grader can you explain it in a one minute elevator pitch actually try it after you read talk about it write about it teach it to a friend if there's no one record yourself giving your future self the highlights of what you just learned as you talk about it you'll reveal to yourself where holes in your understanding are and thus be able to strengthen your understanding by patching those up on the second go around the final exercise is called future you whenever you learn something ask yourself how does learning this impact your life or make it better was this a useful use of your time or knowing what you know now what are you going to do about it what are you going to do to make sure your life is measurably better because of what you just learned because if you don't remember what you learned you might as well have never even learned it right do you think future you 5 years down the road will remember what you just learned what can you do to ensure he or she has access to this knowledge by the way highlighting the book writing down your thoughts in some digital notebook doesn't work because come on realistically you aren't ever coming back to these notes again the process of writing it down May even hurt you take photographs for example you're in the middle of some awesome event right spending time with your homies you want to preserve and remember this memory so what do you naturally want to do snap a crap ton of pictures right according to psychology Professor Elizabeth lus of UC Irvine even snapping photos harms the brain's ability to retain memories one because we offload the responsibility of remembering to the camera so our brain St stops building the brain connections and two you're so distracted and busy doing the photo taking that you don't prop properly process the moment altogether same happens with superficial wrote writing or Worse copying and pasting sentences that you like you get what you focus on if you don't properly integrate the concepts into your head and rush to write it down instead you fall into the same trap focus on growing brain connections instead if something is useful enough you want it in your brain you want access to it at all times so you can use it as a foundation for future Concepts and connections obviously depending on what you're reading different exercises will apply you don't have to do them all point is actively engage your brain and apply what you learn to everything you read in a very meaningful way with all that said I hope you can see what the three-step framework looks like whenever you read always do three non-negotiable steps first is to prep understand why you're about to read this book have a purpose a reason a question you want answered then pre-ad to build your skeleton have a map of what to expect second step is to read but to read actively I give give you license to generously skip use your map and your purpose to guide you read only the essentials of what you need for this particular goar around it's okay to come back to the book in the future and repeat the three steps when you have another purpose third step is to apply and immediately engage your brain so what you learn is Tethered into long-term memory and that's it folks I hope this video gave you something of value if so please consider becoming a patreon member and support me in my efforts to grow and scale this channel even more also consider becoming a substack member to get early access to ideas just like this one and of course if you haven't subscribed yet to YouTube please do so and then go tell your friends your grandma and your pet hamster until next time my friends smell you later

Channel: SpoonFedStudy

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Id: DpIrzA2ohcg

Length: 15min 41sec (941 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 07 2024