Hand Positions in Speed Reading


One of the most fascinating things about watching someone speed reading is the rate at which their hand glosses over the material they are reading. It moves so quickly and for the average reader, it seems as
though it’s moving much too fast for the person to be absorbing any part of the text.

If you’ve always read at a natural speed, it might seem impossible to imagine that you could read several times faster. It might also seem unbelievable that you can adopt the principles behind speed reading
without too much effort.

Speed reading is based on the principle that your mind absorbs the material that you read at a quicker rate than someone who reads at a normal pace. Normally we take our time reading each page of a book, trying to grasp the meaning of each word and how that word relates to not only the sentence it is in, but the paragraph as well.

For someone who speed reads, they are able to glance at the words and instead of concentrating on each and every single word; they see the words as blocks. They view the block of words and the meaning is absorbed.

There are different methods to speed reading, but the general idea remains common. That is, your eyes must quickly scan the text of the page. To do this you can use different techniques.

The most common of these techniques is to use your hand or your finger. This is typically what we associate with speed readers. Their hand moves remarkably quickly over the page; skimming line by line until they flip the next page to begin the process all over again. They need to do this so that their eyes can follow the text. When you are reading at a rapid rate, it is easy for your eyes to lose track of where you are on the page. By tracing an invisible line beneath the text, their eyes stay completely focused.

Another method that works the same way is to use a card or a straight edge, such as ruler. This keeps the reader?s eyes following the text. They aren’t tempted to skip ahead and miss words. Their concentration
is focused on exactly what they are reading, and as they work through the page, the card or straight edge moves with them.

Concentration is one of the most important aspects in reading in general. It is much more important when a person is developing their speed reading skills. Anyone can implement this rule into their reading. Using either their finger or a card the eyes will follow the words of the text at a much quicker rate.

The next time you are reading give this a try and see the difference it makes. You?ll find yourself more focused on what you are reading and you won’t be tempted to skip ahead and miss words that are essential to comprehension. Small tricks like this can make a significant improvement in your reading speed.

Posted by: admin on September 23rd, 2007

Why To Speedread


Speed reading is not just a parlor trick you can use to impress your friends and family. For many it’s a necessary tool for managing time and information in the fast-paced business world, and for many others, specifically students, it’s the only way to get through reading-heavy class loads. The practiced speed reader can pick up a lengthy document or a thick stack of papers and use their skill to get at the meat of the subject by skimming for the most important details and information. Without developing the ability to speed read, this time-saving technique is merely flipping through pages fast.

Speed reading, or increasing the rate at which you read text, is linked to increasing the rate at which you understand what you’re reading. The key to successful speed reading is increasing your understanding of the text as you increase the rate at which you read the words. It takes training and practice, but don’t be intimidated by the idea of a challenge. Think of it as the next, natural step to your reading development. Once you’ve mastered it, it’s a skill that will stick with you for the rest of your life.

As a child, when you began to learn to read, chances are you began with the alphabet and the specific sounds each letter makes. Then you learned how to combine and blend letter sounds to decipher words. It’s called letter-by-letter reading. Then something clicked and you began to recognize words without having to sound out each letter one at a time and you graduated to word-by-word reading. With continued practice common words and sentence structure became more familiar and because your brain was tuned and ready, your eye started taking in blocks of words at a time. The difference between average readers and speed readers is in the blocks of words their eyes take in at one time. The larger the blocks, the faster your eye moves through the text.

Speed reading teaches you how to take your reading and your comprehension to the next level. The techniques used in teaching speed reading focus on your individual abilities, namely where you are right now and what might be keeping you from progressing. For example, if you are a slow reader, factors that hold you back may include, but are not limited to, moving your lips or reading out loud or holding the text too close to your eyes. If you are in the practice of moving your lips, or speaking or whispering while you read, you’re slowing yourself down dramatically. Your lips can only move so fast. You should be able to read at least two or three times faster than you can speak. In effect, you’re keeping yourself at that word-by-word stage that children generally grow out of in elementary school.

Having the ability to speed read can make a significant difference in your life, especially if reading is a strong component of your workImplementing some simple techniques can get you reading faster and more efficiently in no time at all.

Posted by: admin on September 21st, 2007

Marketing Copywriting – Tips and Hints


Marketing writing is a form of marketing copywriting where the writer wants to promote an item or service. It can also be in the form of an article swaying a person either for or against a particular subject. A great example is a consumer group writing about the harmful effects that cigarette smoke, both first hand and second hand, has on the human body.

How often do you check your mail only to find a flyer for a local company? The company could be selling beds, services or even be a consumer announcement. We see marketing copywriting each and every day. It may be in the form of a sale letter promoting a certain make and model of vehicle or it could be an ad for a local termite company.

Another medium for marketing copywriting is through the use of the internet. Online copy can use flashy images and a more generalized greeting than sales letters are able to do. The same principles do apply though. The information should be concise. It is important to make the information easier to read. Instead of using commas to separate different information, consider making bullet points. The information will stand out much easier for the reader.

Advertising copywriting relies on wording to get the message across. A poorly worded article will not instill confidence in the customer base. Marketing copywriting has to be able to communicate points across effectively without bombarding the customers with too many technical details or information that is grammatically incorrect. An article that contains factual information is easy to read and does not contain a lot of inside jargon, goes farther with an audience than anything else.

Reading marketing copywriting is different than reading a printed article. Readers skim information when they come across it on the internet. The style of writing must reach out and grab the reader’s attention. The website copywriter, or print copywriter, must also write in language that is friendly and does not sound too scholarly. It has to be written in wording that any person can understand. No inside technical terms or at least not too many of them.

Any advertising advice can be found in if a person looks for it. Marketing copywriting is no different and there are even classes out there that can help you become a better copywriting writer. The customer base is limitless and there are always jobs waiting for you.

Posted by: admin on September 20th, 2007

Writing Your Cover Letter


When you are thinking of applying for a new job, the skill of cover letter writing is really worth taking a close look at because there are many people out there who spend a tremendous amount of time and effort perfecting their resume, only to speed through the process of cover letter writing. This is a potentially large mistake, as the cover letters are the first and sometimes the only things that a hiring manager will see about you. This is because there are many applicants applying for the same position at one time and how you express your interest in a position may just be all they need to know before deciding on an interview.

Unlike a resume, the cover letter has to be fine-tuned each time you send it out. A resume can be frequently printed in bulk; after you create and edit a resume, you can generally let it just be there for a little while before making significant changes to it. Cover letters, on the other hand, will change literally every time you send them out because they need to be tailored to the company and position you are applying for.

How will they change, you may ask? Just to point this out, you should always address each letter to the hiring manager personally. You should never use general salutations like “To Whom It May Concern.” This is not just impersonal; but it also demonstrates that you haven’t taken the time to research the company to which you are applying. With the resources of the Internet, it is easy to find out the identities of human resource directors; so you should take a few extra minutes to find out some names, and you may be rewarded with a lucrative job in the end.

 

Chances are that you will be applying to firms that don’t all do the same exact thing either. When you’re writing a cover letter, you should tailor each sheet slightly to the company to which you are sending it because this is just smart sense. If you mention some specifics about the company’s product or staff members, you will demonstrate that you are interested in the company. This works by mentioning casually something that the company has done recently. Even better, if you’ve met or spoken with someone at the company before, a little bit of name dropping can not hurt you. These personal touches help considerably in the creation of winning cover letter writing.

Posted by: admin on September 18th, 2007

Resume Writing Tips


Students, professionals, academics and anyone who is actually planning on applying for a new job can benefit from curriculum vitae writing tips. A typical curriculum vita, which is often referred to as CV, differs slightly from a standard resume because it contains substantially more information than just your education and prior job experience. A CV should also include any other information about you that is relevant to the job that you are applying for. A CV offers so much more personal information about you and your abilities and has become a primary aspect of writing a resumes these days.

The first difference between a curriculum vitae and a traditional resume is how long it is. Professionals will quickly advise you that resumes should fill up one or if it is really needed two pages. A Resume (CV), though, can be longer if has to be. It is not uncommon for curriculum vitae to be at least three, or as many as 10 pages long if you want. Some people just really need that much space to write their qualifications.

The next aspect of the Resume (curriculum vitae) is to include, in detail, any special licenses or awards that you have been given. If you have published books or articles, have taught courses at a university, or if you are affiliated with any academic or professional groups or organizations, they should also be included on the curriculum vitae. The CV is your chance to show every bit of your personality and life and your achievements. What this means is that this is the time for you to brag your guts out. There is no such thing as tooting your own horn too much with a CV because that is what this is for.

The best of the curriculum vitae tips might be to remember that the term curriculum vitae is derived from the Latin meaning of course of life. A CV is meant to be a written depiction of the course that your life has taken to this point and your entire volunteering etc. is going to be put in here. Whereas in a traditional resume you need to be concise, a CV is an opportunity to further explain your many achievements in whatever depth you see fit.

Writing a CV is a lot of fun for many people because it is just a great opportunity to talk about yourself. Most of the people that write a resume are not even aware of the fact that a CV can often be better than a cover letter which is only meant to express your interest in a job and give brief accounts of what is to be expected in the resume. Your CV can often be the final deal maker in your getting a job so you really want to think of writing yours today!

Posted by: admin on September 18th, 2007

What is a white paper


A white paper is usually a 5-15 page document used to educate industry customers about your company, its products or services. It lets the reader know why they should choose you and your company and that you have the products or knowledge to solve their problems, current and future. A white paper should explain what you are good at and cement your position in the market place. It should let them know what makes you stand out from the competition. And
finally, the opportunities you can provide potential customers and the costs they might incur if they do not consider you.
When done well, a White Paper is a powerful sales marketing tool.

A White Paper is NOT

  • a thinly disguised product brochure
  • a sales letter
  • a sales pitch
  • a document to teach your customer about every feature or bell or whistle in your product.

What to keep in mind when writing a white paper is that nobody who bought a drill wanted a drill, they wanted a hole. Therefore, if you sell drills, you should give them information on making holes, not about drills! Let them know you know your product and why you offer it.

That’s the core idea. Now how you can use white papers to promote your business.

It only alludes to those things to make the reader curious enough to talk to you.

Example:

You have developed a system or product that can migrate all of the information from a database on one computer system to a different database format on a different system, this can be an extremely complex and time-consuming process. In this scenario you would publish a paper issues involved in doing this: Preparation, Compatibility, and Structure, all the things that the management team would have to consider when working out timescales, cost and impact on sales of such a move.

This white paper should teach the customer how to do those things themselves, but in the process, should also demonstrate how complex it is. They see you have the expertise and give you the contract. As one of the points stated earlier, it was not a sales pitch; you actually told them how to do it. But you got the sale.

When you give information like this in your white papers you are seen as a problem solver not a salesman, and your credibility as a quality source of information grows. And you will not get the door slammed in your face when you try to talk to that person in the future.

Posted by: admin on September 15th, 2007

Writing a white paper – the process


Study your audience

The Cardinal Sin in all business writing is to be Boring! So you have to start with something that will interest the reader, your audience. The cimoany financier needs to know why he should spend his money with your company when another is offering a similar product for half the price. The development engineer is interested in the price, just if it will serve his purpose.

You need to know who is going to read the document and why, what is on their mind. Once you know that just answer their question and you have them hooked.

Structure and style

The structure of the document should rarely change. Define the problem, address the problem and then tell the reader what to next. The style has to be not only readable but a compelling read. Be wary of using metaphors or humour if there is a chance of the white paper being read by readers of nationalities other than your own, they might not understand it or worse still they might find the comments offensive.
If you have any third-party (not customer quotes) evidence that can support the claims you are making in the white paper use them.

And don’t forget the summary, use it wisely and include a “Call to action” for the reader

Posted by: admin on September 15th, 2007

Taking Advantage of Neural Linguistic Programming


A major stumbling factor is the limitation of the language we use. Some languages are more descriptive than others while others use the same word to describe many different situations.With this in mind we can see that some oral languages relate thought better than others, though none of them can claim to relate thought completely. This means that your ability to completely transmit your thoughts to others is severely limited to the amount of words available in the language that you use. So sometimes there really aren’t the right words to use. Perhaps we could even decide that as no one expects you to tell things exactly as you see them anyway, why not just get on with it and put your thoughts directly onto paper and let the reader decipher them.

But that doesn’t really help when you’re trying to relate your excitement over a product line in an article or advertisement. You have to find a way to overcome the limitations of your oral language and transmit your thoughts as you see them. If you don’t you will be the proud possessor of a product no one else could relate to, and if that happens, you will then start analysing every other pointless venture you ever started
Let’s look at the possibilities on how we can learn to transmit our thoughts in a way that others can take the same meaning as we do ourselves.

It can be done, but we have to take a step back and take a look at the whole picture. We have to find a commonality, a reference point to which most people can relate. Finding this point of common knowledge will break down your unique thoughts allowing you to express them easier. Movies and books make good reference points. They may not relate exactly to the feelings you wish to convey, but they are good tools to use as most people have seen them or at least heard of what they’re about. They can stir up emotions and give memorable images to the reader.

So using reference points in your documents that reflect suitable emotion through a commonly known “visual effect” will merge the neural and oral languages and bring out your meaning much better.
Now you have to turn these reference points into the key elements within your storyline. These key elements will become the headings in your outline, so they become very important to your success. So how do you choose the correct key elements to become headings in your outline?

OK, what have we discovered so far?

  1. Humans think in pictures, this is called neural language.
  2. The human brain cannot distinguish between the present and memory. As thought is processed in the present we use memories to decide our present and future attitudes and actions.
  3. Due to the limitations of oral language we cannot accurately relate thought with words. We need to use reference points so that other people can get the feeling of what we are trying to transmit.

So there is the theory behind Neural Linguistic Programming. Now you have to put it into practice.

Posted by: admin on September 13th, 2007

Neural Linguistic Programming in Daily Life


Most days just go by and we do not have to give much thought to the process of vocalising our thoughts. If we want to eat we say so, if we want to go to work/school we say “I want to go to work/school”, easy thoughts to transmit and receive, no need to analyse the situation.

But what happens in the mind when, after stating you are hungry, your partner wants to know what you want to eat.

Now you have to return to the original thought that you were hungry andgive it some deeper thought and make a suggestion. In order to do this the mind relies on the familiar and goes through your memory bank until it finds something that it likes.

According to quantum physics our brains process our present circumstances just the same as it does memories of the past. So when a question needs some deeper thought it takes us back to similar previous situations, we relive them and have the same sensations we had the first time. So when we have to make a decision, in this case deciding what we want to eat, our memory flips through all previous responses, finds one that gives a pleasant memory and then vocalises it.

The downside of the neural language is that it can also cause grief or not allow us to try new experiences. This is because in connecting the present to the past in our minds naturally we what we felt before so new possible experiences might relate back to fearful or unsure situations.

So, to sum up, when we come across a situation, we relate it to past memories and visualise those experiences. Once a link is made, it is interpreted into the present through our previous feelings. As our mind does not detect a difference between the timelines we will probably react the same way as we did when we were in this situation before.

So far we have discussed how our mind talks to us but how do we transmit those thoughts to other minds? First we need a better understanding of oral language. This in turn will set up the ground work for answering the problem of how to get the words from your head onto paper.

Posted by: admin on September 13th, 2007

Research into Neural Linguistic Programming


Research has been carried out into these phenomena using the science called “Neural Linguistic Programming’” and some remarkable discoveries so far on why sometimes thoughts seem to have trouble passing from the transmitter (the person talking or writing) to the receiver (the person listening or reading) without distortion.


They have determined that everybody has two languages, an oral and a neural language. Our oral language is the language that we use to transmit our thoughts to others by speech or the written word. Our neural language is the process your mind uses to formulate and combine the sensory information you receive into something that is familiar to you allowing you easier comprehension.

These two languages are formulated and processed in totally different ways and both suffer from emotional influences. We have to pre-empt how the mind of the receiver of the information thinks to be able to make these languages work together to reduce message distortion.

Posted by: admin on September 13th, 2007