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One of the main reasons why we spend too much time on reading is that we have developed a habit of reading all the words from the text. We read texts in a linear way, word after word and sentence after sentence. We have always read the texts in that manner and we usually do not think that three are possibilities for reading faster.

What is the aim of reading texts? It is not reading the words. It is getting information from the texts. Words are a medium for delivering information and reading words is only a means of obtaining information, not the goal of reading itself.

You do not have to read all the words from the text in order to get to know what the text is about. In fact, many words in the text do not contain valuable information. Consider the sentence “What is the aim of reading texts?” and compare it with “Aim of reading?” The message from these two sentences is practically the same, but the first sentence consists of 7 and the second one of only 3 words. It will take only half the time to read the shorter sentence.

In the most cases you do not need to get all the information from the text, but you are looking only for the general ideas. You want to get to know what does the author say. Although the information density of different texts may vary, on the average it is possible to get the main message from the text when one third of the words are missing.

So you can skip every third word and still understand the content. It means that when reading you do not have to be limited by the habit that you read all the words. Let your eyes fly over the text and do not be worried if you miss some of them. As far as you can follow the text, it is ok.

Reading the message and not the single words from the text is a matter of mindset. If you want to read faster then you have to approach the sentences as whole entities not as they consist of single words. Read sentences and not words. Get the idea from the sentence with out paying attention to every single word.

How can you develop that kind of habit? Instead of reading the text, let your eyes move over the text. Move your eyes in a faster pace than you are regularly reading. Read what you can, but do not pay attention if you miss some words. Let your eyes fly and follow the main message of the author.

kristjan Speed Reading information density, message, mindset

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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