It is highly encouraged that readers view Part 1 before reading Part 2.

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The Red Dot Technique 

Whilst reading, aloud or otherwise, take a pen (preferably red) and above each word you read, put a little dot above it. One, that’ll let you keep a record of much you’ve read (helpful for refocussing after interruptions), two that’ll focus your brain on each wordand three it’llfacilitate a slow and more deliberate work pace – giving you the time required to focus properly.  

Feynman’s Technique 

This is useful for understanding the spoken word. 

Richard Feynman’s was a famous scientist, a theoretical physicist in the 70s and 80s.  

His theory was to summarise what was said and parrot it back.  

Perhaps nothing new but the old “so you’re suggesting that...”, “so you’re saying that...”, “so your position is…” followed by a simplified version of their words is an excellent way to elicit a clarifying response.  

This is a skill as much as it is a technique. That is, its more complex than taking a pen to a piece of paper, but it will become easier with time, like any skill.  

The Proof-Reading Technique 

Particularly for more important documents, print out your documents and review them (whilst reading aloud and putting dots above words).  

Studies have shown that people better comprehend the meaning of content when reading physical documents. The neuropathways we developed to read things physically don’t translate directly to reading things on a screen, so our brains adapt those pathways as we go along. Thing is, that adaptation takes a long time to improve to the point that it is equal in quality to the pathways used to read things physically.  

As a result, your brain will focus more effectively on the physical written word than the digital, with the same or less effort. 

Then, review documents a total of 5 times. Seriously, you miss stuff on the first time through, same for the third. There’s no magic in 5 times, it is just that, after 5 times, your brain has switched off and the likelihood of errors left is extremely low.   

 

Tools – Grammarly, Chat GPT 

For now, people are the dominant species of the planet. AI is out performing us in computing, reading and memorising content. Its predictive typing abilities mean it’s version of communication can come across as superior understanding. I’m sure that its modus operandi will shift away from predictive typing and into genuine understanding soon.  

So, it is for us, the soon to be subservient species of the planet, to learn how to use AI to improve our own effectiveness and efficiency.  

There are a plethora of resources available to assist you in better you AI and its intricacies are deep enough that it should be covered in its own course. 

Having said that, ChatGPT and other similar things are trained and operate using large amounts of content. So, anything you upload is not private or confidential and may, therefore, be a breach of your ethical obligations as solicitors or soon to be solicitors.  

Here, key for now is to use AI with precision. For example, it might supplement (but not supplant) your document review, or assist in proof reading (after you’ve proof read it, of course). 

That is, specific questions and tasks will assist in avoiding dangerous answers that may contain inaccurate or false information.  

Grammarly on the other hand, is a free AI drafting assistance tool. You can just download it, start typing and it will suggest words as a predictive AI generator as well as review your typed content. Relying on it, however, for more than improving your current best efforts or at the cost your continued improvement will decrease your overall effectiveness as a lawyer. So, use it carefully.   

 

So there you have it, 5 ready fire techniques to improve your attention to detail: 

1. the verbal reading technique;  

1. the red dot technique; 

1. Feynman’s technique;  

1. the proof-reading technique, which isn’t entirely what you think it is; 

1. Grammarly/tools to assist with proof reading. 

Last, but not least, attention to detail is a skill. You get better with practice. Practice can suck. Practising whilst doing something that isn’t work makes the practice easier.  

So, I’ve found a non-work-related task that still focuses on attention to detail are “spot the difference” games. It is literally an attention to detail game, with infinite variety.  

 

Home work  

10 more letters 

2 more pleadings  

20 spot the difference puzzles 

 

Bonus tip 

Put an automatic delay on all your emails of 2 minutes. Give yourself extra time to review your emails.  

Author: Ben O'Brien