People put too much pressure on themselves when they read.

Too much to read, too little time. It’s a problem we can all relate to. Every day you find more interesting reading material, and every day the pile of “to-read” books grows taller and taller.

But the problem isn’t necessarily time, per se. Rather, it’s that you’re not reading efficiently due to a few classic misconceptions about reading.

First, you don’t actually have to read everything in a book or newspaper to understand it. In fact, it’s impossible to read everything that passes over your desk. Instead, you should get in the habit of selecting and prioritizing what’s actually important. We’ll come back to that point later, but as you’ll see, it’s quite easy once you know how to preview the material and efficiently determine the parts that actually interest you.

Second, you don’t have to remember everything you read to get something from the material. We develop this misconception about reading in school, where we’re under pressure to remember everything we read in our textbooks because we’ll be tested on the material.

However, memorized material is stored in your short-term memory and is forgotten after only a few days. If you want to retain the information for the future, you’ll need to create an easy retrieval system.

Try writing down the crucial information (electronically or on paper), or make highlights and notes in the margins. Then, simply file the materials away. This way you can find the information easily, and it will also take away the pressure of memorizing everything.

Finally, people have the misconception that they shouldn’t be reading during working hours. However, the opposite is true! Reading is actually part of your job description.

Businesspeople tend to think that they’ll appear to be slacking off if they read on the job. Relevant reading materials, however, can help you come up with new business ideas, stay up to date on the market and find ways to beat the competition.

So never be afraid to read at work – it’s crucial!