How I Increased My Reading Speed 34% In One Hour.

Reading is a key factor to learning. Without reading, we would lose one of the main sources of knowledge: written works.

That skill has been a major factor to people's success. You'd be hard pressed to find a high performer who does not read on at least a semi regular basis. It makes sense when you think about it: the more you read, the more you learn, the more you can apply.

The problem nowadays is that it is challenging to find time to read, between family commitments, work and social media. As time is a finite resource, we cannot extend our reading time without sacrificing other aspects of our lives, including physiological needs.

Hence, it is crucial to read quickly. Much more quickly than you are used to actually.

Why?

Because it allows you to achieve more in less time.

In this article, I'm going to share with you the method I used to increase my reading speed 30 percent, without losing comprehension.

This method comes from Jim Kwik's book Limitless.

Step 1 - Find your base reading speed

Select a book that is easy to read. Think novel, self help book or anything you read on a regular basis.

Once you have your book, place yourself in a place that is conducive to focused reading. I personally recommend sitting at your desk, on a comfortable chair. Select your starting point - ideally the beginning of a chapter so that it is easy to identify it. Set a timer to 2 minutes and try reading the passage as quickly as you can.

After you run out of time, count the number of words you've read. No need to count them one by one. Here is a good way to get an estimate:

• Count the number of words in the passage's first 3 lines. For example, if you have 10 words in line 1, 11 in line 2 and 12 in line 3, the total will be 10+11+12 = 33.
• Divide the total by 3. 33/3 = 11.
• Multiply that number by the number of lines you've read. 11x20 = 220.
• Divide the result by 2 to get your reading speed by minute. 220/2 = 110 words per minute.

Following this method, I determined that my core reading speed was 444 words per minute.

Step 2 - Make the following tweaks.

I then made the following 3 changes to my reading.

The first was to use a pointer to follow the words in the text. I decided to use a pencil, but you can use your finger or anything small and thin that is easy to move. I kept the pointer in the middle of the page so that my eyes focus on it and I used my peripheral vision to read the left and the right edges of the lines.

The role of the pointer is to help your eyes see where you're at in the passage, which prevents you from re-reading the same thing twice or jumping ahead.

The second was to silence my reading voice. We all have it and it is slowing us down: when we read, we read "out loud" to ourselves. This is a remain from our school days, when we had to read out loud in class for our teacher to make sure we read accurately.

The problem is that we can only speak so quickly, so there is a limit to how quickly you can read using your inside voice. Silencing it will help you move faster.

The last one as to hold my book slightly upright. The resulting angle made it easier for my eyes to focus on the pages, which reduced focus loss, as well as line jumps.

Step 3 - Read again

I then read another passage from the book, using the approach outlined above. I sat down, set a timer and using the same calculation method, found out that my reading speed was now 595 words per minute, a 34 percent increase.

Now let's let that sink in for a moment. This is a huge productivity gain, especially as I was already a fast reader in the first place. In concrete terms, it will allow me to read more books in less time, thus gathering more knowledge to apply to my personal growth.

It is that simple. All it took was using a pointer, quieting my inner voice and holding my book at an angle. Nothing more.

Have you tried it? I'd love to know how much better you've become.