Reading
Now that you understand what memory is and how it works, you can move on to the exciting techniques of learning how to read and learn faster. As you will see below, there are so many benefits in every aspect of your life; you will be wondering why you haven’t done it sooner!
But it’s better late than never, and you can learn this skill at any age.
You can even start children on it once they are at the right reading age and set them up for achievement in their education and their life.
Maybe you just want to be able to be quicker because you never seem to have time to read, or you can’t finish a book due to interruptions in your daily living. With learning to be faster, you will be able to read whatever you like and whenever you want. You will power through any journal, manual, book, etc. quickly but still retain the information using these techniques.
There are procedures and techniques you need to discover, and this chapter will show you how to get started.
Why Don’t You Read Now?
You may have loved reading as a youngster, but as you got older, you
lost the enjoyment you used to feel. This is often because our adult lifestyles are just too busy, and we don’t seem to have the time to sit down and focus on a book, let along concentrate on it without being interrupted or distracted.
Have you ever watched someone sitting on a train, and they seem to have been reading the same page for ages? This is usually because their concentration isn’t focused, and it seems to take so long just to get through the page.
Between studies, work, family, and sports, we often don’t take the time to relax with a good book, yet this is so important to do because it encourages you to take some time out and relax. Books help you escape into other worlds, and reading them fast means you can quickly go on to the next exciting chapter.
We have also become lazy and complacent. Why spend 4 hours reading a book whose film will last 2 hours at most? This is something that is said way too often, yet the movie is never the same as the book.
You lose so much information by watching the screen than if you were turning the pages and making your brain work a little harder.
Hopefully, once you have learned the tricks of reading faster, you will go back to this beautiful world, you can get your hands on.
Benefits of Reading Faster
In case you’re still not convinced how the ability to read faster can be a massive advantage in your life, below is a list of benefits that will come with it:
1. Information is absorbed quicker: when you can absorb information more quickly, it gives you more time to be innovative and creative.
2. Comprehension is improved: as you read more material, the ability to absorb and comprehend the information becomes much faster and efficient. You only have to read each day to increase your comprehension by up to 20% in 30 days.
3. Knowledge increase in multiple interests: because it takes less time to read something, you can explore other interests that will not only improve your knowledge but also improve your social interactions.
4. Information recall is more efficient: the process of faster reading enables more efficient memory storage and recall.
5. Visualization is promoted: fast reading techniques can involve visualizing the information instead of just reading it.
6. Provides strategies for information overload: you can pick and choose what you want to read because you can skim and work out whether the material is relevant or not.
7. Reading process is more organized: because it is a structured process, it becomes a lot more organized.
8. The concentration is improved: you need to be able to concentrate well while reading faster, so the more you practice, the better your focus will become.
9. More discipline when reading: you will learn to remove distractions and focus.
10. Quicker decision making: making decisions becomes more comfortable because you know you are well informed.
11. Can read more in the same amount of time: this is a huge
advantage for students who need to learn a lot of information in a short time.
12. Career boost: Many potential employers see the skill of reading faster as a significant advantage, as work can be completed in a timely and efficient manner, which could result in promotions.
13. More potential opportunities: by broadening your knowledge through faster reading, there will be a lot more job opportunities available in a broader range of careers.
14. Time management improves: faster reading is all about time management and discipline, so your ability to manage time will increase significantly.
15. Techniques can be applied to all media: you can read any material at all using the faster reading techniques, whether in paper form or electronic.
16. Improved memory: as your speed increases, the brain is exercised, and it increases the retention of memory and improves its function.
17. Self-Confidence increases: being able to read faster can make you feel more confident in your personal life and your professional environment. You will be able to stand up and give presentations knowing that you have read all the information and memorized the essential pieces.
18. Reduced stress: because faster reading takes less time, there is less stress. The ability to understand and analyze quickly is a considerable advantage and removes the fear of not getting things done.
19. Vocabulary: the ability to read faster exposes you to a
broader range of written language. When you see words repeatedly, you will remember it and be able to recall it at a later date.
The Process
1. Previewing Text
Just as you would watch a trailer for a movie to get the idea of the content, previewing text helps you understand more quickly what you are about to start reading. To do this, scan the document from start to finish, taking particular notice of all bullet points, anything bold, headings and subheadings, or text that is written in a different or bigger font. By previewing the book, you can work out what is essential to read and what you can skip.
2. Planning How to Tackle the Text
If you think about how you are going to read a text and plan for it, you can improve your ability to digest the content significantly. The first thing to ask yourself is what you are wanting to learn by reading the text. Write down a few questions that you are hoping the writing will answer for you by the time you reach the end.
The next step is to work out what the author was hoping to achieve by writing the text. If the full text contains sections that don’t answer your questions, avoid them. Also, if the book is more extensive or scientific, plan what passages you should read slower that require more careful attention.
3. Focus and Concentration
To be able to read text faster, you need to have excellent concentration and focus. To aid this, remove or at least minimize any distractions, noise, and possible interruptions. If your thoughts start to wander while you are reading, use your mindfulness skills to bring you back to the text. If you plan and approach text with the proper attention, you will be able to recognize if there is something you don’t understand more quickly, which will save you time. Otherwise, people tend to go back and read sentences over and over and still don’t grasp what’s right in front of their eyes.
4. Never Read Each Word
We are taught from a young age to read each word, when, in fact, by paying attention to how your eyes can scan the material, you can increase your rate. For most people, they can scan text in chunks of about 1.5 inches, usually three to five words, depending on the type of text and the size of the letters.
Instead of reading every word, scan the text in chunks of three to five words, then move on to the next piece. To increase your speed, at the beginning and end of each line, focus on fragments rather than the words at the start and finish of the line.
To help you scan in chunks, you can use a pen or your finger to point at each piece. This will help you teach your eyes to scan faster. Also, it will stop you from saying each word in your mind as you are reading, which slows down your speed considerably.
5. Choose Sections
