Experiment with Higher Playback Speeds to Save Time
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
Were you aware that in applications and websites like YouTube, Spotify, and Audible (heck, even Netflix sometimes), you can adjust the playback speed of the content? You have the choice to listen to YouTube videos, podcasts, audio books, and shows at their normal speed or 2, 3, or even 3.5 times faster than normal.
At first when I was experimenting with higher playback speeds, my ears were surprised and thought it sounded weird. But in a short amount of time, 1.5 playback speed sounded completely normal. As soon as 1.5 sounded normal, I upped the playback speed of things to 2.0. Soon, I was able to normally listen at that speed too. What about 3.0? Now, even 3.0 speed is easily understood by my brain.
Now, I’m not saying that we should start listening to music or watching movies at higher speeds. There are some forms of entertainment where timing and pace is part of the art, and I wouldn’t want to speed through that enjoyment for myself. And by all means, if you listen to podcasts and audio books and have no desire to speed up the process of listening to them because it’s a form of relaxation for you, then you do you my friend.
But if you’re simply trying to learn new things or be inspired by other peoples’ content, then consider experimenting with higher playback speeds. I started out with fiction books that I knew I wouldn’t need to take notes on to get into the rhythm of new speeds. It didn’t take long for my brain to catch up each time I decided to try the next speed up. And now, a 15 hour book on Audible can be digested by my brain in 5 hours of listening. That is a massive time save on just one book. If I go for a one hour walk daily and listen to podcasts, I can listen to three times as many episodes if I’m listening at 3 times the speed. Don’t worry, people speaking in real life don’t sound slow, and my brain doesn’t wish for real life conversations to speed up.
If you wish you read more books, consider listening to books on Audible instead and experimenting with playback speeds. If you have a one hour commute to work and listen at 3 times playback speed, you could complete a book that would normally take 15 hours to consume in just a week while you’re driving. Higher playback speeds are one of the biggest time saving hacks that I’ve implemented in my life, and your brain is ready for you to experiment with them too.
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Productively Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team