Speed reading is NOT the act of running around with a book while reading… Not at all. It’s a technique for reading and covering many pages in a short while. I mentioned some of these techniques in the last post. How to Enjoy Reading: Reading Techniques. You can revisit the post and get some insights.
However, I needed to pour more light on the topic of Speed Reading because I had a feedback from one of the readers. The question asked was; How they could cover 50 pages in a day? Yes it is possible and this post is for you and others who wish to know.
Gist # 1
Let me tell you a brief story. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I used to go out jogging in the morning with a neighbour. The plan was to jog round the estate. I could jog round the estate in 45 mins while my neighbour would do that in 20 mins. This was a distance of about 3 km. Initially, we both jogged together but later we had to run separately in order to accommodate our individual pace. I knew I had to do better and I gradually increased my pace and speed, and after 3 weeks (of daily practice) I could cover the distance in 30 mins. I knew if I put in more effort I could improve in the timeline. Of course, I wasn’t planning to cover the distance in 5 mins. If I did, or if I could, it would be an exceptional case and I would have been at the next Olympics. Now, note that if I didn’t jog with my neighbour and noticed 45 mins was somewhat slow, I wouldn’t have found the need to improve on my speed. I found the need to improve on my speed, I took action and I got better.
Let’s ask the basic questions:
- How many pages can you cover in one day?
- Why so many pages? / Why so few pages?
- How many pages can you cover in one hour?
- Why so many pages? / Why so few pages?
Gist # 2
I would give you another gist. I used to be a very slow eater. Not that I was slow per se. I just liked to take my time. I could eat a plate of rice or bowl of cereal for 1 hour or more. In fact, meal time was time to engage in other activities like; watching videos, playing video/phone games, etc. I didn’t put any thought into finishing my meal on time and focusing on another activity separately. Then came a project I had to travel for. I knew I had to change my lifestyle to accommodate for speed and efficiency. I knew that the place I was travelling to would not accommodate time for meals. I had to either eat on the move or forget about food till evening. For this reason, I made conscious effort to start and finish my food in less than 15 mins. Later, the timeline improved to less than 10 mins and lastly, I made it in about 6 to 7 mins. This was possible by first reducing the quantity I ate; focus on the food alone; and because I saw the need to change my behaviour / eating habits.
The 2 stories above point to one fact, we can always make room for improvement. Once you know what you desire to achieve and agree that a change is needed, the next effort is to look for the solutions and work on the process and progress.
This also means that every activity can be viewed from the point of “An exercise”. It can be improved upon. You can get better, you can become faster, you can become more efficient, you can cover more. But more importantly, it is a gradual effort and you would need to learn the habit over a period of time.
Reading As An Exercise
Reading is another exercise (brain exercise as I often say) that requires conscious effort of the eye and brain coordination. If you have made up your mind that you want to cover specific number of pages within a duration, then you need to apply some basic techniques (speed reading) and to understand some basic points…
Speed Reading
Speed Reading, as defined by Mind Tools , is the process of rapidly recognizing and absorbing phrases or sentences on a page all at once, rather than identifying individual words. In other words, you skim through the words of the page with the intention of getting the main gist and general idea of the page. In this kind of reading technique, your aim is to fish out the key information from the text without dwelling on the text.
There is the temptation of going through a text and romancing with the words, that is, reading and re-reading a paragraph to get more incite or delve on individual words. This is not allowed in speed reading. Once you know you have much to cover within a short period of time, you get at it; breeze through the page and pick out the main information. Other points in the text that buttresses the key point are taken lightheartedly. The beautiful thing is that once you have learnt/imbibed the skill of speed reading you tend to use it always. So how does this work?
Let us look at it from another angle. Information is usually presented in similar fashion. Let’s look at an example of what texts usually look like.
I am about to talk about ABC. This is ABC. ABC has to do with xyz. In conclusion I just spoke about ABC.
From the above, what is the main gist of the text? “This is ABC.” Period!
Every other thing presented in the text are surrounding gist to introduce or buttress the point about the main gist. Similarly, that is how contents and stories are worded. A story teller tries to tell you a story; for example, Mary gave birth to a boy. And that’s the main gist. Every other information surrounding Mary giving birth to a boy may not require your full attention. Once you gloss over the text, you can get the main gist. And that is what speed reading is about.
To be candid, you would find it difficult to speed read once you start. Your brain has to catch up with your new habit of breezing through the text and processing the information. But trust me, the brain is very capable of doing just that. It just requires practice for a while before you get use to it. But at first, you have to be intentional about it.
Covering 50 Words in A Day!
Be intentional, start with a page and give yourself a few minutes to finish the page. Don’t be worried about how much information you were able to remember. Be worried about being able to cover the page in the timeline you planned. 120 seconds/page is okay for a start. With continuous practice, you would improve on this timing and know what to dwell much time on and what to gloss over or totally neglect while reading.
The temptation to Understand or Remember Every Word or Phrase.
Are you kidding me? If I may ask you, can you remember word for word all you have read above concerning this article. That’s impossible, except you have a super magnetic brain. But you were able to get the general gist of the article. The point here is, the attempt to remember or memorize all the words from the page is folly in itself. If there are points you wish to memorize or words that are of grave importance, write them down in your jotter. You can visit your jotter later to delve curiously into the matter. Note that, trying to over-process a concept or statement leads to delay in speed. Hence, except you are in an exam hall and trying to figure out a text; do not try to understand or remember every word or phrase you have read. Focus on getting the key words and main gist.
Below are links to more resources on speed reading:
- Speed Reading Techniques – from wiki.com
- How to Speed Read : 6 Easy Techniques
- Speed Reading – from Mind Tools
You may go through the resources above to find more information on speed reading and try out the techniques or methods made available in the articles that may work for you.
Lethargy: A lack of Energy or Enthusuasim
Remember gist #1? On how I improved my jogging speed; I didn’t get it right all at once. There were days I had to jog, walk, then jog. I made up my mind that I needed to achieve my goal. You may pick up a book and you get tired of it, due to lethargy, but there is a way out.
You can either change the book for a day and pick up another book temporarily to refresh your mind. This is a common practice among voracious readers. Another method is to read for a while (may be an hour) then move to another activity that would juggle your mind and keep it refreshed or awake. After that you return back to your book refreshed.
If you are in the habit of easily getting tired of a particular text/book, (and you need to finish it within a specific period) the best method is to portion your time into short gaps of 20 to 30 minutes for reading. Then move to another activity for 5 to 10 minutes, then come back to the book for another 20 to 30 minutes. You would improve on your enthusiasm and speed to complete the text. And before long, you may not need to take the 5 to 10 minutes breaks.
Start Early : Be a Voracious Reader
My last point on speed reading should have been my first, START EARLY. We have said a lot about reading in the previous articles that I would just refer you to the previous post on reading. Several parents have come to the library and are encouraged to get more books because their children read a lot. I can’t over emphasize this. Reading is an exercise, the more you engage in it the better and faster you become. I would encourage parents to buy books for their kids or take their kids to a library. Help them build the habit, skill and momentum. Once your kids can start early, speed reading becomes easier to grasp. For adults, speed reading is achieveable, start today… today is still early, compared to the rest of your life.
And as the French would say “Bon chance!”
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Back to the basic questions we asked at the beginning:
- How many pages can you cover in one day?
- Why so many pages? / Why so few pages?
- How many pages can you cover in one hour?
- Why so many pages? / Why so few pages?
You notice that I can’t answer these questions for you. And with the above article you can deduce if you need to improve on your speed and how. If you still have challenges with improving your speed, kindly DM on whatsapp.
John
Project Manager – lokogoma.com / Mini – Library
08023542319
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