The past few weeks I found a strategy that helps me read effectively.
The strategy was simple. Read in a cafe for a few good hours. I don’t go there to drink coffee or chocolate drinks. If I can go there without ordering the drinks, I would. But it’s not something that they offered. So the drinks was the exchange for the time I can spent there.
But the funny thing is, the cafe is not a quite place like a library. There were a lot of people came. Some to work or study and many others to talk to each other. But most of them come in pairs or groups.
While reading, I can here the voice of other customers talking and also the sound of the music. It is a classic distraction. But it does not distract. Because I don’t have to care.
That’s the key. I don’t have to care for the voices that I heard. But at my house or the office, my brain is wired to be on standby mode. Passively listening and filtering whether the background noise is directed towards me or not.
While at the cafe I don’t have to worry for the possibility of people coming to talk to me, asking me questions. Because I don’t know any of the people there. There’s no obvious reason for anyone to talk to me.
So my brain is free and able to focus on my work, my reading and my thoughts.