Feb

23

How to Read and Digest a Book!

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This is my take on the subject and some of the strategies I personally use to improve my reading effectiveness. How I read for leisure is different to how I read to learn. This post is focused on improving the reading we do for personal and professional development, rather than leisure reading.

Charles Tremendous Jones believes that:

“The only difference between who you are today and the person you will be in five years will come from the books you read and the people you associate with”

I agree with Charles, this is why all effective leaders are readers! Rudi Guliani mentioned in his in his book, “Leadership“, that “great leaders lead by ideas”, I can relate to this, I have personally experience how great ideas from books have help me to develop and shape my leadership ideas and principles. To read and digest a book I use the process as show in the figure below:

Selection

When selecting a book its important to remember that the impact that a book has on your life is greatly affected by the season of your life, and where you are in your personal journey. Its necessary to choose the books you read wisely, you want to ensure, as far as possible, that the book you read is worth the investment of your time and energy. Some of the criteria I use when selecting a book to invest my time and energy in are:

  • I select a book based upon what do I need to learn or develop, given where I am in my personal journey.
  • I select books from authors that have previously impacted my life and with whom I connect. For me these are authors like Jim Collins, John Maxwell, Peter Senge, Warren Bennis, Tom Peters, and Noel Tichy.
  • I select books that will help to improve my strengths.
  • I select books in key subject areas I’m interested in, such as, leadership, communication, management, and strategy.

Slacker Manager’s post on “How to Read a Business Book” recommends the following websites as a means of assisting in the selection of a good book:

Preparation

Effective reading requires a productive reading environment, this can be created by:

  • Removing ALL distractions!!! Humans cannot effectively multi-task.
  • Ensure the the lighting is sufficient.
  • A regular place to read, this helps to keep you focused when “reading to learn”.

Its useful to keep in mind your primary purpose for reading, this will help your to focus and improve concentration.

Read Actively

To read actively you need to engage with the book, to do this its usually better to read a book in numerous short sessions, ranging from one to two hours, rather than in a single sitting. The Engineer2Entrepreneur blog posted a good article with suggestions for highlighting important ideas and principles as you read, including:

  • Using a highlighter.
  • Using coloured pencils, this allows you to colour-code your highlights.
  • Using a pen or pencil to make notes in the margin.
  • Using post-it notes, which have the advantage of being able to be moved around.
  • Using index cards or a clipboard to take notes.

Essentially reading actively keeps you focused and helps locate important concepts quickly later on. Don Blohowiak, in his post Reading with Gusto, takes highlighting to another level by recommending that you indicate why the highlight was made, using the following notation:

  • R = Research this further
  • Q = Quote directly
  • T = Technique to integrate into the processes of my work or life
  • A = Action item to put on my To-do list related to work in progress

Whilst reading then, highlight those ideas and principles that have meaning and application in your life. If you find that little in what you’re reading impacts you, it usually means, at least for me, that the book is not worth completing and I put it aside. This typically occurs for two reasons:

  1. The book does not resonate with the season and journey of my life, I then put the book back onto the bookshelf and ready to be read at later date.
  2. It’s simply not a good book, in this case I usually give it away!

Read selectively, by this I mean feel free to stop reading a book if it’s not adding value to your life, similarly skip chapters or paragraphs if they’re not relevant or resonating with you. Identify and focus on those chapters or paragraphs which will add the most value.

Reflect for Insight

After completing a first-pass of the book highlighting important ideas and principles, the next step is to re-read and reflect on the books “bigger picture”, to gain insight and understanding. Take as step back, and reflect on the whole book, answering the question “what does it mean to me?” This involves re-reading your highlighted sections to gain a deeper understanding of the key ideas and concepts. Reflection includes thinking though ideas, how they apply to you and how you should respond to them.

“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection” - Jules Henri Poincare

The keys to good reflection on the ideas contained within a book are:

  • Reflection needs to be intentional, this means I need to schedule time to reflect.
  • Reflect in a suitable environment removing ALL distractions.
  • Seek insight and understanding, not just of the idea, but how it affects my worldview and personal life.

Systemise for implementation

People fail to get the most our of a book because they don’t have a system in place to extract and implement the key ideas from a book that will benefit their lives. Systemise, then involves having two systems, one for extracting key ideas and principles from the book and placing them in a system so they are not lost. Another system is required to systemically integrate these new ideas into our lives. If the book contained sufficient ideas and principles to cause you to spend time reflecting, then they are worth systemising!

The first step in systemise is to capture key ideas and principles. Fortunately, there are some tools available for use which can be adapted to assist in capturing ideas. Some potential tools for capturing key ideas highlighted during the “Read Actively” step can be found from the Innovation Tools website, such as, “Ten power tools for recording your best ideas“. Personally I prefer to use a MindMap to capture ideas and principles from the books I read. How I do this is, I use MindManager to take notes from the books I read, which I print and bind making a portable collection of notes (a freeware / opensource alternative to MindManager is Freemind“). The resultant collection of notes I use daily, as I strive to integrate new ideas and principles into my life.

The second step in systemise is to have a system to implement and integrate that which are meaningful to you into your personal life. Knowledge without application is useless. Its only as we allow new ideas and principles to change our lives that we become wise. There is nothing that will cause you to grow more than when attempting to put new ideas and principles into action. I do this using a “To Do” or “Action list” which I review daily, as described in David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done“. I review this list every morning to orientate my day and I then attempt to apply some of these principles throughout the work day. I do this until new habits are formed, which typically takes 21 days.

Other strategies I use to ease implementation are:

  • Teaching others these new ideas and principles. To teach is one of the best ways to learn and clarify new ideas.
  • Create motivational posters with key quotes and pictures to keep me inspired and focused.
  • Create reminders, in my calendar or on my computer desktop.

To integrate and apply what we learn requires us to be intentional, setting aside time to practice, experiment and apply new ideas. To systemise then I use the following key principles:

  • Extract key ideas and principles from the book.
  • File them into a system so they can be easily located when required.
  • Use a system, a step-by-step approach, to implement and integrate these new insights into my life.
  • Set a deadline for the implementation.
  • Develop reminders, questions or even posters to keep you motivate and focused.
  • Teach what I have learnt to others.
  • Experiment with the ideas and principles as I wrestle with implementation.

I use a daily and weekly review, part of “Getting Things Done”, to reinforce ideas and principles I an integrating into my life.

And that’s it, I then move onto my next book!!!

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” - Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Technorati Tags: Reading; GTD; Books; Lifehacks

Feb

16

Interesting quote on leadership….

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I came across an intresting quote which I found interesting….

“Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration—of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.” - Lance Secretan, Industry Week, 10/12/98

Technorati Tag: Quotes

Feb

12

Where Growth Happens

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John Maxwell describes a growth environment as having the following characteristics:

  1. Others are ahead of you.
  2. You are still challenged.
  3. Your focus is forward.
  4. The atmosphere is affirming.
  5. You are out of your comfort zone.
  6. Failure is not feared.
  7. Others are growing.
  8. There is a willingness to change.

Via: Rasheed Dean’s Blog

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Feb

11

Employee Morale: What to do?

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A recent article on employee morale, on CIO.com caught my attention. Especially since we have been wrestling with the effect of low employee morale within our organisation. As the article mentions, “there are no easy fixes“, a scenario where “prevention is better than cure”! However, in the “new economy”, organisations will be faced with the issue of low employee morale at some time in their development, what should they do?

“Lack of communication and bad management, or lack of confidence in management, are the two biggest causes of low morale. It doesn’t matter what the economy is like.” — Rick Chapman, CIO and chief administrative officer, Kindred Healthcare

From experiences in our organisation we have found that money, increased social interactions are not the only answer, basically high morale cannot be bought!!! Some tips mention in the article are:

  • “The first step toward fixing bad morale is acknowledging that the problem exists. The second step is realizing that it’s your responsibility to make it better.”
  • “The biggest mistake you can make is to ignore the existence of a problem or rationalize it away,”
  • “Having daily contact with staff is essential for maintaining morale”
  • “The most important tool for recognizing and combating bad morale is communication”
  • “If you shut down your training program, you’ll find that a morale problem develops very quickly,” says Tweeter’s Morrison. “Training drives IT people.”

Technorati Tag: Leadership; Management

Feb

8

Strategies for Dealing with “Cognitive Overload”

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Regarding my previous post “Cognitive Overload: Life Interrupted“, I have found two additional articles, one titled “Brain overload: Too much to do, too little time” and the other “Defeating Overwhelm“. Reflecting on these articles “cognitive overload” is often exhibited as having the following symptoms:

  • Shrinking attention spans.
  • Uncompleted tasks.
  • Delayed decision making.
  • Superficial responses to questions.
  • Causes a decline in our performance, becoming less and less efficient.
  • An addiction to crisis.

Personally I have experienced cognitive overload as a lack of focus, distracted and being constantly interrupted making it difficult to find time to focus and complete tasks. With the increased use of technology “cognitive overload” is something we need to learn to deal with, as part of modern life.

Thinking about how I could deal with the increased interruption and information overload, I have collated some strategies to be used to deal with cognitive overload.

Focus on One Task at a Time

If you’ve made it a habit to multi-task, change your approach to work. Multi-tasking employed frequently as a means of coping with overwhelming demands of daily life. However, research by David Levy, has shown the we (male or female) are not good at multitasking. In fact, multitasking make less effective! Especially tasks that require some serious thought or a high level of quality. As Stever Robbins says:

Multitasking is a chance to accomplish many things poorly, all at once.

I suggest when working on tasks requiring some thought and a quality outcome, that you remove all distractions and possible sources of interruptions, shutdown your e-mail client, switch the phone onto voice mail and focus on completing one task at a time. This is usually best completed at a time that is suited to your energy levels.

Get Organized

By becoming more organised we are able to focus more effectively and make optimal use of our time. An excellent system, which I’m personally implementing, and would recommend is David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done“. In fact, many of David’s strategies are designed to reduce information overload and help you to focus on completing one task at a time. More information on “Getting Things Done” or GTD for short can be found at:

Maintain Your Locus of Control

With the number of tasks that requiring our attention on a daily basis it’s easy to focus of “fixing” things that are out of our control. Identify that which you can directly control and focus on addressing those issues.

Focus on Quality Information

With the Internet, e-mail and other media, information is abundant, don’t just passively accept information. The majority of information is useless, seek quality information from credible sources.

Take a Break Looking for the Big Picture

When you’re overwhelmed by one crisis after another, take a break, take some time out, away from your desk to allow your mind to clear. Cognitive overload is from “too much, too fast” take a break and reestablish your boundaries.

See the bigger picture….take a step back and develop time to think. Without taking time to reflect on life’s experience we are doomed to repeat our past.

Technorati Tag: GTD; Information Overload

Feb

2

Growth is Optional!

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“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” - Karen Kaiser Clark