Learning something new is challenging and worth it

Greetings:

If you are a subscriber to 365 Days of Coaching you know that I made a goal to read all the books on my bookshelf in my office this year. Actually last Fall but I revised it for 2008 since I didn't get very far with it. I realized to accomplish this goal I would need to improve my reading skills. Well that is if I planned on making it happen anytime soon. I decided to learn how to speed read. I actually didn't know what all that entailed I just knew that I needed to do things differently to reach my goal. Makes sense since we all know that doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

I have several friends that speed read and several of my colleagues claim to read five plus books a week. That is just amazing to me. For years I have heard of the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading classes. For some reason I never considered taking one. However now that I decided to learn to speed read I decided to sign up for a class.

I had to wait a couple of months for the class to come to my town but finally last Wednesday (April 9th) it did. I was pretty excited so I arrived early and took the first seat in the first row. I didn't want to miss anything. The teacher, John Lee Bingham was excellent. The class went so fast that when it ended it seemed like we had just gotten started.

Did I learn to speed read in one day. NO! But what I did learn is the basics of speed reading and I have homework for the next 30 days. I have been practicing every day since the class and I have seen a major improvement.

If you would like to learn to speed read I have two resources to suggest. First I would highly recommend taking one of Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics For Business Professionals through Fred Pryor Seminars/Career Track. It provided the basics and a great foundation to build on.

The second resource which I bought earlier in the year but just started using since taking the class is SpeedReaderX New Version 5.0. It is a good program and seems to be supporting the Evelyn Wood material very well. John my instructor didn't care much for it, but I am finding it helpful.

I would highly recommend learning how to speed read simply because of the amount of data that we are bombarded with daily. And don't worry it won't ruin your enjoyment of reading. You don't have to speed read everything, you can still read your steamy romance novels nice and slow.

If speed reading isn't your thing I still recommend putting learning something new on your list of things to do this year. Learning is a proven way to increase your health and well being. The good news is it doesn't matter what you learn, just that you are learning something.

I would love to know what you are learning this year. Leave a post on the blog and let me know.

Here's to taking action,

Rachelle