Hi Everyone,
We all read many things (I hope) - books, magazines, articles, newsletters, social media posts, etc.
We subscribe to too many things and then forget about opening 80% of them just like we wear only a certain percentage of what's in our closet.
If you are like me, you are wearing 20% of your clothes 80% of the time and 80% clothes 20% of the time.
You can change the percentage for what's right for you and see how much is just taking space and not being used. That latter % should be handled in your spring cleaning :)
Well, I digress..
Subscribing to 100 newsletters and reading 5 or buying 20 and reading 4 books a year is not the point we are discussing here. That topic is different and all I'll say is start reading and spring cleaning your reading list.
The point we are talking about here is reading the right way to learn because if you want to learn, you can't read a book, an article or a newsletter like fiction even if it's written like a story.
I find out what percentage of my readers are opening my newsletters and what percentage is clicking on the LinkedIn posts and Medium articles I share in my newsletter sometimes. I have analytics for that.
Did you know that I also get some idea about how many actually read it and learned something from it?
Don't worry, Neither I have analytics for that, nor I'm judging the percentage that doesn't open the newsletter.
I know this because a tiny percentage of you either email, msg, or call me to share a thought, a different perspective or a question.
It's usually something on the lines of,
"I felt seen and validated when I read ..."
"X part resonated with me but what did you mean when you said Y"
"Wow! I had no idea about this term and concept, learned something new today, thanks for sharing"
"Hey, your piece gave me the nudge I needed to start..."
OR this question below that I am answering in form of today's newsletter
"Thank you for caring so much to consistently writing about stuff that you think will help us to pause and think. I enjoy your perspectives on LinkedIn and in your newsletter.
Will you share your perspective on 'learning'? It means different things to different people. I know you are passionate about learning and post a lot about continuous learning.
If you were to share your perspective on what most people are missing about learning, what would you say?
I thought about it for 5-6 weeks before I could think of what I want to share about learning that I haven't really paid attention to myself yet and shared before.
I also realized how I am re-reading some of the books and saved articles again.
Some of them were fresh in my memory like I read them yesterday and others felt like I was reading them for the first time even though I had underlined those points in the book.
These two thoughts gave me an idea of sharing about reading to learn, so here it goes..
- Some people are curious and they read word to word, judge it as good read or not so good read and move on.
- Others read the title and made an assumption about what it should be about and then started skimming through, leaving lines, paragraphs, to find what they are looking for.
- And then there's a tiny percentage who open the email to read and learn.
To this third category, it doesn't matter if I am going to share something old or new, ordinary or extra ordinary, something they are expecting to match with their thoughts or a different style of thinking.
They simply give themselves permission to take this time to read something and let something spark in their minds.
They think about what they are reading, they pause and ask themselves,
'What do I think of that?',
'How can this be relevant to me?',
'What is the main idea here and what else could it mean for me?',
'What problem of mine gets solved by this?',
'Why did I like it?',
'Why did I not like it?'
'If this is true, what does it mean for me?'
If it's not true, what does that imply?'
Another way you'll learn something while reading is to take notes.
There's a reason 'take a note' has two meanings in English.
To write down (take a note)
So, if you want to truly notice something, write it down because noting things down makes you notice them.
I also had read in a Medium article written based on some research done on education and learning that underlining or highlighting something doesn't do much for readers to remember or retain it for long. (I forgot to bookmark it and don't remember the title to search for it to share here)
So, today - promise me that you'll try to move away from reading to read or judge but read to learn.
Start somewhere - this newsletter, an article, any short form read before you try it on a book because remember baby steps? Learn to walk before you run!
If today's topic sparked something in you, a thought, an idea, a breakthrough, a different perspective. Share with me.
Also, keep writing about your goals, findings, interests, feedback, and topics you want to learn about more.
I write to engage and help create a community of people who'll
because without thinking critically, you can't learn, and learning is of no use if you won't act after learning.
Stay Curious,
Meenu
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113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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