This article will show you three techniques you can use to save more than half of the time you use in reading newspapers.  You will not only save time, but also your focus will increase and you’ll have fun reading even the uninteresting reports.

Read the first paragraph

The reason why journalistic writing is called ‘history in a hurry’ is because of its wont to quickly condense vast information in a very small space.  This plays to the advantage of the harassed reader who wants to stay current but has very little time to read.

Often all you need to understand a news piece is the first paragraph.  Here the reporter will tell you what’s happening, who it’s happing to and where it’s happening.  Sometimes you don’t even need to read the entire paragraph because the first sentence or the first couple of sentences give you all the information.

If you still have more time you can move on to step two; otherwise, you can stop reading.

Read the last paragraph

Some news pieces are follow-ups of events that were earlier reported.  In such a situation, the first paragraph may not give you all the information you need.  But the last paragraph will do the job.  It’s usually in the last paragraph that the user is given the background information that leads to the story.

Read the “quotes”

After you’ve read the first and last paragraphs and you still feel you need more information or have more time to play with, you can dabble into middle of the piece by reading the direct speech of the sources of the news item.  

In all forms of writing where quotations are used, the writer leads the reader into the quotes and then leads the reader out.  This (leading) takes too much space and therefore, robs the reader out of some precious time.

Fortunately, you’re intelligent enough to understand what the subject or the source is saying without any interpretation from the reporter.  So glide directly to the quotation marks and read what’s within them.

Conclusion

Read the first and the last paragraphs.  Then read the quotations.  If you follow these steps, it’s possible to get about 80 per cent of a news piece.  And it’s rare to find a report that’s compelling to the extent that you want to get more than 80 per cent out of it.

Humans are information collectors. We like to know all about the things we’re interested in. That’s a good thing because it helps us grow and expand. But with the sheer volume of information available today it’s easy to get overwhelmed and quickly move from self help to shelf help.

Shelf help is defined as researching, getting all the books, audios and courses available, studying and learning but then never doing anything with that. While learning is a good thing, falling into the pit of shelf help can actually be detrimental to your growth. Here are several reasons shelf help can harm rather than help you:

1. It can lull you into a false sense of security. Spending huge amounts of time on research can make it feel like you’re making progress when you actually you aren’t. It’s like constantly checking airline rates but never booking a flight.
2. It can make you feel inadequate and uncertain. Some people fall into the trap of feeling like they’re never quite ready so they keep getting one more bit of information in the hopes that it has that magic piece that will finally get them moving. It’s like they become a perpetual student – full of knowledge but not confident enough to step out into the world and use it.
3. It can be overwhelming and confusing. Some information is a good thing but you can get to a point of too much. The more you research the more you’ll find different people contradict one another which can be confusing when you’re trying to decide which route to take.
4. It can lead to indecision. Because of all the information available you may not know what to decide so you decide to wait a little longer. Which turns into a lot longer. Which turns into never. This is indecision and it keeps you from getting what you want.

Self help on the other hand takes that information then uses it to move toward a goal. So you still do the research, collect material and study but then you make a decision and take action. You acknowledge that you don’t have all the information (no one ever does) but you step out with confidence knowing that you can always change course as you learn more.

Self help is proactive and takes you toward your goals – shelf help paralyzes you and stunts your growth.

Which serves you better?

About Author
Maria Meiners is known as the “Manifesting Muse,” and helps ordinary people learn to Manifest using Law of Attraction principles. Get started by downloading your FREE Manifesting Kit today! http://www.musemanifestingkit.com