ON READING
How I cut my reading time by half
I remember when I was a child and walked through the world not being able to read. I had to ask my parents, “What means this and what means that?” and “Can you read that out to me?” When I got into school and learned to read, a whole new world appeared to me. Now I was able to read everything I wanted: street signs, menus, and even books.
We often forget what an amazing ability it is to read and write. Maybe this is also due to the fact that after we learned to read in primary school, we never reflect on our reading technique. But we should. Here is why:
What is speed reading?
Reading is something we come across every day, but we seldom take time to reflect on our technique and how we are reading.
Most primary schools teach the phonetic reading technique, to speak out each letter of the word and then find the word. While this is very effective to get you started and to learn the fundamentals, it limits your reading speed. Most adults still read like this, and you can see it when they silently form the words with their mouths while reading. And even if their mouths are closed, most of us have an internal voice that reads to us.
However, our brain is able to process information from language much faster than at the speed we are reading. This is why there are people who can read twice as fast as you can and still understand what they are reading.
If we enhance our reading techniques, that allows us to read our papers much faster while still retaining all the information, thus reducing our required studying time. Less studying means more time for things you truly enjoy doing and therefore a reduction of stress and a promotion of mindfulness. And this is what all of this is about in the end.
A mindful approach to the art of studying.
With this article, I want to get you started in the world of Speed Reading and give you the second reading lesson of your life.
The techniques
For Speed Reading, there are three basic techniques you can use.
- Stop the internal reader
- Position jumping
- Deep Focus
1. Stop the internal reader
As I already explained, most adults still have the internal reader switched on. However, to speed up your pace, we need to silence him. Just press your tongue on your palate and keep it there for the time you are reading. Now focus on understanding the words and not reading letter for letter.
2. Position jumping
The second technique to boost your pace is position jumping. Your visual field is actually able to read a whole sentence, even if your focus lies on the middle word of it. This is due to your peripheral sight. When reading a paper, try to make your eyes jump only two or three times per line and try to understand the other words by peripheral sight.
You should also have a steady pace with the focus jumps and do not stop, even when you did not understand everything. What often helps is to use your finger as a guide for your eyes and move it in a steady pace over the lines. Follow it with your eyes and try to increase the speed. Whatever you do, just do not go back to reread. You will figure it out later.
3. Deep Focus
Speed reading is nothing you can do while listening to music or having a conversation in the background. You need an intense amount of deep focus and concentration for it, as it is quite a workout for your brain, especially in the beginning. But if you practice regularly, you will see the benefits and be able to cut your reading time in half.
Further resources
If you want to find out more about Speed Reading and the techniques behind it, check out this YouTube Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q0we4LjSws).
Thank you very much for reading, and have a great day.
