Speed Reading

Radically Increasing Your Reading Speed

Speed Reading can help you to read and understand written information much more quickly. This makes it an essential skill in any environment where you have to master large volumes of information quickly, as is the norm in fast-moving professional environments. What's more, it's a key technique to learn if you suffer from "information overload", because it helps you to become much more discriminating about the information that you consume.

• Increasing the number of words in each block:
  This needs a conscious effort. Try to expand the number of words that you read at a time: With practice, you'll find you read faster. You may also find that you can increase the number of words in each block by holding the text a little further from your eyes. The more words you can read in each block, the faster you will read!

• Reducing fixation time:
  The minimum length of time needed to read each block is probably only a quarter of a second. By pushing yourself to reduce the time you take, you will get better at picking up information quickly. Again, this is a matter of practice and confidence.

• Reducing skip-back:
  To reduce the number of times that your eyes skip back to a previous sentence, run a pointer along the line as you read. This could be a finger, or a pen or pencil. Your eyes will follow the tip of your pointer, smoothing the flow of your reading. The speed at which you read using this method will largely depend on the speed at which you move the pointer.

You will be able to increase your reading speed a certain amount on your own by applying these speed reading techniques.

What you don't get out of self-study is the use of specialist reading machines and the confidence gained from successful speed-reading – this is where a good one-day course can revolutionize your reading skills.

. Learn to read KEY WORDS. 40-60% of the words on a
page are neither critical nor important. Indeed, if someone took
white-out and hid them from your sight, you could still figure out what
the paragraph was communicating. So, it stands to reason that if you
could figure out which are these KEY WORDS you could scan past the
other words and let your mind fill in the blank. Train your mind to
find these key words and you’ll add even more speed to your reading.

Eliminate “Bus Stops” (Eye rests). As your eyes
read down this line they stop periodically and “rest” on a word.
Children’s eyes often rest on every single word as they learn to read.
Then as you grow your eyes move smoothly down the line like a lawn
mower, then you stop a split second on a word, then start back up
again. Most reader never get over this habit, but like a bus stopping
at every corner, it slows down your progress. Try to reduce your eye
rests to 3-4 per line, maybe even less as you get better… keep the eye
moving smoothly line after line, letting your mind drink in the
knowledge on the line.

Key points:

By speed reading you can read information more quickly. You may also get a better understanding of it, as you will hold more of it in short term memory.

To improve the speed of your reading, read more words in each block and reduce the length of time spent reading each block. Use a pointer to smooth the way your eyes move and reduce skip-back.