REBELLIOUS READING

I dare you to turn off your cell phone for twenty minutes. It will make you smarter! Did you just say, “No?” What are you, chicken? What’s the worst thing that could happen? Speak up, I can’t hear you. Did you just say, “My family and friends might try to contact me and if I don’t answer, they will start to worry.” Are you serious? You’re telling me that your “peeps” can’t wait twenty minutes while you read a small section of a textbook?

Your cell phone isn’t holding you back from studying; it’s your desire to avoid reading! You sit there, staring at the textbook, just praying that someone will call you so you can stop reading.

Rebel! Go against your desire to avoid reading.

It can be difficult to disobey the ringing vibration of the cell phone, especially if you are not rebellious by nature. That’s why I am asking you to take the seven day rebel reading challenge. In one short week you can take control of your studying and improve your memory.

REBEL READING CHALLENGE

Day 1: Become aware of how often your phone rings and interrupts your studying. Tell the caller you are studying and will call them back in twenty minutes.

Day 2: Make a commitment to rebel by posting a message (via Facebook, Twitter, email, text, etc.) that you will be unavailable to respond to calls for the next twenty minutes. Notice how often the phone rings, but don’t answer it. After twenty minutes, respond to the callers.

Day 3: Repeat the above process, but turn your phone off for ten minutes. Check your phone after ten minutes and then turn it off again. Respond only to emergencies. (BTW, your friend’s call about which shirt to wear is NOT an emergency!)

Day 4: Don’t post an alert that you will be unavailable to calls for twenty minutes. Just turn off the phone for ten minutes, check it, and turn it back off for another ten minutes. When you are
finished reading the section, jot down a summary sentence and then return important phone calls.

Day 5: Repeat the above process, but increase the turn off time to fifteen minutes. Continue checking the phone and reading until the whole chapter is finished. Reward yourself by taking a break to respond to your callers.

Day 6: Keep the turn off time to fifteen minutes and be aware of how quickly you finish the chapter and how much you remember.

Day 7: Continue the rebellious reading but increase the phone free time to twenty minutes.

You have the power to turn off the cell phone, remember what you read and discover your inner genius. Don’t wait for the phone to stop vibrating! Be proactive. Become a rebellious reader and blog about your results.