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How to increase your reading speed.

from Leon Edward

Read at the speed of thought

The Information Age is a time when speed is of the essence. Everything is fast. In the blink of an eye, money is transferred from New York to Tokyo. A call on a mobile phone is made in the same distance in the same amount of time.

It is no big leap of thought to see that even people will be expected to move a light speeds. The constant rapid pace of life in cities is not something most people like, but will want to be able to cope with to keep their heads above water.

So picture yourself. You work in one of the biggest Information Technology corporations in the United States. You job as project manager is to coordinate project movements between your end in the US and an outsource firm in India. Your primary methods of communication are the phone and email, and the occasional monthly visits you make to Bangalore to meet the point people face to face.

On top of all this, you must report your progress to your employer, get his opinion, work with middle management under you to keep things from going into meltdown, and then make sure all things administrative are done. And let's not forget the "informal" socials. It's a task of exponential proportions if you don't know what you're doing.

You need to save time, and for you time is a valuable resource. Verbal communication can be managed and you can get to the point. Email is manageable. You can always ask people to get to paraphrase and supply bullet points. But what about your professional growth?

That usually stumps most people. Most project managers don't have the time to read long essays in an MBA course. But when it comes to research they have to do, they have to hunker down and hit the books which is a costly, time intensive endeavor.

One suggestion is to increase your reading speed. Reading faster saves you time. Here are a few suggestions that will help you increase your reading speed.

1. Do not fixate. If your eye lingers on a word, that is called a fixation. Try to focus on groups of word instead. You will soon find that groups of words make sense depending on your fluency of the language.

Do not get into the habit to backtracking or rereading. Text is usually constructed to summarize then move on to elaborate so there really isn't any necessity to backtrack. Also, develop a wider eye span that takes in a larger area of the page.

2. Improve your vocabulary. When you encounter something you do not know take the time with the material to understand what it is. Next time you encounter that word, you will not be slowed down by it.

3. Do not move your lips. Subvocalization is a natural human function. It is a neurological aid in which the brain associates the word in visual with the word as it sounds. However, your reading speed will be impaired if you have the habit of vocalizing it every time. If you find yourself moving your lips, try reading faster and rest your eyes on groups of words as instructed above.

4. Take time off to read something else. Get used to reading by reading other topics. The human mind is always looking for something fresh. Try to read a novel or other non-work related literature on weekends.

5. You must have a purpose. When you know what you're looking for, you will find that you can rapidly skim through topics you need and avoid topics that have no relevance to your search. This one point is a great time saver. Do not start reading unless you know what you need to know.

6. Practice. If you find that you have difficulty focusing on the text. Use your finger as the focus and pacing device. Rapidly move your finger across the material to prevent fixation and increase your attention. This method was introduced by Evelyn Wood and it achieved speeds of 1000 words per minute with comprehension.

7. Pace yourself. If you find yourself getting tired, read for 5 to 10 minutes at a time and take rest periods in between. Gradually increase the reading duration according to your pace and taste.

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