Increase Reading Comprehension Through Selective Attention

The last time I thought much about my reading comprehension, I was an engineering student, feeling overwhelmed by 18 credit hours worth of textbooks. But though I’m long graduated from college, I find that I still have a massive amount of reading to do. And improving my reading comprehension would be a wonderful way to increase my productivity and effectiveness.

That’s why I was intrigued by an article at Dumb Little Man which promised to massively increase your reading comprehension.

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: That’s way over-promising. But the strategy definitely has potential, and does indeed work. Perhaps just not massively. Before we talk about the particular strategy, let’s watch a video:

If you’ve never seen this sort of video test before, you might be amazed at how easy it is to miss even stunningly obvious things if you’re watching passively or paying attention to the wrong stuff.

And this video is an excellent metaphor for reading a management book: With so much going on, it’s impossible to observe and retain anything of substance unless you choose a particular focus area and pay attention to it.

So, with that said, Dumb Little Man recommends that when you start a new book, you do this:

1. On an index card, write your purpose for reading the book.
2. Review the book’s outline and summary.Image via Wikipedia
3. List, on the index card, five things you want to learn by reading the book.
4. Use the card as a bookmark and review it each time you read.

Sound simple? Yes, but as you learned from the video, focusing your attention can mean the difference between learning something specific and learning nothing at all.