The popular saying "readers are leaders" is a mantra used by motivational speakers, teachers, leaders and the likes. However, I beg to differ in this modern time where learning should be the talk of the town because reading is one of the ways to learn even if it's one of the oldest and commonest.

Many of us have challenges in completing a book in time for different reasons apart from the underlying laziness factor. For me, taking a very long time to complete a book makes some important points difficult to connect at distal hence the reason why some will have to go back few page(s) or chapter(s) from where they initially stopped just to grasp the information as a whole.

The essence of this write up is to assist us with different ways in which we can easily complete reading a book within a short while or an expected time perhaps with a little plus minus due to other factors. Below are five ways that an help is including myself (because I haven't utilised all means myself).

MATHEMATICAL METHOD: Well, before you start thinking of some quadratic formula, Pythagoras theorem or calculus you never liked in school or even at the moment for some (laughs). What is meant by this method is by far straight forward than the complexity our mind is thinking about. Let assume a book is 200 pages, and you intend to complete in 20 days. By dividing the number of pages by the days, we'll have 10. Therefore, by reading 10 pages for the next 20days, we are done with the book.

However, it can occur that we are lax and read less and at other times activated to read more. Plus or minus the scheduled days, the book will be completed few days more or less. If for instance, we think we can complete reading the book in 10 days, then we should read 20 pages a day. This have worked for whenever I am not lazy about it.

CONTENT AWARE: Anyone with dexterity in Photoshop may be familiar with this term. But we are not talking design at the moment. As stated in my recent article about "THE IMBALANCE PRINCIPLE" which talks about the "80/20 PRINCIPLE". I did mention therein as an example that "80% of and idea from a book is in 20% part of it". This simply means that not every part of the content of a book is really important. Some are just repititions in another format and for some, we are either familiar with them in some of the previous book(s) we've read. At some other instances, we only need just a few points from the book. This can ease the pace at which we complete it by being aware of the content.

READING GROUPS: Imagine having a 5-10 man group that is dedicated to expanding their horizon through reading books. They can complete a book in unison within a short time. How? I guess you're already thinking so. Simply by dividing the book in terms of pages or chapters, each person are then assigned a portion to read within an agreed time frame and agree to meet on specified days as decided by them. Each person given a portion to read will them summarise it within a specified time. With this they all can complete a book in a jiffy!

SUMMARY APPS: Some application are dedicated for books summaries however, some may be paid after a week or a month free trial. They bring the highlights and important aspect of the book. A very common app is BLINKIST which is available online. What are you waiting for? Are you yet to download it? Well don't think I get paid to mention them (laughs).

AUDIO BOOKS: Some books have audio versions. The eBook are even more easier to convert to audio. Some of our iOS or Android phones can help read out books once the settings are gotten right. We can easily google out the technique because making a audiobook isn't a very cheap option though. However, super busy people can easily complete a book by just having their earphones or earpieces on and it's like they are listening to their favourite hit track song.

I hope this helps us with ease in completing our books and perhaps stimulate those who don't into making it an habit. The hard truth is some are far easier than others and we could just stick to it. Until next time, for now, stay book healthy...

Balogun idowu ismaheel
IndigenousGenius
400L, medicine and surgery

I use the mathematical method, it's allows you complete the entire book and challenges you more. Especially if you're deadline driven.