What’s up? We have to start by thanking you for checking in, especially on this topic. Let’s keep it REAL, most of us would rather watch TV instead of read, but it’s been said that reading is one of the best habits you can commit to. There’s the benefit of increasing your vocabulary (tip: every time you come across a word you don’t know, look it up right then and there to quickly apply it to what you’re reading), reading helps you relax and lowers stress as well among many other great benefits.
Many famous and successful people read books, not only to stay up to date with what’s going on in the world, but to also keep their most important muscle strong, their brain. To keep it REAL, this is one of the most common habits we’ve found when learning about the successful people of our society. Most, if not all of them, read in some capacity. It does not matter how much you read; it matters how often. If you decide to read just 10 pages per day, you will reap the benefits of everything previously mentioned and you don’t have to spend that long doing it.
We get it, you might have other things to read, so we won’t keep you long, but before we go, we just want to share a habit that we’ve found extremely beneficial, not only to the reader but also to the next person who reads the book. This habit is easy to do and does not interfere with what you’re reading. It actually might help you focus and lock in on what you’re reading by becoming more engaged with the reading material. Before we give you the habit that is guaranteed to positively impact your reading experience, we need to discuss the different kinds of reading that this habit applies to. There’s the “self-help” kind of reading and there’s the “story” kind of reading. For both styles, the first thing you’ll need is a blank bookmark…
Self-Help
We’ve suggested a few of these in some of our previous posts, but the idea here is any form of reading that is meant to help you grow in some way. This could be personal, physical, spiritual, etc.We’ve also expressed the importance of writing things down that are important to you. REAL Reading is done when you’ve engaged with the reading material in such a way that it creates meaning for you and enhances your perspective about life or a specific topic. This can (and should) be done by making the content more relatable. You can do this by using your blank bookmark! Yes, it is typically used to save the place where you last read, but it can also be used to take notes.
Let’s keep it REAL, we can read until our eyes fall out, but if we don’t retain the information, we are simply wasting our time. The best way to retain the information is by writing it down, and what better place to do that than your bookmark? This is rhetorical of course. There is no better place! This bookmark (or multiple if you take substantial notes) will also serve you or anyone who might want to read the book after you. By writing down your notes (including the page number of where the note came from), you are creating an outline for the next reader, or even for yourself for future reference… which is just another opportunity to thank yourself later. You might also receive some praise from future leaders, who, just like you, want to have a positive impact on society through learning and can do it at an even faster pace with the outline already given to them. They can, of course, still choose to read the book in its entirety as well, but again, some of us would rather accelerate the process of reading but still retain the information we need. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Story
Some of us prefer to be given a story to interpret instead of endless information that has no context. If you prefer this style of reading, the bookmark strategy also applies to you, just in a slightly different way. When using the blank bookmark, you can still take notes as you read, but the culmination of the note-taking will come at the very end. A story is designed, of course, to have a beginning, middle and end. The beginning sets up the story, the middle contains the climax of the story and the ending closes the story. This is a packaged deal. While the self-help style could have a different topic each chapter or even page, the story style of reading links each chapter and page with the page before and the page after. This means that the story’s complete message will not become clear until the very end of the story.
So, while you may be taking notes throughout the story, the end of the story will be where most of our important and impactful notes will take place. A good strategy that could work could be to use one side of the bookmark as a note-taking side, which is meant for while you read and the other side could be the reflection side, which is meant for after you read. You could also use multiple bookmarks, having one as the note-taking one and the other as the reflection. Stories can be used to help you understand your journey. Use them as a frame of reference and see how others have handled similar situations that you are going through. Regardless of fiction or nonfiction, every story has a reflective element that could be used to help you or someone you know. Of course, as we’ve said before, this bookmark strategy can (and should) be used to help our future leaders; so even if they don’t decide to read the story, they can still receive the valuable message that comes from it.
We hope this strategy helps you engage more with what you read, but more importantly, we hope this strategy can be used for our future leaders. They can benefit from this even more so than we can and it’s all about how we give back to our future. The habit of reading should be embraced within every household. The knowledge you can gain and the exercise you give your brain should not be taken for granted. We are all capable of providing a positive impact on our society, which can (and should) be done through education and learning.
Keep it REAL.
Recognize Education And Learning 