Myth –It is impossible to read a whole Sunday newspaper, on Sunday!  Did you know that a daily edition of a big city newspaper contains approximately the same number of words as a typical novel? And the Sunday edition contains the same number of words as four to six novels! No wonder you may feel overwhelmed by reading an entire Sunday newspaper!

Truth – You CAN read an entire Sunday paper, if you are very judicious with how you spend your time. Here is an easy-to-follow process:

1.  Get rid of the clutter

Start your process by getting rid of the unwanted circulars and sections that you don’t need or want to spend your time on. They get in your way and distract you. For me, I immediately remove the Real Estate section (unless I am looking to buy some), Help Wanted, and Sports (I get enough info from my husband and sons!)

2.  Set it up for faster reading

Lay the newspaper flat out on a table with all the sections neatly underneath. 

3. Organize the sections based on your interests

Looking at the cover page of each section, decide which ones intrigue you the most and prioritize them accordingly. This way, if you run out of time, you have read the sections of most value, to you.

4.  Skim the headlines

Look for articles of interest. Disregard those you have no interest in.

5.  Read the first few paragraphs

Most newspaper articles are written in an A-frame style: the most important, new information is upfront, then the other, unimportant or older news details follow.

6.  Continue reading if you want more

If not, don’t! And for those that know the faster reading techniques in Freedom Personal Development’s Reading Smart Workshop, use them to get through the text faster.

Wishing you more free time on your Sundays!

Abby Marks Beale is founder of The Corporate Educator, a professional speaking and training company specializing in helping with busy people work smarter, faster and just plain better. Go to http://www.thecorporateeducator.com/.