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Some truths take time. They can’t be grasped all at once. Their implications need to be thought through. You need to return to them to really savor them and understand their significance.

In your life – right now – are there any truths that you’re rushing past? What happens if you stop and take the time to get to know them?

I came across a book about improving the speed of my reading. (I bought the book, because it’s recommended in a business book I respect.)

One of the most helpful things in the book is also one of the most obvious: you don’t need to read every word.

When you’re faced with a book, you don’t need to have your eye go over every single word. Start with the table of contents. If the book’s contents look promising, then preview the book.

You preview the books by reading the headings in each chapter. If the book is worth it, do a more thorough preview: read the first sentence of each paragraph.

With the preview, you’ll get a strong sense of the book’s argument. And you’ll know where to go back within the book for focused reading – or whether the book is really worth reading at all. Most books really aren’t worth reading all the way through.

Which brings us to another secret of reading faster: don’t read stuff that isn’t worth reading. Because one of the best ways to get through more good material is to avoid reading bad material.

Let’s be clear: what’s “good” material and what’s “bad” material will depend on your purpose, your plans, and your circumstances.

If a book doesn’t serve your current purpose, it’s not worth reading. Set it aside and move on to finding one that is worth reading.

You’ll save a lot of time that way.

A sluice is a water channel controlled at its head by a gate. The water that flows in a sluice can power a mill.

I think of this site as a sluice.

My ideas are stored up in a reservoir (that list of things to write about).

The ideas flow out in these posts, like water through the sluice when the gate goes up.

The ideas reach a reader’s mind, where they set something spinning and, if things work as they should, get transformed into some other form of energy.

If you haven’t done so yet, you should build a reservoir of your own. And set up some sort of sluice.

Not every experience is going to be enjoyable. Not every phase of your career is going to be fulfilling in every way. There are going to be parts and pieces that you wish didn’t have to be that way.

Think about a car ride. The ride can get unpleasant (curves in the road causing queasiness) or just plain boring (long stretches of desert with monotonous scenery).

But what would the ride feel like if you were enjoying it? What would need to happen for the boring part to be a little less boring or not boring at all? Do you bring music? A friend? Can you alleviate the unpleasantness by taking a slightly longer route?

Once I start asking those questions, I feel less frustrated.

I remember that I’m not just along for the ride.

I’m driving, and I can control how the trip feels by making new decisions.

This past summer I went camping with my family. On the first day at our campsite, my flip flops broke. The piece that goes between your big toe and your second toe: that piece disconnected from the sandal base when I was walking in wet sand.

So I drove to town and went to Walmart. I wasn’t excited to buy replacement flip flops from Walmart, because I wasn’t expecting anything great. But I found a pair that seemed like they’d work, and I got them.

You know what?

The flip flops I got turned out just fine. They actually worked just as well for me as the other flip flops I’d had.

This made me think.

Sometimes a makeshift solution, the solution you’re forced to go with because of the circumstances, will turn out just fine.

Don’t worry when your flip flops break. Go to Walmart, get what you need, and get on with your camping trip.