Reading

I have been writing a lot lately, and a huge part of things that I write about before was coming from my own ideas and from some of the reading that I did, now it has changed.

I have never read as much as I am reading right now. The list includes novels, articles, papers and non-fiction books. I read a lot daily, and it has changed the way I think complexly.

Even though that amount of reading has been a game-changer in the way my brain works, I have not been able to use that knowledge to the fullest potential so far. Especially not in the blog.

Before, I used to read a single article, and I would write a review or my thoughts on it, now maybe because I experience something very similar to an information overdose now, it has been harder and harder to isolate the good ideas and to get them out and especially onto the paper.

I have been really good about it, and I have been noticing it as well, but it seems that nowadays, something changed that completely rewired the way my brain works with information.

Even looking at the 2 books that I have been reading for the past month. One is about behavioural economics, while the other is about speed reading. Both of these topics are something that I am so passionate about that I can talk about them non stop for days, but for some reason, not a single time have I had an idea for a blog post pop up into my head, and I haven’t even though about them that critically.

The way I read

I have been struggling to read what so ever until I implemented the habits that make sure that I read daily. But it seems that even though the habits now make sure that I read daily, they lowered both my comprehension and understanding of the material.

For example, economists articles that I read every day or pocket saved articles that are all incredibly interesting, why did I stop making notes and writing about them?

It seems that I have dumbed down the process because of the habits that most of the time are forced and especially for reading take the latest priority compared to other more prominent habits such as writing or studying to code better.

Notes

Maybe one of the reasons that my understanding and bite-sized pieces from all of the sources of information that I consume have gone down have been because I have stopped making notes whatsoever.

If before, I was learning and looking for opportunities to make notes. Right now, I don’t remember the last time I actively made notes and recalled the information to understand and get it into my brain better.

Notes have been proven for a long time to be one of the best ways to learn information. Especially the one that gets summarised in your own words. Not doing that and instead simply consuming the information and hoping that your brain will latch on to information is something that caveman or people that were unsophisticated in the Middle Ages did.

That is why I think as a new challenge, whenever the habit requires reading and consumption of information, making notes will become something compulsory. It can be in any way that I want, starting from the single sentence summary of the main takeaways or a step-by-step note of what I have learned and what the content has been talking about.