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There are many ways for communicating with other people. On the general there are three basic types of it:

• Meeting face-to-face and having conversation
• Making a phone call
• Written communication, which is mostly done though e-mail

If we want to connect to another person we should always keep in mind what are the other options for doing it. Sending an e-mail is a fast and easy way to deliver messages, but there exist certain situations, when choosing it as a communication channel is a good idea while on the other cases it is not an efficient solution. Contacting a person by sending e-mail is justified on the following occasions:

• Sending facts and data. If you have to send the other person an annual finance report then you are not going to read in the telephone. If you want to only send it to the other party then there is no need to meet him. Sending an e-mail will do. The other person can read the report whenever he wants it. Written communication is good if you want to deliver information which is difficult for the other party to remember, for example if it consists of lots of numbers or when there are words with strange spelling (names of foreign places or people, for instance).
• Sending information before and after meetings. For organizing a good meeting you have to be sure that everyone is informed, what is going to be discussed on it and everyone has done his homework. Sending the agenda by e-mail is a good idea. After the meeting sending out the minutes of it plus the requested action for every participant are also necessary for putting the decisions into practice.
• Sending regular reports. If you have to send you boss a weekly report about sales or production, then it is usually not urgent, but at the same time this report needs to be stored for later use.
• Sending good news to lots of people. If you have a short message that you want to deliver to a number of recipients simultaneously then sending an e-mail is a suitable way for doing it. It would take to much time to phone call or meet all these people. For example, you announce that there will be a Christmas party in your organization or that our project got approval from the local authorities.
• Turning down offers or proposals. If you want to turn down an offer from a pushy salesman then sending an e-mail will help you to save time in comparison to calling to him. If you make the phone call then there exists a threat that it can develop in to a long conversation.

At the same time there exist some situations in which e-mail communication is not the best option:

• Emotional messages. There are not so many options for expressing emotions in case of written communication. Of course you can use emoticons, but there is no possibility that the other party will see your face or hear your voice tone. If you want to get the other party to feel how dissatisfied you are with him or his product then meeting face-to-face can have greater impact on him.
• Long conversation. E-mail is not fast. You will never know when the other party is going to reply. Usually you cannot expect him to reply in few minutes or hours. So if you have to discuss some issues intensely then it will be very time consuming though e-mail.
• Delivering urgent messages. For the reasons mentioned above you cannot rely on written communication on urgent issues. It is better to make a phone call or if you cannot get through then send a SMS.
• Sending bad news or critique to other person. If you want to tell your subordinate that his work performance is not up to the expected standards then communicating it in written for is not an efficient way for doing it. There is no way to see how the other person react to your critique and what is even worse it is not so easy to check if the other person has not misunderstood you. In case of critique it is very important that the other party gets a clear picture why you are dissatisfied with him. On those occasions you should meet him personally for discussing those issues. 

kristjan time management communication, email, emotions, message

Speed reading skills will allow you to read considerably faster than an average reader. These skills can be applied to many different texts, which are helpful in your professional career, but also for academic activities like studying at the university. On the general, speed reading can be successfully applied to the texts, which are written with the aim of delivering information from the author to the reader. At the same time speed reading is not a good solution if the author wants to create strong feelings or emotions with the text. If you want to read fast then you have to keep your emotions down or otherwise the emotions will slow your reading speed down.

If we think about different text that we read in the office then the most of the texts are written with the purpose of solely delivering information without emotions. All kinds of job related documentation is all about information, no matter if it is about marketing plans, product quality, business processes, legal cases or infectious diseases. Similarly speed reading can be applied to your daily mail no matter if it is electronic or on paper. All kinds of messages that are sent to you are sent with the purpose of delivering information.

If you are a high school or university student then you have to acquire lots of information for passing the exams. You have to study different subjects and you have to read many books for that. Again, as the aim of reading is obtaining information and not emotions here, speed reading skills can be applied.

You may look for new information also when you are reading in relation to your hobbies. For example, you are keen on fishing and you want to get some tips about choosing suitable fishing equipment. If you are reading a fishing handbook for that purpose then you are again looking for information.

So, speed reading can be applied to many different texts, which among other include

• Reports.
• Contracts
• Legal texts
• Manuals
• Handbooks
• E-mails
• Newspapers
• Professional journals
• Textbooks
• Essays

It is much easier to speed read texts, which have a clear structure. Some speed reading methods will include selective reading and it is easier to make choice about what to read and what to skip, if the text is logically constructed. In that case the most important parts of the text can be easily found. It is good is the text is broken into chapters or some other type of sections and these sections have headings. The presence of introduction and conclusion is also helpful.

If the text is poorly organized then it becomes more difficult to read it fast. If the author does not stress his main points, but instead of that just tells you many thoughts which are loosely connected, then it is difficult to get the most important information from this text in short time period.

Speed reading is not recommended for reading fiction or poetry. Although it is possible to read those fast, too, but you enjoy that kind of literature more when reading it slowly. But even if you want to read a novel just for getting the plot and not the pleasure and emotions, then it will be usually more difficult to speed read as novels do not have so logical structure as the non-fiction texts do. Of course, it depends on the author and his style, but in case of fiction there is usually just a storyline and there is the author is not emphasizing of the main ideas. In some extreme cases you can put all the pieces of information together only if you have read the book till the end, which means that you cannot apply some speed reading methods such as anticipation.

kristjan Speed Reading academic activities, anticipation, emotions, hobbies, legal texts, professional career, selective reading, speed reading, speed reading skills