Many times we don’t start out on new directions, like taking courses that may help us improve our income or begin a new career, because of the additional time toll it puts on our schedules.  While our dream may be to advance, the time element scares us or otherwise is an obstacle to our dream becoming more of a goal and ultimately realized.  Reading and studying can be a big obstacle, but you can overcome it.

If you’d like to improve your reading ability this year, in both speed and comprehension, consider how you approach reading.  I offer two options for you in this post.

1.  I was in a post-graduate school at one time where reading a ridiculous amount of pages and books in either an overnight or week period was required.  Discussion and debate occurred the following day in class.  To calm our fears when we all first learned of this requirement, the dean suggested a process for us to comprehend the material without having to read every word.  He suggested for every book we would read chapter by chapter as follows:

• Read only the first paragraph or two of the chapter and try to get an outline in your mind for what unfolds in the remainder of the chapter.

• Read any highlighted paragraph headings to learn specifically what gets addressed in the chapter.

• Read the final paragraph of the chapter to find any conclusions or such to the chapter’s points.

That process saved us plenty of time and allowed for sufficient discussion.  Give it a try.

2.  Here’s another option that involves learning how to speed read.  There’s a free online speed reading software that looks like it can help with speed and comprehension skills.

Make it a goal for 2012 and you’ll have additional time for other pursuits or even better you’ll be ready to pursue other goals because you’ll be able to read and learn what you need all within your busy schedule.