I’m trying to learn how to speed read. Why? There’s so much to learn and so little time! He says, yawning into his tea at 6am. I had never figured myself a fast or even slow reader, but during reading one of Tony Robbins books, he talks of going on a speed reading course to maximise his time. This is fascinating: not only because I’d never thought of such a simplistic approach, but also it’s a microcosm of our entire lives. Slow down what you’re doing now to adjust a technique currently, so that it’ll pay dividends in the future. Worth a shot, right? Free Course on Speed ReadingSparing no expense, in this instance I’ve jumped onto Lynda.com and whacked in my credit card for a free 30-day trial. This enables to you to access as many courses as you like for the period. There are a few things I do constantly which will help me immensely – namely reading and writing. I can type quickly but generally with only 60% of my fingers. I write this blog, another blog, write motorcycle articles and have started assembling material for my next book. My every day job that pays me money (unlike the other things!) involves writing emails and presentation packs often, so it’s a skill that if I improve upon it, will help immensely. Secondly reading. I read every day, whether news articles or a book or my own articles, editing them before sending on to the site owner or publisher. In all of these cases, I need research. Taking no one by surprise, I don’t possess the abundance of knowledge I need to publish the article in the first place. If I did, that would be incredible, but alas! Methods for Speed ReadingSo here are the chief reading tips so far from the Speed Reading Course, run by a lovely chap called Paul Novak who takes his time to explain the complexities so that even I can understand it:
- I want to be leaner - Have you gone to the gym at all? - Yes! - Have you gone to the gym at all and done anything other than read your phone? - ….ermm…say what? Isn’t just going enough? Admittedly when I tried this, I was only reading one pagers, but by reading through at normal pace and then reading through and pushing myself, I managed to decrease a page of text from 58 seconds to 44 seconds after several tries, roughly a 25% increase, meaning my 250 words per minute was already becoming 300. My time may have been quicker I hadn’t stopped every couple of sentences to admire a salient point or quotation I needed to note down for later! Top Tips for Memory RecallI'm not expert, but apparently reading is easier with your eyes open. But remembering what you've read sometimes does get difficult, so here are some is some helping guidelines:
Types of Memory
Speed Reading TipsOther tips for improving the speed of your reading whilst not actually bothering to read most of the written text is simply skipping over the subtext and going straight for the headlines:
Try it and let me know how you go! As with everything, if you want to get good at something, you have to practice! I am seeing the irony that the speed reading post is probably one of the longest reads I've created....hmm...
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