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Effective Reading

Unless youโ€™re reading a fiction book for entertainment purposes, ideally you should be reading effectively so that you are getting the most out of the book and of your time.

Below are some notes on the ways that various people recommend reading effectively.

Elizabeth Filipsโ€‹

Sourced from Elizabethโ€™s video Become a Better Reader in 8 Minutes

Each page of book notes should contain the following sections:

  1. Impressions. Write down your stream of consciousness as you read the book. You can talk about tone or things you find interesting. Is there something in the book that speaks to you, that you think you could apply to your life? Who should read this book? This can be written like itโ€™s a general review of the book, similar to what you would read in a newspaper.

    This can be 3-5 sentences.

  2. Actionable takeaways. This is a step past the highlighting of passages in the book. For each highlight or bookmark you put down, take that one step further and describe how that concept can be changed into an action that can be used to better your life in some way.

    Elizabeth limits her actionable takeaways to at most 10 items. You can highlight more in your book, but the actionable takeaways should be limited so you can actually use the information.

  3. Favourite Quotes. This is for information that should be preserved in its original form, either because itโ€™s beautifully worded or you think you would want to use this quote in the future. Again, at most 10 quotes.

  4. Bonus items. For something that is so groundbreaking and requires a bit more explanation than the actionable takeaways above, these can be preserved here. A multi-step process that you believe is valuable could be put here.

The primary question Elizabeth focus on is how this book can add something to her life.