Two time USA Memory Champion and memory training expert Ron White memory guy shares a tip on speed reading –
I just completed teaching my 2 Day Brain Athlete seminar in Singapore and a portion of the two days was devoted to speed reading techniques. The group really enjoyed the material and a few people doubled their reading speed in just 25 minutes. Let me say that again….a few people doubled their reading speed in just 20 minutes!! Many increased their reading speed by 70% in just 20 minutes!
Are you kidding me? No I am not, I am 100% dead serious 🙂
So how did I teach them how to speed read so rapidly in such a short amount of time?
Well the first thing I did was gauge their current reading speed:
1. Read for 5 minutes
2. Then count the # of words in the first 2 lines and divide by 2. This gives you your average words per line (or you can do 1st 3 or 4 lines and divide by 3 or 4)
3. Count the number of lines read and multiply the average words per line.
4. Divide by 5 minutes reading and that is your words per minute. The average adult score is 200-250 words per minute
We speed up reading speed by doing the following in a few exercises to develop speed reading skills:
1. I played classical music in the background. Studies show this relaxes the mind to read faster
2. We used the finger pointer method where we placed our finger under the words and then pushed our hand across the page forcing our eye to keep moving and following our finger
3. Ignored small words like ‘a’,’the’,’and’,’I’,etc
4. Saw groups of words instead of individual words
5. Forced our minds to go faster than we thought was possible or were comfortable with
6. Did not allow ourselves to ‘read to ourselves’ by mouthing or vocalizing the words (most people don’t even realize they are doing this)
So that is how I taught this group to speed read. In just 20 minutes of explanation and practice I saw many in the group double their reading speed and everyone increase their reading speed. My friend Howard Berg, who is in the Guinness Book of World records as the World’s Fastest Reader says that the number one thing that slows him down from reading is turning the pages! I can’t promise you will get to that level. But I can promise using these techniques you will improve your reading speed.
Remember:
1. Readers are leaders
2. The more you learn the more you earn
3. You will be the same person you are today in 5 years except for 2 things 1. The people that you meet 2. The books you read
And that is Ron White memory guy’s 2 cents 🙂