How to Become a Better Reader: Breaking the Comprehension Barrier (2)

 

Image Source: www.pixabay.com

This post is the second part of an ongoing discussion. If you are yet to read the first part and would like to do so in less than 5 minutes, please click here.

 

Link the Content or Information Presented to Prior Knowledge

Most times, materials appear difficult or are actually difficult to understand because we are unable to see things the way their authors did when they wrote them. We may not have the kind of prerequisite knowledge or experience that the authors have so, we will need to consciously find the relationship between what we already know and what they are trying to share with us. To interrelate the content of a difficult material to what you already know, consider the topics, main ideas, principles, examples, etc. in what you are reading and connect them to the ones you already know. Doing this might help you understand the material better or inspire you on how to bridge the gaps between what you know and what is being discussed. Also, if the author included the details of references or a list of additional study materials in the material, you may consider accessing those other materials to see if reading or skimming through them would aid your understanding of the actual material. However, that is only advisable if you have the time for it. Otherwise, you should focus on other (time-sparing) techniques.

 

Attempt to Summarise the Content of the Material

Sometimes, materials are difficult to understand because they are not written in familiar words or comfortable structures, volumes, etc. Consequently, creating a summary of the material while reading it and focusing on understanding that summary might help improve your understanding of the material. When you are given a material and it seems too difficult to understand, attempt to summarise the material in your own words without removing key concepts or distorting the obvious opinions of the author. Then try to read and understand the summary. Creating a summary should not take so much time if you time yourself properly and maintain discipline. But, if for any other reason you find the summarisation process too time consuming, you might want to focus on summarising just the difficult or most difficult parts.

 

Read More of the Kinds of Texts You Consider Difficult Regularly

If you are likely to keep encountering such material often in your current or future endeavour, it is important to put in extra effort and start familiarising yourself with similar materials regularly. In this case, you will need to up your game and apply the ideas I have already suggested above in addition to those you will think of by yourself and those you will get from other experienced readers. The truth is, no matter how difficult a material is, it is still possible to understand it. Once you can identify why it is difficult for you, you can find effective solutions to the cause of that difficulty and gain a good understanding of the material. So, challenge yourself by reading more of such materials.

 

Seek the Recommendations of Persons That Are Familiar with That Particular Material or Such Kinds of Materials

Finally, if you know or can find persons that have studied or used the material before, you should find out how they were able to understand it. Ask them relevant and clear questions and try out their suggestions. If the material was recommended by a superior, teacher or tutor, you could also seek their opinion on how to improve your comprehension of its content. Tell them the efforts you have already made on your own to improve your understanding and the outcome. They are most likely going to help you by supplying useful ideas that will aid your understanding or they might decide to recommend an alternative material that you can equally use to achieve the intended outcome. But when asking the person who recommended the material to you originally, let it be very clear that the help you need is how you can effectively understand the content of the material. Make sure you don’t suggest that you are trying to avoid “seemingly” difficult materials or dodge the challenge they may have intentionally presented to you.

 

The suggestions above are just ideas that I have personally applied before. However, after drafting this post, I decided to randomly check out what some international schools have to say about the subject of discussion and found a few similarities in our ideas. If you would like to read their thoughts on how to understand difficult materials, you can click here and here. Alternatively, if all you want to know is how to study smarter, not necessarily how to understand difficult materials, you might learn a few things from this school. Kindly note that sharing these links (for more ideas) does not mean that I am presently affiliated with any of the sources.

 

Cheers to you, on your journey to becoming a better reader!

How to Become a Better Reader: Breaking the Comprehension Barrier (1)

Photo Credit: www.pixabay.com

When a piece of writing or a study material is easy to comprehend, you will definitely spend less time understanding it (compared to when it is difficult) and really, that is how things should be. Or, maybe I should clarify that that is one thing I have realised as a reader too. I believe that the goal of every writer should be to be easily understood by their readers. As a writer, you are likely to make maximum impact when you are able to communicate your ideas or thoughts in a way that all or most of your readers can clearly understand them. So, except in cases where the target readers are expected to be familiar with the nature of the material, no matter how seemingly difficult it may be, or the objective of the writer or recommender of the text includes the creation of a learning experience in the minds of the readers through some form of mental exercise, no communication material should be written in a way that makes it hard for any fairly knowledgeable reader or potential reader to understand.

However, we all know that that is not the case and perhaps, that has never been the reality in written communication. Not all writers write to be understood by almost anybody and not all readers can easily understand the simplest kind of material. So, when an essential material appears difficult to understand, what can you do to still comprehend it? Well, there are certain techniques that you can apply to derive maximum understanding from any kind of material and I will share the ones I know shortly.

 

Examine How the Material Is Structured or Organized from the Beginning to the End

While this does not guarantee an absolute or even better understanding, you may find it helpful. If you are familiar with or have previously observed how materials in the same category as difficult material you are reading are usually structured, you will know if the one you have with you conforms or not. If you are new to such kinds of materials, try to find materials that are easy to understand but belong to the same category as the difficult material and compare their structures or organizations. Ascertaining whether the material you are reading conforms to the usual convention might help you realise how best to study and understand it. For instance, if the material is not well-structured, you may find out from the table of content that it is better to read randomly in a way that will improve your understanding than to follow the serial arrangement used by the writer. Also, you might notice in the preliminary pages that the author actually gave useful suggestions on what you can do to enhance your understanding of the material.

 

Identify the Actual Cause of the Difficulty You Are Experiencing

Most times, authors of written materials follow industry-specific writing standards and have conscious reasons for writing the way they do. Their reasons are not so hard to detect. If it is not the about the way everyone writes that kind of material, it would probably be about the way they have personally chosen to write the material. Once you have realised that a material seems quite difficult for you to understand, consciously analyse why the material seems difficult. Are there too many jargons? Using a dictionary or reference manual might solve that. Do you find the information presented abstract? Consulting additional material or finding examples might solve that. Are there no examples you can relate to? Discussing with a more experienced person might solve that. Are the sentences disjointed? Editing the material first might solve that. Is the author unable to convey their ideas or findings meaningfully due to poor lexicon? Contacting the recommender of the material or revising the material might solve that. Regardless of what the nature of the difficulty you are facing is, what you need to do is to first identify its root cause(s) and then seek the best ways to overcome them.

 

End of Part 1. Please click here to read the concluding part.

When Is It Okay to Give Up on Something? (2)

Photo Credit: www.pixabay.com

Continued from the previous post. If you haven't read that, you can do so by clicking here.

3. When Giving Up Becomes the Only Way to Move Forward

There are times when the only way to make progress is to let go of what you’re pursuing. For instance, if you set a goal to pursue a marital relationship with someone and eventually find out that that person got happily married to someone else, the right thing to do is to give up. You should face your new reality, get over the heartbreak in due course and move on too. You definitely shouldn’t anticipate that something will go wrong with their union and stay hopeful about your goal to marry that person. Inasmuch as it is clear to you that the person you loved did not love you enough to choose you, the best thing you can ever do for yourself is to give up and move on. In fact, if you truly loved that person, you should settle your grievances with them, sincerely hope they experience the best in their new relationship and move on with your own happy life.

 

4. When What You Are Pursuing Is Taking More from You than It Will Give You

There is a cost for everything. Even the free things in life were already paid for by someone or something –be it a human being, nature, inter-system interactions or if you believe, an external supreme being. Naturally, we pursue goals that we know will either gratify us or contribute positively to the lives of other people. So, if you are pursuing a goal and you subsequently find it so demanding that the cost of achieving it (in terms of efforts required, finances involved, impact on your welfare, resources needed to stay driven, etc.) will eventually be more than the fulfilment you will derive from it, you may have to give up on it. Even if your goal will benefit the whole of mankind, as long as you are not able to make the kind of sacrifice that is required or you find out that the accomplishment will not be worth your losses eventually, the best thing to do may be to give up and maybe transfer the idea or goal to someone else.

 

Finally, there are more than 7 billion people here on earth today and I have always believed that quite a lot of us receive similar, exactly the same or parts of the same kinds of ideas at the same or different times in during our lifetimes. Consequently, after writing this post, I decided to find out what other people think about giving up sometimes and I have chosen to share the links to their opinions too. Some of their thoughts are in sync with mine but others are unique.

 

Disclaimer:

While sharing these links does not mean that I absolutely agree with the writers or endorse their suggestions, I believe they are shreds of evidence that I am not the only person who thinks there are times when it is okay to give up. In fact, I suspect that a lot more people believe so. These three are just a few of those who have decided to share their thoughts on the issue publicly on online platforms.

 

Please, see the links in the bulleted list below.

 

Till you read from me again, keep seeking solutions to the problems in Africa and remain strategic in your deliberations and contemplations!

 

•           Lara Rutherford-Morrison (Bustle, 2015)

•           Cheryl Conner (Forbes, 2013)

•           Dorie Clark (Harvard Business Review, 2012)

When Is It Okay to Give Up on Something? (1)

Courtesy: www.pixabay.com

I am no pessimist. In fact, I believe in great possibilities. But, no matter how smart, driven, awesome, tireless, or persistent you are, there are times when you just have to give up. Yes, I just published a series on why and how you should persist till you eventually overcome on this blog recently. But I know that there are times when we get caught up in situations where giving up on our goal is the best thing to do. I will share 4 examples briefly.

 

1. When You Do Not Have the Privilege of Trying Again (Repeatedly)

You may have to give up on something if it has a deadline and you cannot extend or keep extending its deadline. Of course, you should have given it your best shot and absolutely confirmed that you cannot overcome the deadline challenge before choosing to give up. Once you are sure you have exhausted your chances, you should give up on it and find something else to focus your energy on. As an example, if you’ve been trying to become an executive in a prestigious club or professional association that has an age limit for eligible candidates and you set a personal deadline to attain that position but are unable to win the required election till you exceed the applicable age bracket, then you should be willing to give up on that goal and find another gratifying goal to pursue within or outside the organization.

 

2. When What You Are Pursuing Becomes Irrelevant or Less Valuable

It is okay to give up on something if while trying to achieve that thing, it becomes irrelevant or less valuable to you than it was when you originally set out to achieve it and if it is clear that stopping where you are or abandoning it is better than going through to completion. Once it is obvious that you will eventually waste time, money, efforts, etc., if you continue to pursue the goal but will save those vital inputs if you choose to stop where you are, then stopping or giving up is the right thing to do. For instance, if you set out to start a generator-manufacturing plant in Nigeria and the power supply from utility companies in Nigeria suddenly becomes so stable and reliable that the government unprecedentedly implements a climate-change policy that severely discourages the use of generators in the entire country, then you may have to abandon that particular business project and pursue another one.

 

Disclaimer:                               

While it is okay to give up on almost anything when doing so becomes necessary, it is never okay to intentionally give up on life. Life represents hope. It represents hidden opportunities. Each extra breath and each chance to exist represent endless possibilities that range from being an apparent nobody to becoming a fulfilled person. As such, this post or its sequel should not be mistaken for an approval to give up on life. That is absolutely not one of the things you should give up on.

 

Get ready to give up profitably but never give up on life!

 

To be continued in the next post…