I bought the photoreading book to help me sift throught the vast amount of work I need to read. Though the book was not beneficial to me I phoned up Lifetools who told me to buy the home course as this would help or enrol in the seminar but as I could not afford the seminar I chose to buy the home course.

Despite going through the course several times I have not had any success in Photoreading and Lifetools has not been any help and now have gone into recievership.

So what should I do now?

I have a few questions:

- How many books have you Photoread? I started getting results when I went for several weeks Photoreading 2-3 books/day.

- Do you allow yourself to get into state before starting?

- Are you following all the steps without shortcuts? I believe the shortcuts shouldn't come until after you're getting results.

- How are you activating the books? How many have you activated?

I feel that a person really needs to go into this program expecting to succeed. We all have similar nervous systems which is to say if one person can master this system then I believe that we all can.

If you could be more specific about were you have been experiencing difficulties perhaps we can help you out.

mgrego2
When you began photoreading and read 2-3 books a day, were you going all the way through the rapid reading step? Did you PR one day and activate the next? Were you activating all of the books? How much time did you spend each day photoreading? I know that everyone is different, but how long did it take until you felt like you were really getting it? I am also new to PR. Maybe the answers to these questions will help Parvinder out too.

Jennifer,

I followed the first 3 steps on every book. I only activated 1-2 books/week. It's interesting that, although I may not have a conscious awareness of much of a book, I know after the PR step whether or not I want to activate. There is a feeling there that I don't need to do anything else. I drop those books and pursue them no further.

When I do activate, I tend to do it at least a day after the PR step (sometimes it's several days if things get busy).

The timing issue was a big one for me. I spent too much time doing everything. When I first started, I would spend an hour or more doing the first three steps. Paul is very clear in the homestudy course that you should stick to his time schedule. When I did, the results improved (and so did my satisfaction with the process--I hated PhotoReading when I was allowing that step to take 30 minutes for a book). Now, I try to spend around 5 minutes on prepare/preview and 5-10 minutes PhotoReading (depending on the book).

I recommend the 5 day plan. My first experience was not at all impressive but I realized afterward that I wasn't being true to the PR steps. The second experience was great. I followed all the steps explicitly and got a great deal out of a book with less than 2 hour's effort over 5 days. This second attempt was what really got me excited.

Another thing I did that was a mistake, was trying to activate a book by mindmapping the whole thing (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3...). With the second attempt at the 5-day plan, I mindmapped based on my trigger words. I mindmapped concepts, rather than book structure. It made a big difference.

I too am fairly new to Photreading and have had little success. I'm trying to follow some suggestions from this group regarding reading 5-10 books a day and activating 1 a week. I've been doing that for a week now and can't say I've noticed any difference yet. The books I've been reading are technical programming books most of which are in excess of 1000 pages.

My question: Is the number of books important or the quantity of pages. In the home study course, books of 200-300 pages are recommended. This would be 1000-3000 pages using the 5-10 books rule. Should I ignore the numbers and just go for Photoreading for a minimum length of time per day?

This may just be a preference issue, but I would go with more books that are shorter in size. Topics that aren't too daunting and books short enough (300-400 pages) that a PhotoReading session doesn't take too long. I don't know if the analogy applies, but when I did programming, I would start out testing my work with a smaller collection of data. It allowed me to check results without long, drawn-out processing periods. Your conscious mind and inner mind are both learning this process (and to work with each other in a more collaborative manner), why not go easy on them at first? I guess my thought is that starting with shorter books allows you to get closure on a given book more rapidly.

I would go to the library and pick up arms full of general business or self-help books (or whatever suits you). Books that you don't have a big need to see results with. Putting too much pressure on yourself can interfere. Start with books that look interesting but which don't have a direct bearing on your work/career.

Notice when you've PhotoRead a book whether you think yhou need to activate. If you don't, move on. If you do, activate the book and notice how quickly you can move through it and gather the relevant information. When you're done, notice whether or not you feel the need to pursue the book further.

I have gone through the course several times and have photoread numerous books. I have used the activation techniques suggested without any luck. I have also constructed mind maps of all the texts I photoread without any benefit. I have been photoreading since January ( 10 months of photoreading between 3-6 books a week. Lifetools where I bought it from made out that their workers were skilled photoreaders but they were unable to answer my queries. )

My outlook remains positive and I hope for some advice to enable me to photoread.

Parvinder,

You state that you PhotoRead without any luck. What were your expectations? What was your experience? Have you found any of the postings here (either in this topic or other topics) helpful?

quote:

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Originally posted by Parvinder:
I have gone through the course several times and have photoread numerous books. I have used the activation techniques suggested without any luck. I have also constructed mind maps of all the texts I photoread without any benefit. I have been photoreading since January ( 10 months of photoreading between 3-6 books a week. Lifetools where I bought it from made out that their workers were skilled photoreaders but they were unable to answer my queries. )

My outlook remains positive and I hope for some advice to enable me to photoread.

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Have you tried using Image Streaming as a method of activating the material that you have PhotoRead? Another method might also include using daydreams to your advantage - in your imagination fantasize that you have met an "expert" on the material that you have PhotoRead and start to ask the "expert" questions. Relax and let the "expert" answer you in his/her own words, and do not try to force the answer in your mind. Play with the approach - if the "expert" doesn't want to answer a question, ask the "expert" how to find the answer or try asking what might be a better question to ask. The more real you can make the daydream, the better the results will be I think. This particular approach is a mixture of Win Wenger's "borrowed genius" and the Silva Method's use of assistants in the "mental laboratory".

You might also want to look into relaxation exercises prior to activation, and during activation, to keep the need to perform at a minimum.

The thing to keep in mind is that the information has been absorbed by your mind - you're now just trying to figure out a handle in order to get it out. The recall will not be like what you have when you regular-read a book (at least, that is how I experience it). I find it more like recalling a childhood memory or maybe someone's phone number - the accessing cues differ from recalling something I just read or heard...probably due to how the information is processed during step three of the system.

quote:

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Originally posted by Parvinder:
I have gone through the course several times and have photoread numerous books. I have used the activation techniques suggested without any luck. I have also constructed mind maps of all the texts I photoread without any benefit. I have been photoreading since January ( 10 months of photoreading between 3-6 books a week. Lifetools where I bought it from made out that their workers were skilled photoreaders but they were unable to answer my queries. )

My outlook remains positive and I hope for some advice to enable me to photoread.

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My expectations were to be able to grasp and remember information more quickly.

I have tried image streaming with some success and have tried to use it for activation but it was not successful.

Could you tell me where I can get help in England? eg A photoreading coach/instructor, an open seminar.

This is a response for Gareth. I started out reading those kind of manuals as well. My feeling is that you don't need to read as many if the books are extremely thick.

As far as knowing whether or not the photoreading had any effect I didn't know until I started attending lectures on those subjects. It really felt like I already knew about the material and all I need to do was recall it. Then when I started programming there was an incredible amout of intuition at work guiding me(the material in my unconscious mind). You might want to consider trying using 'direct learning' as an activation technique.

A few items...

1) Good advice above.

2) Beginning PhotoReaders will get better results when PhotoReading topics in which they have an interest. The more the better.

3) When someone says they have had little results with activation, more often than not it is because they quit before they had results. The "Works on all material" article in the PhotoReading section of our website does a great job of putting it in perspective. Read it. I can be eye-opening.

4) There are no PhotoReading coaches in the U.K. (LifeTools went through liquidation last summer.)