Most people would love to read faster and remember more of what they read. I am sure you also like that. The only thing you have to do is invest in training first. Learn the principles of speed or smart reading. After that, you invest your time to improve your reading skills and habits.
Is it even worth it to master speed reading? Most definitely YES! Even if you can only increase your reading speed by 10 to 25%, you will create so much more time to do other things (family time, personal time, or perhaps even study more!).
There are some things you do have to know before you invest in training. Hint… the training that I offer is very reasonably priced and will give you wonderful results. Just to let you know.
Let’s investigate more about what speed reading is and how you will benefit from it.
What Types Of Reading Are There?
When you look at reading, there are many different ways you can look at it. You can look at it from an auditive perspective. You either read aloud or silently in your head, or you read in complete silence. Reading with sound is what most people do. They (sub) vocalize their text. This means they hear the words in their head or out loud.
Read More: How Do I Stop Subvocalizing When I Read? (Use It Smarter!)
What most speed reading trainers want you to do is stop vocalizing your text. They want complete silence in your head. This way you can read faster. Reading may become a lot faster. It does however also reduce your comprehension. Yes, there are pros and cons to reading this way. It is the speed vs comprehension debate that is important in this.
Read More: What Are The 4 Levels Of Reading Comprehension?
You can also look at reading and the techniques you use on a sliding scale. This would be from deep intense reading to scanning a page for answers. The way I look at reading this way is from slowest to fastest:
- Deep reading/studying
- Normal reading
- Speed/Fast/Smart reading
- Skimming
- Scanning
The speed starts with perhaps 50 words per minute (a page per 5 minutes) to 1500 words per minute (6 pages in a minute). As you probably understand, there is not a lot of deep reading going on at 6 pages per minute.
Now that you know more about the different ways of reading there are, it is time to look at…
Study Routine: Smart Reading
What Can Speed Reading Do For You?
You will love this! Speed reading can help you get through your books faster. It doesn’t matter if this is study books, non-fiction books, and yes even poetry. (Although I don’t know why you should like to speed read something that should be enjoyed slowly).
The reason why speed reading can do this is simple. When you learn to “upgrade” your current reading skills and tactics, you will start to read with more focus. And this increased focus is created simply by reading faster. This is because when you read faster, you will have less time to think about tasks, things that worry you, and more.
Note that I am not saying that speed reading is done without subvocalizing the words in your book. You may be able to do this, but you are not required by the laws of speed reading
Read More: Read Silently Or Out Loud? (Learn When To Use Each One)
Read More: Is Subvocalization Good For Comprehension?
Increase focus and less noise improve your understanding. You most likely won’t re-read your sentences. This is what most people do when reading. They forget (or don’t even know) what they just read. This means they have to start all over and waste time reading.
The biggest benefits of reading faster are better focus and higher comprehension. Combine these two and you can memorize your reading materials better.
All-in-all a really good list of benefits. It will happen once you start reading faster.
But do you need to read very fast to benefit from all of this?
Study Routine: Smart Summarizing
Do You Need To Learn How To Speed Read?
You don’t need to learn how to speed read with for example a thousand words per minute. Simply start by reading a little bit faster.
No… scratch that!
You don’t even have to force yourself to read slightly faster. The only thing you should be doing is the one thing that will help you read faster. Start reading daily. I urge you to read at least 10 pages a day. When you do that, you will automatically start reading faster.
If you want to speed up all of this, you properly learn how you can improve your reading skills and habits. This can be done using a fancy course, coaching, or even by reading a book or manual.
As you may have guessed, you don’t even need to learn how to speed read. Speed reading may cost a lot of time to master. Start by learning to read faster. Most people who continue to practice will read faster. With the right tactics, they might even turn into speed readers.
Read More: How Do You Overcome Poor Reading Speed?
Imagine you now read with 150-250 words per minute. When you practice daily and can read with 300 to 400 words per minute… you have transformed into a speed reader!
No need for fancy techniques. Combine practice with simple tactics. You too can be on your way to becoming a speed reader (or even better… a smart reader!
Conclusion
One of the questions I receive the most is: Does all of this speed reading stuff work? I can honestly say that everybody can read faster. Almost everybody can become a speed reader compared to how fast they read now. Remember that reading is a skill. Some are better at it than others. Still, everybody can learn to read faster.
That brings us to the more important question. Is speed reading worth it? Again, I can honestly say that it is worth it being a speed reader. Not just for the sake of reading faster. It is all about reading with better comprehension. For some people, this means they read just as long as they did before, but now they can retain more from what read.
Read More: Does Reading Speed Increase Over Time?
You can also become a reader who reads in less time than before. This is the goal most people like to achieve. You learn to read in less time and remember more than before.
But… is it worth learning how to speed read for you? That is the biggest question. We all like to read more in less time. But is it worth your investment in time and money to properly learn to read faster?
Study Routine: Smart Reading
When you have a family and you work full time, it can free up a lot of time when you learn to read faster. The biggest hurdle to take for most people is training yourself to read faster. The money isn’t that big of a deal. I offer very reasonably priced training that helps you with that.
If you feel you should have more personal or family time… learn to read faster! It is most certainly worth your time and money!
