Category Archives: Speed Reading

Speed Reading, thinkings skills workshops

Mind Map for Speed Reading Comprehension

mind map for speed reading comprehension
Mind Map for Speed Reading Comprehension

Here’s a way to grab and organise the ideas you pick up while speed reading.

Have you noticed you lose the plot when speed reading? Do you find there seems to be a trade off between speed and comprehension? Here is a neat way to get more out of your speed reading, using a mind map.

Quadruple your comprehension with a mind map.

Do you feel panicked at the volume of stuff you’re expected to read and comprehend every day? Especially where detail is supposed to be trotted out at the next meeting?

Well, I have been teaching speed reading for 25 years and I have come to believe that getting through masses of stuff is not about being clever. Its about technique. <–just click here to tweet this pearl of wisdom!

So try this simple sequence to retain your speed while not losing comprehension during speed reading.

  1. Use a guide. Maybe you remember being told at school not to use a finger while you read? Actually, we all use a finger or pointer while looking at the price on a menu or a word in the dictionary – or even reading on the screen of our iPad. Why do we do this? Because it helps us focus and connect. So why not do it all the time if you are speed reading?
  2. Condition yourself to read faster.  If you’re sitting down to read a new book or a new report, always spend a minute or two running your finger over the entire text, mechanically, taking three seconds per page, to condition yourself to read faster. So, now do this from the beginning for a minute. Time it.
  3. Stop and scribble what you remember in a simple mind map. One colour on a piece of blank bond paper will do. Here’s a link to a short video of how to do a mind map.
  4. Then read for another minute. Do the same thing. When you think you’re getting the hang of it slow down and read for five minutes and then stop and map you’ve gained. Try it. You’ll find your comprehension quadruples without losing your speed.

The best part is you’ve now got a set of (albeit scribbled) notes which you can spend another few minutes organising into a more formal mind map ready to take into the meeting.

Learn more about mind mapping here.

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Mind Mapping®, PowerLearning®, Speed Reading, thinking skills, Uncategorized

Advanced Power Learning for Teens

Powerlearning for Teens in Houghton
Getting ready to Fly at a PowerLearning session

Would you like to have 4 hours of intensive coaching in Power Learning for your teenagers with Richard and Lulama?

ITS FOR TEENS …  That is:  13 – 19 years old

They desperately need to know what I wish I had known when I was at school and Varsity, i.e.:

* How to study
* how to concentrate
* How to remember
* Tips on Tony Buzan’s Mind Mapping®, dumping, exam planning, and much more!

A seriously cool and fun session. Typical feedback is: “I actually learned a lot!”

I’m offering the session mainly as added value for parents who have attended the Thinking Skills workshop previously.

As you know, we believe learning should and can be fun. So we will have a lively conversation with those attending.  We’ll show them how to get through masses of textbooks in the shortest possible time so the have more time for the important things in life.

We’ll also cover: (Run this past the family at supper tonight!)

• How to take better notes and become teachers pet for the quality of your projects.

• How to manage study and homework time better.

• How to organise your thoughts onto paper better.

• Learn how your memory works – be noted for your brain power.

• Practice mnemonic techniques to recall names and lists.

• How to boost recall of a study session to find more time for life.

• How to turn on the mind/body chemistry of the “Aha!” response with meditation.

• Be inspired by your brain function and latent power.

• How to improve your success by use of breaks.

Venue:  Houghton TM Centre –  Sat 16 June
Cost:    R697 pp inc VAT.

HOW TO BOOK: Its easy! Just use the contact form above right

If you have already attended one of these courses with Richard, we’d love to hear of your successes!  Use the “message” field of the contact form top right.

Accelerated Learning, Information Overload, Personal Development, Speed Reading, thinkings skills workshops, Transcendental Meditation®

4 reasons to come to the Thinking Skills Workshop

 

The Thinking Skills Workshop runs over 3 days. But why take the time to master speed

Thinking Skills Johannesburg

reading and mindmapping?

Many written comments we have received over the years describe thinking skills as “the best workshop I have ever attended”. They wrote this alongside comments saying they appreciated the alternative format comment, the creativity, Richard‘s manner and entertainment, and the fact that the workshop was oriented to both a work and personal development point of view. It was engaging, challenging and they enjoyed the study technique and juggling.

Why then, would you NOT send colleagues who have a need to process massive amounts of information and deal with impossible workloads?


  1. Many attend thinking skills because it has a powerful personal development focus. I get e-mails 15 years later from people with graduate degrees telling me how their life was changed by mind mapping and study technique. Or how their career blossomed after they got the confidence to take control of their lives and change jobs. So don’t send your key people because they may outgrow your organisation.
  2. Or you could read Tony Buzan’s Mind Map Book or Use Both Sides of your Brain to save your attending the workshop. However, lots of people who attended have already read these and similar books, and they found that the practical hands-on experience of gutting a 400 page textbook in an hour irreplaceable. One delegate was moved to tears by the experience.
  3. I researched the stress levels of people attending a Thinking Skills workshop. Six months later they showed stress level scores reduced from around 80 to around 60 on a standardised stress questionnaire. (Interesting, but statistically ns.) Using the same questionnaire and Transcendental Meditation as the intervention they dropped from 64 to 30 after 5 1/2 months. This was a HIGHLY (P <0.0005) statistically significant result. So if your people are coming on the workshop to reduce stress levels, know there is a better way: TM.
  4. You can use WolframAlpha to to do the studying for you. This amazing search computation engine revolutionises the way we learn new stuff. Example, try entering “weather Johannesburg versus Cape Town”. It will return in about eight seconds with: “assuming Johannesburg in South Africa” (yes, there is another Johannesburg—in California with population 172 versus 3.888 million in Joburg according to WolframAlpha) … and it’ll  show you graphs of temperature, cloud cover etc for the past four days, and even the next three days forecast. Now try “movies with the word dog”. It gives you 32 titles in about 5 seconds. The possibilities are fascinating and endless.

So it’s up to you. Use these books and tools to guide you. Search for ways to read and learn faster or get it all in a practical, enjoyable three-day break from the mind-numbing routine of the office.

Next workshop details:

VENUE: Houghton

DATES:  tba

PRICE: See Pricing

Keep Learning!

Richard

PS I’m really not kidding about the 400 pages per hour stuff. Its not a miracle (at best) or scam (at worst). Its really all about strategy – and a smattering of speed reading skills. And Mind Mapping is really important.

Accelerated Learning, learning, Speed Reading

Study Tips for Businesspeople

Looking to sharpen your thinking skills? Working on a part-time MBA? Mind maps help big time!

Here are some quick tips for successful study
  • Start with the end in mind. Get your syllabus. Study it. Get out your study notes and checkout the headings and sub-headings. You don’t have time to read everything in total detail, so make sure you get an early picture of the whole syllabus and use that overview to pick out the key areas that always come up.
  • Spot. Spot. Spot. Get old papers. Figure out what always comes up. Go for that first. Early in the year.
  • Take a sheet of paper for each subject. List the main topics and sub-topics down the page.
  • Better still – make a mind map for each subject. Personalise each area by using your own codes such as “easy”, “interesting”, hard”, “need help with this” and “eeeek!” etc
  • Plan. Plan. Plan. Build in revision time EVERY DAY for stuff covered that day. Then review it again tomorrow, and again next week, and a month later. Then finally just before the test or exam.
  • Mind maps are fantastic for making summaries that are memorable and help you to get your head around stuff. They even make cool wall hangings – so you surround yourself with the stuff you’re working with. That way you never forget.
  • Be proactive. You MUST look over the textbook version of your next lecture or lesson BEFORE the lecture. This means you’ll have to pester the lecturer for what they plan to cover next. Don’t worry – he/she won’t see you as a nuisance – they welcome students who come forward like this.
  • Read cool books like Tony Buzan’s Mind Map book. Finkel’s Brain Booster.
  • Get free mindmap preview software by searching google for freemind or Buzan’s iMap.
  • Improve your mind with Transcendental Meditation – it’s proven to help you concentrate.
  • Prefer baroque music over heavy metal or industrial goth for your study times.
  • Get enough exercise.Take frequent breaks
  • Eat only fantastic food – organic is best.


For the younger student:

Call about our occasional 4 hour PowerLearning ® courses in Houghton fro teens. 1pm – 5 pm,Call 011 483 0685 for details. Checkout this brochure for more info