An Intro to Speed Reading: Simple Steps to Increase Your Speed
One of my favorite things to do is learn and consume information. About a year ago I was given a book that had a small section in it about speed reading. In just one short exercise I could see that with minimal practice, one can improve their reading speed significantly. Since then I’ve read several books, taken a course, and researched speed reading quite a bit. I’ve over doubled my reading speed while maintaining comprehension of what I read and read more books this year than any in my life. Read on for my favorite tips on how to re-learn how to read, where you might be able to take in more information, or perhaps just save some time in your day.
The book I read was Limitless by Jim Kwik and while the book is not about speed reading itself, it focuses on the fact that while we were taught many things in school, most of us were not taught how our brains work and how to best utilize them for learning and remembering information. Reading is absolutely one of those areas. Were you taught to read like I was? As in you learned how to look at letters to form words, sound them out aloud or in your head, and then use those words to string together sentences? While it works, it turns out that it is incredibly inefficient and does not take advantage of our brain’s full potential.
Our brain is arguably the best supercomputer on the planet, processing incredible amounts of information from our senses in real time, and making the decision of what information is, and is, not important. And it does all this automatically without us having to think about much at all. That is one of many things to consider when it comes to tuning our brains for reading.
I’ll likely expand on this more in the future, but today I’d like to highlight my favorite basic concepts that helped me learn to break some old habits and more that double my reading speed.
1 Mindset
Know that you can improve your reading speed! As mentioned above, our brains are incredibly powerful and we aren’t taught to harness its ability to take in information. If the interest is there along with some willingness to practice just a little bit, I believe anyone can noticeably boost their reading speed.
2 Preparations
There are a few items as you lead into your speed reading journey that I think are crucial to understand before you begin.
Learn how to calculate your reading speed - You need to be an able to measure your progress and that starts with getting a baseline of your current reading speed and then checking it periodically when practicing. I’ve got a basic tutorial here.
Why? - This is something you can ponder before you read anything. What are you trying to get out of what you’re about to read? Why are you reading it? Is it to learn something new? Is it to enjoy yourself and open your imagination? Asking yourself why before starting any kind of reading will engage your brain and evoke questions. When we ask why and ponder questions, the brain will be looking for answers. This will help not only in being more engaged in what you read but also in retaining information.
Use a pointer - A pointer can be anything from a pen or pencil to your finger that you’ll use to follow along in your reading. A pointer is important because it helps keep your eyes and brain more focused on what you’re reading as well as keeping up a pace. It also helps reduce regression which is when you look back at something you’ve already read. It might seem strange to read this way but if you’re truly interested in reading faster, a pointer is an easy way to increase speed.
3 Initial Concepts
Skimming - This is one that I admit I don’t do as often as I could, but when I do, I see a noticeable difference. Skimming is something to do before you do your actual reading. The idea is to very quickly skim through what you’re about to read. In doing so, your brain will pick up on particular words and phrases and essentially prime your brain for what you’re about to read. Skimming also can help to fill in your “why’s” and some of the questions that will help in understanding and retaining what you’re reading.
Chunking - Much of speed reading is learning how to visualize more groups words at a time. The more your eyes can take in for your brain to process at one time, the faster you’ll be able to read. A simple example of chunking is to imagine breaking what you’re reading into sections and as you read, attempting to read each line in “chunks”. Some of the fastest readers can see and process nearly whole pages at a time. In practicing chunking you can learn to see and process more.
04 Subvocalization Elimination
This the one I have to consistently work at and speaks to breaking habits we’ve learned when we were first taught to read. Remember learning to form words from letters, sounding them out loud or in your head, and then the same when reading sentences? Sounding things out in our heads is called subvocalization. While this helps when we’re first learning to read, subvocalization actually holds us back from reading quickly. This is because our eyes and brain can process information much faster that we can speak. Working on eliminating subvocalization is key to reaching new heights in your reading speed. This one takes continued work for me but I notice the differences. Here are some tips that can help reduce or eliminate your internal talk.
Listen to music - Music can help distract from reading inside your head. In my opinion, it is one of the easiest things to try. In my explorations of speed reading and learning, baroque music has come up in recommendations. If you use Spotify, here is a playlist I often use.
Chew gum - I’ve tried this and I found it helpful, but I don’t like chewing gum much. If it works for you, great.
Hum to yourself - This could get annoying if you’re around others, but it will definitely reduce subvocalization.
Count in your head - This one has been a bit tougher for me to practice, but there is no way you can vocalize words in your head if you’re already occupying it with counting. I’ve seen it recommended to simply count 1, 2, 3 over and over again.
Go fast - This one is my hands down favorite. One of the best ways to stop vocalizing in your head as you read is to read faster than you can speak. It takes time to build up to these speeds and as you’re doing so you’ll be sacrificing some comprehension. However once you’ve broken old habits and practiced using some speed drills (my favorite one being 4321 drill listed below), you’ll likely be reaching speeds where counting in your head or chewing gum won’t matter much.
05 A Practice to Build Speed
There are lots of drills you can practice to increase your reading speed. Perhaps I’ll delve a bit more into these in a later post, but if I can leave you with one drill to work on that is effective and only takes a few minutes, it would be the 4321 drill.
Pick something to read that is on the lighter side; nothing too technical or deep. Fiction often works here because it can be imagined and visualized.
Set a timer for four minutes. Read at a normal pace and mark your stopping point when the timer goes off.
Set a timer for three minutes. You’re trying to get to the same stopping point, so you’ll need to go a little faster. You may get the hint of where this is going.
Set a timer for two minutes. Yes, you’ll need to get to the same stopping point in half the time.
Set your timer for one minute with the goal of reaching the the same stopping point. It will likely not feel like you’re reading at all but you must make it to the end.
As mentioned, at the faster speeds, it likely won’t feel like you’re reading at all. You probably won’t be able to comprehend anything because you’re going to fast. While there are lots of exercises you can work on to build your reading speed, this one has been the most powerful for me. This is because it breaks the old reading habits you may have learned when you first learned to read. You are going so fast that you can’t speed the words in your head. You’re training your eyes and brain to take in the information visually and at high speeds. Practicing this drill several times as week is what helped my maximize my speeds.
06 Make Reading a Routine
Likely where I see this post going is expanding to it’s own page on my website which can be expanded upon later with more tips and practices that I’ve found helpful in my reading journey. But the last one I’ll leave you with today is to build reading into your daily routine, and if you can, some of the tips I’ve laid out here. As part of my own morning routine I read for at least 20 minutes before starting my work day and more during breaks when I can. I practice drills every few weeks which helps keep my speeds up, but the one thing that helps me maintain my speed is reading every day.
Here’s hoping that if you found any of these tips helpful you might be able to read more of what you love in less time, or at the very least have a little extra time in your day because you can read faster.
If you made it this far, thanks so much! It means a lot that you’d spend your time reading this when there are so many other things out there to read.
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