Sounds crazy but speed reading will give you the power to read more, which means you'll have the ability to take in more information and knowledge.
Read Faster By Retraining Your Brain
We’ve all been taught from a young age to read about 200-300 words per minute. Which means the average novel (400 page nonfiction book) will take about 8 hours to read.
So why are we such slow readers?
These are things that slow us down:
- Lack of concentration
- Rereading
- Inefficient eye movements
Let’s take a look at how to correct this technique and learn how to speed read.
Goal of Speed Reading
The main aim of speed reading is to improve your muscle memory and improve your reading habits and eye movements.
Let’s get started.
Retrain Your Eye Muscles to Read Faster
You waste a lot of eye movement at your current reading rate.
How We Read
When you read something your eyes are taking snapshots of the text as you read. As we read we get fixated on words as we go across the page.
If we stop our eyes fixating we can learn to read much faster.
Reduce Fixations, Increase Speed
With your foveal and parafoveal vision you can see much more on a page. When you learn to read quickly you can read 3-7 words more with each eye fixation.
Start Focusing and Stop Rereading
It’s natural to reread because it’s the way we’ve all been taught.
Two types of rereading:
- Unconscious rereading. When you switch your eyes from one line to the next you lose your place on the page.
- Conscious rereading. You go back to the previous place you’ve already read in order to understand it.
Speed Read and Learn More
The key to speed reading is concentration and stimulation. If your mind is constantly wandering you have to keep back tracking. Once you become proficient at speed reading you’ll be able to deal with distractions and read faster at the same time.
Speed Reading Exercises
Practice Eye Movements
Normally you’d start reading from the first word on the page, instead try focusing on the second word. Then fixate on the second-to-last word on each line.
Do this exercise for about 2-3 minutes.
Stop Rereading
Grab a book and use a pen as a pointer to guide your eyes.
The point of this exercise is to train your eyes to read quickly without rereading the text.
Each time you do this exercise increase the speed at which you move the pen on the page. The aim is to train your eyes and brain to read at a steady pace and not backtrack.
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