watch tHe skies

So day 4 comprised of prepare and photoread. I’d adjusted my questions to be specifically around understanding the hierarchy of the four temperaments (SJ - Traditionalist, SP - Experiencer, NT - Conceptualiser and NF - Idealist => see it’s working I didn’t need the book for that!) and how they work with the sub-types.

And as if by magic the first thing that popped in to my mind when I woke this morning was the image of the NT pyramid, and I seem now to be able to draw out any one of the temperament pyramids from the images and rules in my head. During the super read I was directed to the rules around the sub-types, that aren’t actually explicitly stated, but I found them very quickly.

So on to day 5. How much of the book do I know now? Hmm perhaps 50-60%. Not bad considering I didn’t really know what I was doing to start with on this approach. My aim on day 5 will be to know the key characteristics of each of the temperament types, and I will probably need a day 6 and maybe day 7 to get the individual characteristics of each of the 16 types. I don’t consider this bad going as so far I’ve spent no more than 2 1/2 hours on a fairly content-heavy book.

So yesterday involved a preview, followed by a full photoread and 30 minutes of rapidreading. The book is certainly locking in and I am getting a good feel for the content.

Now when I woke up, something odd had happened. Yesterday I couldn’t remember the four temperament types. I could get three of them, but the fourth eluded me. As per the book I made a conscious effort to recall the missing temperament type.

Off I went to bed and this morning I picked up “The Art Of Speedreading People” to find the elusive temperament. However as I skipped through the pages describing the ones I already knew, I suddenly realised that I had gone through all four without seeing one — I didn’t know. Somehow I knew that information without knowing how I knew it. So it seems that this system works a bit like osmosis! Is it working? Well it seems to be but I need to keep going through the full five days to see. The photoreading book and the forum have been helpful in reminding me that the system works differently for everyone depending on their reading background.

Update:-

Well I posted a question on the learning strategies forum about whether this was a sign. It would appear that it is. It is a very wierd concept to know something that you didn’t know without knowing how you know, but at least I now know I know it works… Bonza! Anyway on with the next session.

Ever watched a superhero movie and wished it was you? Well I can’t give you superpowers, but I can point you at SciFi.com, where you can design your own costume and go out an fight crime in your own way. And when you’ve done that, be sure to check out my effort, skateytrumpet boy…

Anthony Robbins is giving away a free copy of his book “Notes from a friend” to anyone in Europe who fancies one. Just head over to www.anthonyrobbinseurope.com and register. It’s a real book, not an e-book, from one of the leading names in motivation, and author of the famous “Unlimited Power” (a book on my shelf that might finally get read now I am a photoreader) !

The book covers the following:

1. Ways to tap the power inside to change anything in our life
2. Great reminder statements to go over when we are overwhelmed by feelings which pull us down
3. How our decisions can change our life
4. How to keep focusing
5. How to ask the right questions - This is a very valuable chapter - it has 5 ‘problem solving questions’, 7 ‘Morning power questions’, and 3 ‘Evening power questions’.
6. How we can find empowering words for commonly observed negative emotions/expressions
7. Metaphors that make a difference
8. Effective Goal setting and ‘Training the brain’ so that it knows that the goal is a happening thing.
9. The Ten day mental challenge - which is actually a neat mental game with its own rules, a clear goal, and the effect it is going to have on you. This game wraps up and covers all the concepts discussed in the entire book.  The game is intended to achieve the following:

• Make us identify our mental habits that hold us back
• Make our brain seek for powerful, helpful choices
• Effectively increase our confidence level by making us realize that we can turn our lives around for the better
• Create new habits, standards, expectations that will help us grow and enjoy life more and more, everyday.

As you will have probably seen the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate rapidly. Hundreds have already died and an estimated 500,000 people have had to flee their homes, forced to shelter in buildings with little or no help to meet their basic needs.The situation is unacceptable.

Please take urgent action now by urging Tony Blair to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, before he meets President Bush this Friday for talks on the crisis

Although the Prime Minister has recognised the catastrophic impact the crisis is having, and has publicly shown his desire to see an end to the fighting, this is not enough.

By failing to back the United Nations and the international call for an immediate ceasefire, the UK government’s policy risks putting more civilians’ lives at continued risk.

Please urge Tony Blair to add his government’s weight to calls for an immediate ceasefire, before he meets President Bush this Friday for talks on the crisis

Such a move could still help to reduce the horrific toll the conflict is having on ordinary people across the region. If you have already sent this message to Tony Blair please forward it to people you know and ask them to do so too.

Please, if you can, spare some money to help those affected, by donating here.

but I have decided to mind map my knowledge of the subject during postview to try and get more out. I’m also conscious that my “purpose” was probably a little lame for a first try. “To absorb the tools techniques and information so that I can apply it second-nature with people to enhance my dealings with them” has been replaced with a more specific goal “to understand the characteristics of the 16 personality types”. I’ve also included the 16 MBTI personality types in my list of trigger words (ENTJ etc) and I will use them as the key points in my mind map.

My photoreading experience today wasn’t quite as strong as yesterday. I found it harder to direct conscious thoughts, they kept wandering. I’ve found that with self-hypnosis too; the first time you try something it is easier to stay focused, once you start becoming aware of the process and it’s purpose, the mind wanders.

Following postreading, a process that I think i understand now - to establish curiosity and ask questions, I am starting to get a real feel for the structure of the information and the fact that it’s not about learning the characteristics of 16 types, but about the four different human natures and how they influence who we are. So my questions are now around:

What are the characteristics of the key human natures?
What are the clues that point me towards a person’s personality type (appearance, demeanor, job, occupation)?
How do the types see each other?
What language do I use to improve communication?

These have been generated using a mind map, a method I use for work purposes all of the time, but something I haven’t applied to books that I read for my own personal interest.

I must say that today I feel that by the end of the 5 day test I will have nailed the contents of this book. Will I have inwardlardly absorbed all of the relevant information? Not sure, but there is a surefire test, as this book contains a set of short assignments that I can use to see how far I have come.

I’m sure you are asking how much of the book have I actually “read” in the conventional sense? The answer is hardly any so far, a few headlines, the contents page and the names of the four human natures. You can find my mind map to date here.

Now I am instructed to put the book completely out of my mind, to hopefully let my questions ferment, and allow the answers to osmose in to my conscious mind. We shall see…

I went to WHSmith last night and had to really resist the temptation to buy a load of books that I’ve been meaning to read. I am very excited about this working, and the potential that I offers me, although my bank balance may disagree…

Ok so I did give photoreading another go - this time on a 26 page report I needed to review. I followed the process of previewing, photoreading and postviewing, and then I ran through the document and marked it up. In total it took me around fifteen minutes, plus a break between the reading and commenting, and I picked up a lot of problems that with normal levels of concentration I would have missed. Are these attributable to my not-conscious mind? Not sure, but I certainly benefited from the state of mind afforded by the process.

Dammit, I’ve been attacked by some more losers, resulting in more downtime and a final warning by my host. So if the site goes offline you know why. Due to this I’ve switched off commenting and registration. Sorry but it’s the only thing I can do to keep the site online…

Well today I took my first photoreading step, and fully previewed and photoread “The Art Of Speedreading People”. Photoreading Speedreading? Hmm maybe not a great idea but there we go.

The book suggests a five-day programme to lock-in the photoreading skills:

Day 1 - Select book, prepare and photoread.
Day 2 - Prepare, preview (< 2 minutes) and photoread. Postview for 15-20 minutes. Jot down trigger words and questions to stimulate the activation of the content.
Day 3 - Prepare, photoread, superread and dip in to the book for 30 minutes.
Day 4 - Prepare, photoread, superread and dip in to the book, reviewing questions and revising them.
Day 5 - Prepare and photoread. Review the table of contents and browse specific sections that you have become interested in. (more…)

Okay so following yesterday’s post I am a little more enlightened on the subject of photoreading. In principle, it isn’t reading at all in the conventional sense, but effectively the opening up of the not-conscious part of the mind the absorb pages of text. This allows the much more powerful part of the mind process it. It also utilises right-side brain processing, by functioning on the “space” between text, rather than the text itself, which is processed by the left side of the brain.

Then, information about the text is extracted from the not-conscious mind using activation, that is, prompts and triggers in the conscious mind. A good way to extract the relevant information, apparently, would be to mind-map the content that you have photoread.

Now it doesnt appear that it is common not the refer back to the text - it does depend why you are reading it, of course, and what level of information you wanted to extract. But should you return to the text consciously, you will be familiar with it and be able to access the information you require quickly. If you are interested, check out My photoreading mind map.

So, my next challenge is to photoread a book and see if it works. I’ve chosen “The Art Of Speedreading People“, by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. The book suggests practicing on the same book for five days to get acquainted with the tips and techniques. So, if in five days I am swallowing information like a giant swallowy thing, then it works!