An easy way to train your eyes and mind to read faster while still understanding more
What if your slow reading has less to do with your ability and more to do with the way you have practiced?
Most people accept their current pace as normal and assume that reading faster is not possible.
In this article, you will learn a how to practice speed reading so that faster reading feels more normal.
Though let’s first answer some questions people have about speed reading.
Is Speed Reading a Thing?
If you do a Google search on “is speed reading real?” its AI will give answers saying that it’s not, and go into a detailed explanation as to the reasons.
And many of the articles it provides in the search results will say the same thing.
At the same time, the AI responses will offer a handful of speed reading techniques as well as articles that show you how to speed read.
What’s more interesting is when I researched people who say speed reading doesn’t work, I found they had never tried any speed reading techniques let alone practiced them long enough to see noticeable results.
In fact, most people claiming speed reading doesn’t work don’t even know or have heard about any of the speed reading techniques that are out there.
The truth is, speed reading is a thing, and my speed reading book has over 4,012 5-star reviews that say it works to increase speed.
Is Speed Reading Effective?
Many people will tell you it’s not effective because the faster you read, the less you will understand.
That's because they assume speed reading is simply about looking at words faster.
There is some truth behind this assumption. If you all you do is force yourself to move through the words faster, you will eventually reach a point where you stop understanding much of what you are reading.
Fortunately, speed reading isn’t just about reading faster. It’s also about changing the way you look at words and practicing the right way so you can absorb more information in a short time.
What’s more, there are many types of speed reading techniques, and how you use them depends on the goal and purpose.
Ever more there are certainly limits to reading speed, as no one can keep increasing their speed indefinitely, but that doesn't mean you cannot become faster than you are now.
The short answer is that speed reading is indeed effective, especially if practiced the right way.
How to Practice Speed Reading
This article won’t go into all the different speed reading techniques out there.
Instead, it will teach you how to practice speed reading in a way that both improves your reading speed and comprehension.
1. Trust Your Mind and Eyes
Before you start practicing speed reading, it helps to know your eyes and mind have the ability to process information quickly.
When you read a headline, text message, road sign or a familiar phrase, you don’t examine it slowly.
You take in and understand the information almost instantly.
It’s the same when reading.
Your eyes can see more than a single word at once, and your mind can understand those words faster than you imagine.
So, you want to trust your eyes and mind to be able to read faster and make sense of what they see.
2. Gather Reading Materials
Next, gather various types of reading material to practice with, such as articles, reports, books, magazines, and even blogs.
Also gather material of varying difficulty levels, gathering some writing that feels easy, some that require more attention, and some that are difficult to process.
Different types of material requires different amounts of effort, and practicing on them will get you used to reading faster regardless of what’s in front of you.
3. Read at Normal Speed
With the practice materials in front of you, begin by reading them at normal speed.
When you first start speed reading, it's difficult to understand what's being read. So, we never get comfortable training our brains to read faster.
As a result, you become so concerned about comprehension that you keep slowing down.
To fight the urge, simply read through the material as you normally do, so that you already have an understanding of it.
4. Read at Faster Speed
Now, go back to all the materials you just read, and reread them at a faster pace.
Since you already know what the text says, you can focus simply on reading faster.
Move your eyes through the text faster than feels normal.
Do not stop every time you think you may have missed a word or go back because a sentence did not feel perfectly clear. Just keep moving forward.
That is what makes this exercise so useful.
You can push your reading speed beyond your normal comfort level without worrying about missing something important.
The goal is to show your eyes and mind what a faster pace feels like.
At first, it may feel as though the words are going by too quickly.
This is to be expected because you have not spent enough time at a faster pace. The only way to make that pace feel natural is to keep practicing at that pace.
5. Recall What You Just Read
After every article, section, or chapter, stop the exercise to recall what you just read.
This step is key because it trains your brain to hold on to what you’re reading.
In other words, if your brains knows that it will be called on to recite what it’s reading, it will do a better job of understanding and remembering it.
This is how you can increase speed while also increasing comprehension.
6. Practice with Fresh Material
Once you become comfortable reading familiar material faster, practice with new material.
Pick up material you have not read before and go through it with the faster speed you are now becoming comfortable doing.
You should be able to read faster and understand more without having to read at the normal speed first.
Though, there’s a good chance you won’t understand everything on the first pass just yet. If that’s the case, simply speed read it a second time.
Read new material this way, starting at a faster speed and rereading it at a faster speed, until you’re able to both read and comprehend faster.
Conclusion
Speed reading gets easier when you stop treating faster reading as something you have to force and start treating it as a skill you can train.
The more time you spend practicing at a faster pace, checking what you remember, and working with new material, the more comfortable that pace can become.
You may not notice a dramatic difference right away, but steady practice can change the way you move through text and help you read with more speed and control.
