Blocking: A Cool Tool for Speed-Reading

Are You a Speed Reader?

How to become a speed reader

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Sometimes, improvement is taking an existing process, understanding how it works, adding other insights to it to expand its use or becoming more efficient at the practice.  I would have you think about how you learned to read.  First, you learned to recognize the letters and sounds of the alphabet.  Next you grouped together letters and their sounds to make a word.  Then you grouped the words to make a sentence, then a paragraph, then a story.  The grouping of letters into words is called “Blocking.” Typically, we as students are left here to quietly sound out words we know in our head as we read a sentence (or a blog!).  Here is where improvement comes in.  If we train our brain to “block” larger portions then just one word, we can become more efficient at the reading process both capturing the meaning of the content as well as the amount we intake.  You will probably recognize this as “Speed Reading.” The ability to move quickly through a text, absorb the content and move on to other tasks is not only a time saver, but it expands your knowledge base and builds your confidence.  Your brain is an amazingly fast computer and is just looking for the opportunity to gather in more information.  Also, remember you are more than just your brain and your body.  You have a mind that can develop this body you inhabit both for your own benefit and the benefit of others around you.

Action Time!

Next time you pick up a book, try helping your brain focus.  Try taking a business card or a piece of paper and place it above the sentence you are reading.  Move the business card across and down the page, reading the information below.  Because the card blocks the words above, your brain will be more efficient in gathering the information on the line in front of you.  Most find they can significantly improve their speed just using this technique. If you are accustomed to reading electronic books, try using your index finger as the guide but now below the line.  Others use their index finger and little finger as a guide, which causes their brain to “block” a larger part of the sentence.  Check it out.  Print a few pages of something.  Read for a minute than count the words.  Now try the focusing process and repeat.  See the improvement?  Now, try some experiments to see how you can improve the process using what works for you. Now practice.  Let me know how you improve and where you are going to use the improvement. 

Did you like this article?  ”Like” it or “Share” it to motivate others. And don’t forget to like me on Facebook>> “Coach Rossitto“

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To Your Success!

Coach Rossitto

Related articles

• 10 Ways to Read More Books in Less Time (jgchristiansen.wordpress.com)
• 7 Keys to Reading Faster (maharajchandran.wordpress.com)
• Reading Comprehension And Speed Reading Tips And Tricks (rasmussen.edu)

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor.  Member FINRA/SIPC

The LPL Financial Registered Representatives associated with this site may only discuss and/or transact securities business with residents of the following states: AZ, CA, MD, NY. TX

 

How to Improve Your Memory

Need Help Remembering?

Simple Strategy Game to Help Boost your Memory

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We have talked about how our brain and our body are different from our mind.  So, if we learn how our brain functions and learn skills that help us use our brain better, we win big time.  If we practice those learned skills, we can wow ourselves and benefit others in the process. One function our brain uses is pictures.  If you are asked to think of a rose, most will mentally view a picture of their favorite colored rose.  Our brain pulls the picture and sometimes an emotion or story associated with the picture out of a file cabinet in our brain and we envision a rose.  So what’s the big deal?  Well here it is.  If you want to remember something, make a mental picture of the object (remember picture?), develop an emotional short story (remember sensation?) and then store it in some obvious fixed place (file cabinet).  If you want to keep that memory long-term, review the picture with the sensation in the file cabinet one hour later, than a day later and then a week later.  It will be yours, and with practice, for quite some time.

 Action Time!

Going to the store? Try the process.  Make a mental picture of the item and put some humor into it.  Store the mental picture and emotion in cabinet places on your body.  Here are some cabinet suggestions:  your feet, your knees, your thighs, your rear, your lungs, your shoulders, your ears, your face, the top of your head and one last one, the ceiling.  That is ten places. Now, go to the store and look at your feet.  What happened?  Your lungs?  What happened?  If it works (and I know it will) with practice, what other setting can you use the process? Write down your experiences and successes and tell me about it.

Did you like this article?  ”Like” it or “Share” it to motivate others. And don’t forget to like me on Facebook>> “Coach Rossitto“

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To Your Success!

Coach Rossitto

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor.  Member FINRA/SIPC

The LPL Financial Registered Representatives associated with this site may only discuss and/or transact securities business with residents of the following states: AZ, CA, MD, NY. TX

 

Program your Brain

Brain Power

You Control your Brain and Body

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Many involved in athletics are familiar with the term ”muscle memory.”  The basic concept is by consciously doing something over and over, your brain and body will move automatically into that groove and repeat the movement without having to consciously think about it.  Scientific research suggests that our brain develops a type of pattern to minimize effort.  We conceive something and consciously participate in the process.  If we repeat this process over and over, it shifts to a different part of our brain so as to minimize the mental effort and, voila! we have developed an unconscious habit.  Now, from your own personal experience, that isn’t rocket science. But on the other hand, it has some very significant implications.  It can explain how we sometimes respond, being good or bad.  It also provides us the mindset to hone certain skills, develop new skills, or gradually replace embodied habits with new skills. In a previous blog, I mentioned that you are not just your brain or your body. You have a mind that can program and control both your brain and your body as you learn to do so.

 

Action Time!

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Think about a skill set that you are good at; playing a musical instrument, playing a sport, solving a problem, painting a picture, etc.  What are some of the processes that caused you to gain that skill?  Take a while, put some thought into it, and write them in your journal (you are keeping a journal, aren’t you?).  This may take some real effort on your part but don’t give up!  If you learn your own mental processes and improve on them, the skill will grow exponentially.  Let me know what you come up with.

 

Did you like this article?  ”Like” it or “Share” it to motivate others. And don’t forget to like me on Facebook>> “Coach Rossitto“

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To Your Success!

Coach Rossitto

Related articles

• Our brain – Left and right (fromandforkids.wordpress.com)
• Why Your Best Ideas Come In The Shower (ceo.com)
• a brain fitness (beautifulifebysigal.wordpress.com)

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor.  Member FINRA/SIPC

The LPL Financial Registered Representatives associated with this site may only discuss and/or transact securities business with residents of the following states: AZ, CA, MD, NY. TX

 

Stand Out!

Be Outstanding

Refine your skills

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I admire the physical acumen of athletes.  I am often reminded that it isn’t necessarily the most talented athletes that succeed, but rather those who have developed habits that hone their skills.  They focus on refining those skills until they stand out and excel in what they are pursuing.  Have you ever noticed that athletes go to surroundings that help them do their feats?  And they hang out with other athletes.  Da….  Well, not so fast.  You want to get good at something?  Check out surroundings that encourage that skill and then make it a habit to make use of those environments.  For example, if your desire is to excel in studying, try going to the library for two hours a day.  May sound boring, yet, when you start digging into things, you may have a change of mind.  You are not killing two birds, but three with one stone. There will be multiple sources of information at your fingertips, you are in an atmosphere that is conducive to studying and are surrounded by people interested in studying.

Action Time!

What is one thing you want to explore?  What are the surroundings that will help YOU do that?  What works for someone else may not work for you.  A baby’s diet is different from the diet for a 75-year-old. Experiment!  Use your mind to see what triggers your brain and body to accomplish your goal. One word of caution: your mind has to reprogram your brain.  If you want to develop something, you may need to put some new wires in your brain.  Just like a long distance runner, there may be some puking along the way. Let me know what you’re chasing and what experiments you are running to get there.

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Did you like this article?  ”Like” it or “Share” it to motivate others. And don’t forget to like me on Facebook>> “Coach Rossitto“

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To Your Success!

Coach Rossitto

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor.  Member FINRA/SIPC

The LPL Financial Registered Representatives associated with this site may only discuss and/or transact securities business with residents of the following states: AZ, CA, MD, NY. TX