BFW: Tips to Help You Know More, Do More, Be More Through Strategic Reading

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Dear Reader

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Greetings Brain Food Enthusiasts!
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Welcome to another edition of Brain Food Wednesdays, your weekly intellectual feast. In this edition, issue 218, we dive into how to know more, do more, be more through strategic reading.

Let Go of FOMO

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Few nonfiction books deserve to be read cover-to-cover. Let go of FOMO (fear of missing out) and focus only on the information relevant to you and your needs. Change your definition of what it means to read a book.
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3 Reasons Reading Nonfiction Books Sequentially is Unnecessary
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1. Traditional publishers have word counts. To get to the word count, authors often add in information that doesn’t contribute to your understanding of the text.
2. The 80/20 Rule applies to reading nonfiction. You can read 20% of the book and understand 80% of the text. Focus on the 20 percent of the information that makes 80 percent difference. The trick is to figure out which 20% to read.
3. Decades ago, educator Russell Stauffer found that on the average page of a nonfiction book, only four to 11% of the text carries meaning. That’s one sentence. The rest is context and examples.

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Preview the Book

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Preview the book to determine which chapters and sections you’d like to explore more deeply. Read the following sections of the book.
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About the Book, preface, foreword, introduction, table of contents, index (scan this section), flip through the book, looking at tables, charts, maps and graphs.
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Read the sections of the book that needed further exploration. The sections that align with your purpose and answer questions you have.

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Take Notes

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Take notes as you read.
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Don’t rely on your memory to remember what you read. Make note of important information in the book.
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Register for My Workshop to Know More, Do More, Be More

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Scan the QR code to register for the workshop.
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If you enjoyed this newsletter, here are two ways you can support my work.
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Do you want to learn how to read strategically, reading to learn what you need to know? Learn informally from nonfiction books. Sign up today for my workshop Knowledge is Power: I Help You Get More Knowledge Faster Through Strategic Reading!​

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​Sign up for my membership site Art of Learning Leadership Academy​
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Warm regards,
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Avil Beckford

Brain Food Wednesdays

Editor, Brain Food Wednesdays

Founder, The Invisible Mentor & Art of Learning Leadership Academy

​theinvisiblementor.com artoflearningleadershipacademy.com​

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