Many people would like to read more, but they don’t have the time. Then there are those who have time, but don’t like to read. Reading is a fundamental skill that everyone needs, and the better you get at this skill, the better life tends to be. Most people learn to read in school, and after leaving school, their reading skills tend to stay more or less the same. Some are more ambitious and seek to take their reading skills to a different level. Here are five things that, if practiced, can help you double your reading speed.
- Don’t say every word. This is probably the most important thing to do to read faster, and it’s the hardest thing to beat. When we first learned to read, we were taught to pronounce every word. That also helped to spell the word correctly, as well as to pronounce it correctly. It takes much longer to pronounce each word than it does to look at the word and just understand what it means. If you look at the word and go directly to the next one, the mind will remember what the word was, as it links the current word to the first. When you look at 2, 3, or more words at once, this will be easier, which leads to our next suggestion.
- Read 2 or 3 words at a time. Looking at each word and pronouncing it is a long way to read a sentence. Once you’ve mastered looking at the word and not saying it, try doing it with two words, then three words. When you read multiple words at once, the brain can pick up the meaning more quickly and can move on to the next phrase or group of words. It is faster to read sentences than just to read each word. With practice, this will become second nature.
- Have good eyesight. Don’t stop at every word or phrase. Move your eyes at a good pace, but not so fast that you don’t understand what you are looking at. When looking at the last word of the sentence, quickly move your eyes to the next line and look and move through the sentence.
- Do not go back. One of the biggest hurdles to speed reading is regression. It is natural to want to have a clear understanding of what is read. As your reading speed increases, the tendency to go backwards will be less and less. You have to make a conscious effort to move forward and not back down. As you go along, the word you can skip should not interfere with the meaning.
- Vary the speed. Everything that is read does not have to be read at the same speed. Some things that are more technical will read more slowly. The mind will pick up on some things very quickly and others not so quickly. Move at a pace that is comfortable for you. Move as fast as you can while still understanding what is being read.
With practice, the above steps will help you become a faster reader with better understanding and you will enjoy reading more books.