I	often	find	myself	reading	everything	in	the	room	around	me:	signs	on	the walls,	labels,	charts,	sticky	notes,	book	titles. 	It	is	often	highly	informative	when making	deductions. There	are	many	resources	out	there	dedicated	to	increasing	the	speed	of	your reading,	and	I	have	included	an	article	in	the	“Recommended	Material”	to	get you	started. 	 Speculate Your	imagination	is	one	of	your	most	vital	tools. 	When	attempting	to determine	the	reasoning	behind	a	piece	of	evidence	or	anything	you	have witnessed	or	observed,	you	must	be	able	to	come	up	with	a	mu ltitude	of potential	scenarios. 	This	tactic	is	sometimes	entitled	“lateral	thinking”. 	You	may find	listing	them	out	on	paper	to	be	useful	at	first. 	From	there,	you	can	eliminate the	impossible,	and	attempt	to	eliminate	the	improbable. 	You	must	be	wary, however,	for	just	because	something	is	not	probable,	does	not	mean	it	is	not	true. Ask	yourself	how	it	got	there,	and	why. 	 Make	deductions	about	yourself It	may	sound	odd,	but	consider	this. 	You	know	yourself	very	well. 	Look	at your	room,	 and	study	your	clothes,	as	well	as	the	items	in	your	bag	or	purse. 	Try to	see	what	they	say	about	you. You	may	have	yellow	teeth,	but	you	do	not	smoke,	and	you	figure	out	it must	be	because	you	drink	so	much	tea	or	coffee. 	Knowing	this,	you	realize	that you	cannot	make	the	mistake	of	assuming	that	everyone 	with	yellow	teeth	is	a smoker. Say	you	know	that	you	are	right	handed,	but	you	notice	that	you	tend	to	pick up	coffee	mugs	with	your	left	hand. 	You	now	understand	that	you	can't	make the	mistake	of	just	looking	at	a	coffee	mug	to	determine	a	person's	handedness. Now,	say	you	have	a	to-do	list	on	your	white	board,	including	entries	such as	“go	to	the	gym”	or	“clean	basement”;	what	does	that	say	about	you?	Is	it because	you	are	always	aiming	for	self-improvement	and	like	to	stay	organized and	in	control	of	your	life? These	sorts	of	things	can	apply	to	others	just	as	well,	so	use	it	as	a	learning exercise,	and	from	there	you	can	have	these	things	readily	available. 	When	you see	another	person	with	a	white	board	such	as	yours,	you	may	be	able	to	tell what	it	says	about	them. 	