Speed Reading: Can it Change Your Life?

by Kim Allarie

You might have read the hype about speed reading being able to transform your life by enabling you to take in information considerably more quickly than usual, thereby enhancing your skills as well as upping your value as an employee.

For a number of people, increasing their reading speed is the main objective, while for others, it is more essential that they develop their ability to comprehend and retain what they read. A high-quality speed reading program can do both, and consequently amp up both your personal and professional life.

The typical reading speed is around two words a second with standard comprehension. For ordinary reading this is probably sufficient, but with the help of a good speed reading program the average rate could be boosted to four or six words a second with similar comprehension.

But there are those who have very particular reading requirements and wish to improve their reading speed to ten-plus words per second with better than normal understanding. A comprehensive speed reading program with lots of practice and testing can help them reach their objective.

Many speed reading programs train students to rapidly search through the text to ignore irrelevant information and pick out the pertinent parts. The idea is to be able to gather the essence of the material through reading entire sentences or phrases as a block, instead of just individual words.

Improve Speed, But Don't Lose Comprehension

Sometimes individuals who undertake to learn speed reading encounter difficulties with the practice of sub-vocalization. This is the tendency to mentally sound out each word while they read. In speed reading, a primary focus is on developing the ability to not sub-vocalize while you read. In its place, you are taught to concentrate only on the words that have significance to the general context. You will become skilled at intentional reading and will therefore increase understanding at the same time as speed.

There are various ways of teaching speed reading, as well as different ways that each individual learns. One method might work better for some students than another. Basically, speed reading endeavors to guide the brain to distinguish only important words without sounding them out mentally. If you have difficulty with one approach, find another speed reading course that teaches these skills in a way that will assist you to progress more efficiently.

Just like learning any new activity, you need to continuously practice your speed reading techniques in order to master the art.

Learn more about the time management skill of speed reading at The Speed Reading Site.

I am going to stay in the present

"I am going to stay in the present!" I declare! And, in the time it takes me to write those words, the present is long gone.

I find myself firmly grounded in the future. I am thinking about my daughter's report that is due on Tuesday, the clients I will talk to later this week and wearily wonder when our dog will learn that although our bathroom is inside the house, his bathroom is outside.

Or, I am in the past. Why did I buy that pair of pants I will never wear and what possessed me to commit to co-chair the annual school fundraiser? Gurus, well-meaning friends and self-evolved mothers alike tell us to "be here now" and "take one day at a time." They extol the virtues of the present as though it were as wonderful as a pair of new shoes, as relaxing as a Swedish massage and as satisfying as a hot fudge sundae.

Being in the present comes with so much endorsement, I tip toe into the realm of spending some time in the "present," just to see what all the fuss is about. The first thing I can tell you is that staying in the present is mighty hard. Unfortunately, in order to stay in the present, one must be aware of each moment. This takes a disciplined mind and my mind is anything but disciplined. In fact, it needs a time-out. And the irony is, a time out is exactly what I am trying to give it!

But each time I tell myself to enjoy the moment, my mind veers off like a sleepy driver on a lonely stretch of highway. It wants to think about my to-do list. It wants to worry. It wants to hope for a better moment to come. It wants to imagine how great life would be if I could clean out the closet or lose 5 pounds. But, determined and committed, I trudge on. At first I am able to bring myself to the present for fleeting moments a few times a day. As I practice this, I am able to remember more often and enjoy more fully, the feeling of a cozy bed, the joke that my daughter just told me and the great smell of coffee brewing.