Reading

Expecto_Patronum said:

There is no issue with my reading ability and I can read a book from beginning to end. I think it's more to do with documents being boring if I'm honest

I think this is it - you lose interest in it as you are not invested in what it is saying.

I'm like you normally but have had spells when I had to work with a lot of detailed legal documents as part of my job so I could be reading contracts for 6 hours a day.

The way I found to make it work is to gamify the process - make it so I earned a prize for finding a fault or opportunity in each contract so I could have a few M&Ms for example. That kept the focus going, especially for the peanut M&Ms.

When I can find that search and sieze reflex working then I can get through a lot of very complex and very boring paperwork quite easily.

I also read a lot of books (currently 200-300 pages on an average day)  and I have noticed that where I do sometimes struggle is where authors go out of their way to make the world building part too complex with too many disposable names / places that are used once or twice only. Where there are recurring themes / characters then it is so easy to get into it.

Expecto_Patronum said:

There is no issue with my reading ability and I can read a book from beginning to end. I think it's more to do with documents being boring if I'm honest

I think this is it - you lose interest in it as you are not invested in what it is saying.

I'm like you normally but have had spells when I had to work with a lot of detailed legal documents as part of my job so I could be reading contracts for 6 hours a day.

The way I found to make it work is to gamify the process - make it so I earned a prize for finding a fault or opportunity in each contract so I could have a few M&Ms for example. That kept the focus going, especially for the peanut M&Ms.

When I can find that search and sieze reflex working then I can get through a lot of very complex and very boring paperwork quite easily.

I also read a lot of books (currently 200-300 pages on an average day)  and I have noticed that where I do sometimes struggle is where authors go out of their way to make the world building part too complex with too many disposable names / places that are used once or twice only. Where there are recurring themes / characters then it is so easy to get into it.

The thing that fascinates me is I don't always know I'm doing it. Someone asked me how I had read that far that fast. I responded I haven't, that's the first sentence I read. Quizzical look from other person wondering why that was the first sentence I'd read. Me sitting there wondering why that was the first sentence I read. I hadn't even attempted to start at the beginning.

My brain subconsciously trying to find the interesting/important parts perhaps? It was a sentence that needed editing. Perhaps my brain has an ability to hone in on these errors without me actually needing to read it. 

I really don't know but it's definitely interesting - and sometimes annoying.

I like the reward trick. That is largely how my mum got me through my GCSE revision as a teenager.