The Aspiring Crackpot

I like to listen to audiobooks, especially those regarding personal development, or that are about new skills and new ways to see the world. Unfortunately, I find that if I listen to them while working, the drawl of the speaker not only distracts me, but often makes me feel sleepy at the desk.

I learned this trick a year or two ago listening to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Basically, you use Media Player to increase the play speed to 2x or beyond, so that the information is presented to you more rapidly. You’d be amazed at how fast your brain can process audio information. I find that with concentration, I can listen effectively to 2.2 or higher, but really, 2x is enough. It’s like speed-reading with your ears. What’s really funny is to later return to 1x, and notice how the speaker sounds like he’s talking in slow motion.

This is an excellent time saver, and the speed seems to keep my mind a little sharper while I do my job. I use it primarily when doing right-brain tasks, like painting or designing, though I find it a little distracting when I’m writing, so I’ll usually pause the program for tasks that require a lot of direct conscious involvement.

Give it a go, it might get you to that gem of wisdom you’ve been waiting for in half the time.

This will be a short post, as I’ve just realized that somehow, an entire month has literally disappeared. I am supposed to have been preparing to be the acting master of our first degree ritual work here at Sun Moon Lodge No. 13, but with the madness at ili these days, I’ve completely spaced it! And I’ve got to do it tomorrow!

[UPDATE] Ok, so here’s what happened. I remembered all my lines, and everything went perfectly. How could it not have, after having memorized the universally dreaded Staircase Lecture a few months ago? It’s amazing, actually, how your mind adapts to memorizing massive passages of information so quickly. I mean, the Staircase was a bitch, but having participated in the the EA ritual a number of times, memorizing the Master part was no big deal. Whew.

I was originally afraid that doing it in Taichung would be strange as well, since our Grand Lodge is in Taipei, and the Temple is there, so we had to use a hotel conference room. Surprisingly, it worked rather well, and if we could get enough people, I think it wouldn’t be a problem for us to use it once in a while. Obviously having our own space would be much better (and more private, the candidates had to stand in the hall in their skivvies since we didn’t have a preparation room!) but this worked in a pinch.

Next week: Scottish Rite! Hey, I’m stoked.