If you’ve read my blogs before, you’ll know that I’m a huge, HUGE fan of audiobooks. I listen in the car, in the bath, on the exercise bike; when I’m washing up, pottering, hoovering and gardening. It’s thanks to this that I’ve gotten through a myriad of fascinating books in the last year or two and come to actually look forward to long drives and intense ironing sessions.
So it pains me to say that I’m moving away from audio books and towards book-books.
Why? Because as much as I’ve learned from my audiobooks, the passive nature of listening to a book – especially when I’m multitasking and doing something else at the same time – means that I’m missing just as much.
Having spent more time thinking about the way that I best learn in the last month or so, I’ve come to the decision that I need to put more effort in. And a big part of that is by making my learning active, not passive. I’m moving towards single-tasking over multi-tasking which honestly just feels hateful, like I’m purposely slowing myself down and making myself less efficient and productive.
The thing is, I know that if I’m listening to something really meaningful and valuable, I want to take it in wholly. I don’t want to half-arse it, to come away remembering 20% of it and applying even less.
So I know that in the long run, it’s actually more efficient to slow down and do one thing at once; to take the time to read, highlight, take breaks and make notes if I wish, or to simply be fully present with what I am reading.
Otherwise, what’s the point?!
Aside from anything else, it just feels kinder to my brain – to only ask that it reads a book, rather than listens to one while doing ten other things at once.
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