Impatient when reading books...what to do about it?

[moimoi]

I now have about 4-5 books to read, in which I am interested. It is not for school but chosen by me.

But this is my probplem conected to reading books:
When I begin to read a book, I become impatient and think when I will finish it...after a while because of my impatience I either begin to read another book without finishing the one I began earlier or I switch to reading a new book and simply leave the other book unread. This way I can't really say I am good at reading and I am in fact very very impatient when it comes to reading one book after another. I wanna read more and more but finally I end up reading no books from cover to cover...

How should I solve this problem?
How should I make a plan to read books from cover to cover?

What are your pieces of practical advice?

[DANDUNGAN]

i'm curious; what is your goal for reading?

To finish a book from cover to cover?
For entertainment?
To learn something?
Other?

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

i'm curious; what is your goal for reading?

To finish a book from cover to cover?
For entertainment?
To learn something?
Other?

The books I have on my mind now I am interested in. So it is for entertainment and not for studies. However I can also learn from reading them. Furtheremore, I get frustrated by leaving most books unread in the end as I have described it above.

[Angelique]

What about listening to books instead? Audiobooks are great.

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by Angelique

What about listening to books instead? Audiobooks are great.

These books do not have audiobook versions (yet). I have looked for them, too. But thanks for the tip.

[Angelique]

What books are they?

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by Angelique

What books are they?

Books by Ramana Maharshi and Paul Brunton for example. I am interested in Eastern/Indian philosophy. But I am impatient when it comes to reading.

[DANDUNGAN]

what would be more useful?

If you could be more patient or

if you could read faster?

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

what would be more useful?

If you could be more patient or

if you could read faster?

Being more patient, in my opinion. As these books are not easy to read and not simple novels...

On the other hand, it's great if someone is patient regardless if it is about reading or other action in life.

[Angelique]

You have several options..

Become a faster reader.
Hire someone to record themselves reading the book, then listen whenever you like.
Learn to be patient with your reading.
Make notes about the book. That way when you get impatient and move onto another book, you can catch up easily.
Read several books at a time, jumping back and forth, until you finish all of them. You can even take notes, too.
Do a fast run-through once of the book, then go back and read it more carefully. That way, you get an overall feel of the book and then, dive into specifics.


I'm an impatient reader, too. Personally, I'd rather find a format that fits my style, rather than fooling myself into thinking that I'd want to change that. Impatience is a style, not a flaw.

[DANDUNGAN]

Originally Posted by moimoi

Being more patient, in my opinion. As these books are not easy to read and not simple novels...

On the other hand, it's great if someone is patient regardless if it is about reading or other action in life.

So, do you have a strategy for becoming more patient?

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by Angelique

You have several options..

Become a faster reader.
Hire someone to record themselves reading the book, then listen whenever you like.
Learn to be patient with your reading.
Make notes about the book. That way when you get impatient and move onto another book, you can catch up easily.
Read several books at a time, jumping back and forth, until you finish all of them. You can even take notes, too.
Do a fast run-through once of the book, then go back and read it more carefully. That way, you get an overall feel of the book and then, dive into specifics.


I'm an impatient reader, too. Personally, I'd rather find a format that fits my style, rather than fooling myself into thinking that I'd want to change that. Impatience is a style, not a flaw.

I guess impatience is not so good at other areas in life either. Now I just mention it connected to reading, but I am mostly impatient in general as wel.

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

So, do you have a strategy for becoming more patient?

Unfortunately not yet. But I am interested in some insights if you have - how to become more patient...

[DANDUNGAN]

No insights yet, just more questions.

Do you mind if I ask more questions in order to develop a "be more patient" strategy?

[Angelique]

Ah, so patience is your feat, not patience with reading. Well, then you really need no special strategy. All you have to do is read one book after another, cover to cover, and learn to sit with or transform any resistance, no? It's simple, but maybe not easy.

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

No insights yet, just more questions.

Do you mind if I ask more questions in order to develop a "be more patient" strategy?

No, I don't mind it at all. Feel free to ask more questions.

[DANDUNGAN]

I'm thinking of an exercise that will assist you in developing patience.

So I'm going to ask two types of questions--one type to clearly represent your experience while frustrated and the other type to clearly represent your experience being patient.

We will anchor each experience and then check to see that the patient experience is firmly anchored.

Ok?

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

I'm thinking of an exercise that will assist you in developing patience.

So I'm going to ask two types of questions--one type to clearly represent your experience while frustrated and the other type to clearly represent your experience being patient.

We will anchor each experience and then check to see that the patient experience is firmly anchored.

Ok?

Okay.

[DANDUNGAN]

Sorry, I had to step away. Are you still online?

This is a process I learned while studying NLP. I've never done it on a forum, so I'm kind of experimenting.

An anchor could be a tone of voice, an aroma, or a certain touch. Anything that brings back a certain memory. Like when I smell lilacs, I think of my boyhood home.

I'm thinking about using standing to anchor your impatient state, and sitting to anchor your patient state.

So let's explore the impatient state, ok?

Please stand up and press your webspace between your thumb and first finger on your left hand with your right thumb and finger while you consider the following questions or suggestions.

How do you know you are feeling impatient?

Where do you feel it.

Does your breathing change?

Visualize your body language while impatient.

When it gets too uncomfortable, please stop; go get a drink of water and respond back with your experiences that you are comfortable to share.

Complete the next step while seated and press your webspace between your thumb and first finger on your RIGHT hand with your LEFT thumb and finger while you consider the above questions or suggestions.

To test the effectiveness, press your right web space and notice if your impatient feeling is replace with a sense of patience. If this works you've installed a "patience anchor".

If it doesn't work spend more time anchoring the separate states and test again.

Thanks,

Dan

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

Sorry, I had to step away. Are you still online?

This is a process I learned while studying NLP. I've never done it on a forum, so I'm kind of experimenting.

An anchor could be a tone of voice, an aroma, or a certain touch. Anything that brings back a certain memory. Like when I smell lilacs, I think of my boyhood home.

I'm thinking about using standing to anchor your impatient state, and sitting to anchor your patient state.

So let's explore the impatient state, ok?

Please stand up and press your webspace between your thumb and first finger on your left hand with your right thumb and finger while you consider the following questions or suggestions.

How do you know you are feeling impatient?

Where do you feel it.

Does your breathing change?

Visualize your body language while impatient.

When it gets too uncomfortable, please stop; go get a drink of water and respond back with your experiences that you are comfortable to share.

Complete the next step while seated and press your webspace between your thumb and first finger on your RIGHT hand with your LEFT thumb and finger while you consider the above questions or suggestions.

To test the effectiveness, press your right web space and notice if your impatient feeling is replace with a sense of patience. If this works you've installed a "patience anchor".

If it doesn't work spend more time anchoring the separate states and test again.

Thanks,

Dan

I needed to go to sleep. I have just come back for checking.
I need some time to do this exercise as I have not dealt with NLP at all an now when I've just tried it, it made me laugh...
I have no problem with the method, it is just unknown and new for me. But ' want to give it a try.

[DANDUNGAN]

Hi moimoi,

I had surgery on my shoulder on Monday, and I've been sleeping since then. Today is the first day I've been able to stay awake. I really needed some input so I got on the computer, so I'm still awake. I was just heading off to bed.

Anyway, I'm wondering if during or after your laughter, did you happen to notice any change in the intensity of your impatience?

[Metality]

I have the same problem and I am trying get over it. What you could do is.. start reading small paragraphs, short stories, atricles on the internet. See if you are still impatient.. find your interests and start reading only those and once you are able to read bigger articles without being impatient maybe you can try reading your books

This is kind of working for me, I am interested in gadgets and photography and biological sciences.. I started off reading Wikipedia articles, gadget sites and photography tutorial sites, magazines etc and I am not as impatient as before. I still need to improve though.

Try this, it might work for you as well

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by Metality

I have the same problem and I am trying get over it. What you could do is.. start reading small paragraphs, short stories, atricles on the internet. See if you are still impatient.. find your interests and start reading only those and once you are able to read bigger articles without being impatient maybe you can try reading your books

This is kind of working for me, I am interested in gadgets and photography and biological sciences.. I started off reading Wikipedia articles, gadget sites and photography tutorial sites, magazines etc and I am not as impatient as before. I still need to improve though.

Try this, it might work for you as well

Hi,

It is interesting...because what works for you seems to be my problem.
I have no problem with reading short articles online (even if it is not chosen by me, but a 'must' read writing), but I get impatient when I need to read longer writings or longer books whether they are online or printed.
But I liked reading printed books before. So I guess the cause of my impatience is the lack of the instant gratification that I am aware of since I spend a lot of time online, or sending emails instead of snail mail, etc..

You also know, I guess, when I read a short writing, I sooner have a sense of completion that is a way of faster gratification.

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by DANDUNGAN

Hi moimoi,

I had surgery on my shoulder on Monday, and I've been sleeping since then. Today is the first day I've been able to stay awake. I really needed some input so I got on the computer, so I'm still awake. I was just heading off to bed.

Anyway, I'm wondering if during or after your laughter, did you happen to notice any change in the intensity of your impatience?

I may have done something incorrectly or I have no clue but I could'nt experience a difference or such...

[Vipa]

I've had this problem in the past. I'm not going to go over what the others in this thread have mentioned.

What I wonder is whether what's wrong is assuming that what you are doing is wrong in the first place. Maybe books aren't the best medium for you, or if they are, where's the rule that says 'thou shalt finish a book'? You can always fill in the missing pages by reading the plot onlines and synopsis on Wikipedia(or another site), or watch the film and review of it.

Maybe you're just a very fast learner, and you reach a point in the book where you instinctivey know the story and so to go further is not to discover anything new.

[superfoodist]

Hey there moimoi

There's a really simple answer, because I've dealt with the same thing. You might not like to hear it, but here it goes :

Quit the computer/internet.

Internet searching rewires our brains to find information instantly, without having to sit down, and dedicate time to read. Instead, we just skim over articles and find what we're looking for.

I quit computer/internet for about a week, and I noticed my reading got much, much better. I was sitting down for hours at a time reading, when now (while I'm on a computer/internet binge), it's hard for me to focus for even a half hour on a book.

Good luck.

[DANDUNGAN]

Originally Posted by moimoi

I may have done something incorrectly or I have no clue but I could'nt experience a difference or such...

Were you able to visualize a "patience state"?

[moimoi]

Originally Posted by superfoodist

Hey there moimoi

There's a really simple answer, because I've dealt with the same thing. You might not like to hear it, but here it goes :

Quit the computer/internet.

Internet searching rewires our brains to find information instantly, without having to sit down, and dedicate time to read. Instead, we just skim over articles and find what we're looking for.

I quit computer/internet for about a week, and I noticed my reading got much, much better. I was sitting down for hours at a time reading, when now (while I'm on a computer/internet binge), it's hard for me to focus for even a half hour on a book.

Good luck.

You seem to be right!
In fact this is what I have referred to in one of my earlier replies.
So I might have to quit the Internet (or at least restrict it to only work-related tasks).
Thanks for this strenghtening insight!

[superfoodist]

Originally Posted by moimoi

You seem to be right!
In fact this is what I have referred to in one of my earlier replies.
So I might have to quit the Internet (or at least restrict it to only work-related tasks).
Thanks for this strenghtening insight!

No problem! Glad to assist you Good luck!

[Bonadea]

You have to put them somewhere you will read them (bathroom works for most people).

Although I'm a pretty good reader, there's some books that just don't keep my attention very well either. I move on, it's OK.