allow your self to skim read

Nilesh Jain (Assistant Manager) (1064 Points)

19 January 2011  

Like most people, your inbox is full, you desk is loaded with reports and you have a backlog of reading material that just keeps on growing. The first thing to do is to allow yourself to skim read. Granting yourself this permission helps you cover a wider variety and volume of material.

How to skim read:

  • Read the table of contents and look at all the pictures.
  • Don't read every word or every sentence. Let your eyes dance from top to bottom, taking in key words.
  • Read the titles and subtitles and anything in bold.
  • Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
  • Once you have a pretty strong understanding of the piece, give it one more scan to absorb additional information.