Train to read - Start with books you are excited to read. (Short stories, fiction, non fiction, memoirs) - Find a cool reading location/ritual. - Schedule interval training. * 5 days a week, 10 minutes at a time, every two weeks up it for 5 minutes more. * Do it until you get to 40 minutes. * When at 40, start upping the complexity. - Do it for a year. - Become a reader.
I designed a similar reading ‘training’ program for myself about 2 months ago, after coming across the research Cal refers to. I can report that it works well! I now love reading again, after years of wondering why I had gone off book reading. Sticking to fun, easy (for you) books while training definitely works! I had to force myself to stick it out to the end of each (short) chapter at first. I would get bored and irritable straight away at first and be desperate to get onto the internet straight away at first. But I kept going with a reading session each day before I turned on Netflix. Now I can’t be bothered with all the sites I used to scroll away at endlessly, reading is much more fun! I also carry my e-reader around with me all the time - it is lighter than my phone - and read a few pages in spare moments, instead of endlessly scrolling
Hi, Thank you for sharing your experience! I’m very interested in learning more about your method. I’m from Kazakhstan, and I want to improve my reading skills because I currently read very slowly and with too much concentration. This takes a lot of time and makes reading feel tedious and boring. I want to learn how to read quickly, retain what I read, and understand it simultaneously. Could you please share more details about your reading ‘training’ program? Thank you so much! Best regards, Erkulan
@@virtualtravellingvideos the most important thing for me was to read books that I found both fun and easy. Even if I might be embarrassed to tell other people I was reading a children’s book, if I was enjoying it I would read it. The other important thing for me was to commit to keep reading for the number of minutes I set myself (or endorse fi the chapter if it was the right size). If I didnt do that, I would put the book down and reach for my phone too quickly. Also I always took my kindle with me when I went out, so when I went to pick up my phone, I could grab the kindle instead. You have big goals, it will take time to get good at everything!
I just ordered two books “ the deep work book and so good they can’t ignore you and the time block planner. I’m so excited. Thanks for sharing so much great content!
Making it fun is truly important!! I worked as a 'summertime storyteller' for a public library one year, and the fun part was HUGE. It doesn't matter what the topic is, the complexity (for kids, the number of words or sentences haha), but what does matter is making it relevant and fun to them, as many positive associations as possible!
Thank you, super helpful.. been challenged by reading all my life.. have literally 25 books where i have read 15% and stopped.. definitely going to try this approach.. I want to be able to read books side by side with my wife (who is a vociferous reader) and talk about them..
Thank you so much for this good content. Please is it a good system to write or jot things down while reading at the same time? Or does this just slow things down or create loss of interest?
Is it possible that Sambit's brain, like mine, is nearly completely oriented to hearing vs. seeing words as the best path to learning? Yes, he could train to be a better reader, and your suggestions seem fine for that. But for me, I find that I "read" dozens of books a year via audio, but struggle to get through a few using Kindle or dead-tree versions. You yourself mention you "listened to" Arnold's biography (as did I). For me, I retain much more when i read by hearing than when I read by seeing, even on a single pass, and of course much more upon a second listen. Listening, understanding and retaining is almost effortless, but for me it's real work to read. Listening even works better for me on highly technical material--including one of my doctoral textbooks which was luckily available in audio. I think it's a brain difference.
Someday if you really like a book and want to read and you don't find a audio version,what are you gonna do? Yes there might be a brain difference but this is where read training comes into play in my opinion where you can get advantage of both reading and audio. Very few percentage of books are there in audio format as of now. Reading is something you can definitely get better at with training. Ps- I have the same problem. I can listen but it's difficult to read for me. But I am trying to train myself to read now.
Book idea: David Goggins trains Cal for 2 weeks by living with him for 14 days going everywhere with him. If anyone can do deep work on a David Goggins training plan it is Cal. A guy ( I don't recall his name) had David live with him for 30 days,wrote a book about it, and did a great interview on Joe Rogan.
Did Cal say 200 min at most a week? Does not seem like enough for non-fiction books that are faily complicated and you want to retain what you read. Thoughts?
there's nothing wrong with audiobooks if you want the content or the story only, but if you're trying to work on the skill of reading words on paper, audiobooks won't help you. reading is a skill, just like playing an instrument. you wouldn't suggest that someone watch guitar tutorials only to learn to play the guitar, they'd have to actually pick up the guitar and try. same with reading.
Don't understand how you can talk about Arnold without a caveat about his sucking up to puppet master/monsters in anti-freedom rants. He revealed himself a sellout & should be taught as such, not praising his background, not w/o some added truth of who he is - unless it's a club you have membership in - - the rest of us will be left in the cold.
Sorry to hear about that struggle. Chances are you can probably do something about it and it might even not be ADHD. You can be mimicking the effects of ADHD by screwing your dopamine functioning. Scrolling, corn, videogames.. Maybe you've heard it by now but these things really mess with your attention spawn. We can always improve. Hope you keep that in mind and maybe do something about it someday. Peace
