We all want to improve ourselves and reading is one of the best ways to do it. When we read, not only do we grow ourselves, we also change the lives of those around us. Reading is an excellent way to learn from others’ experiences and improve our lives.
The problem is that in today’s hectic world we barely have time for our loved ones and for ourselves. Taking out time to read in the 21st century is literally a task. With crazy commute times and the addiction to smartphones and social media, we barely get time or have the discipline to finish a book completely.
Since reading is so important, one of the best ways to improve ourselves is to keep reading as a priority. The solution to the lack of time that we have can be resolved by speed reading.
Reading rapidly or speed reading consists of techniques and strategies that have been tested and improved over time to allow us to read through the material in any document at a speed far greater than normal. This allows you to read fast, imbibe the core content and gain knowledge exponentially.
When you speed read, you essentially skim and scan the content scientifically, retain certain parts of a sentence or some keywords that will allow you to identify the whole sentence. With the techniques you learn in speed reading, you can even process words as a speed that is double of what you would normally read.
Sounds good?
We have compiled below 5 Top Tips that you need to keep in mind when you are learning to speed read. They are very essential – especially at the start of your speed reading journey. This is because in the beginning you’re unfamiliar with reading fast and your mind will naturally resist.
Top Speed Reading Tips:
- Acquaint yourself with the material that you want to speed read
For you to understand the core concepts of any material, it is very necessary that you have an idea of what exactly it is about. This helps as your subconscious mind already has a large store of knowledge and when you familiarize yourself with the subject, that knowledge in your mind is made available to you. This makes reading and understanding the content easy even if you are reading fast. You can preview the content that you will start reading. The main way to do it is we should have a quick read of the main title, the headings of each paragraph, etc. You can also assess the length of each paragraph to understand how long it would normally take you to read the content. Also, if there is a list of the chapters, make sure that you read it so that you know the sequence of the content. This way, even when you read fast, you will be able to understand the content as you have acquainted yourself with it.
- Create the right ambiance and choose the right content
When you need to do anything that is important you need a quiet environment. When you need focus, you need to make sure that there are no distractions. Distractions are the biggest cause of slow learning in the world today. When you start to speed read, you should make sure that you have as few background distractions as possible. Try to speed read where there are no distractions: like in a closed and empty room, late at night or early in the morning when everyone is asleep, etc. You should also keep your cell phone either on airplane mode or switched off. This will give you some space away from your cell phone. The activity of speed reading will also help you to focus better on your work, as the discipline of not looking at your cell phone when you are doing a task will be helpful when you are working too.
When you first get started speed reading, you need to make sure that you choose content that is easy to read. It is best to choose a fiction book from your favorite author. Since you will enjoy reading the novel, you will not be distracted or bored reading it. And an added advantage of starting with fiction is that even if you forget some parts because you are speed reading, there aren’t any negative consequences because you were reading for leisure rather than for any serious activity.
- Avoid regression
Regression is when your eye starts to move up or back over content that you have already read. The subconscious mind is used to reading in detail. When we speed read, it feels that you have missed out on something. Make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of regression. If you feel a paragraph is complicated or complex, slow down so that you don’t have to revisit it later. If you feel that a part of the content is important to understand the following content or is the main part, then you can slow down during that section. It is important to retrain your mind so that your mind knows that you will not be regressing into rereading content. Once your mind is trained on that, it will make sure that you understand and absorb the meaning and nuances of the content in the first read.
- Minimize sub-vocalization
We tend to vocalize silently when we read. This helps us to remember the content and also helps us to understand the content better. The problem with sub-vocalization is that when you are constantly doing it, the cognitive load is reduced. That is why you need to make sure that you reduce it. You should not completely avoid it as sub-vocalization helps you to absorb the information faster and more easily. You can try by dropping extra words when you are sub-vocalizing, you can chew gum when reading so that you won’t sub-vocalize, and you can listen to instrumental music so that you can minimize sub-vocalization.
About the Author:
Jimmy is an avid reader and is passionate about the skill of speed reading. Jimmy is the founder of My Speed Reading, a blog which is all about tips and strategies to improve your reading speed. You can visit Jimmy at his website https://myspeedreading.com.
