| Reading
Has No Speed Limits
Being able to speed-read will help you
raise your productivity
By Daniel Theyagu
WE are faced with increasing volume of reading materials
in the workplace today. They include journals, reports
and e-mail messages.
Being able to read fast is a useful skill that can
help you to finish your work earlier, and allow you
to devote more time to other areas such as planning
and decision-making.
Speed-reading is a technique that you can acquire
anytime. What you need is commitment and confidence
in yourself.
The average person reads approximately 220 to 240
words per minute. This is because our eye takes approximately
one-fourth of a second to register an image.
Therefore, if we see one word in a one-fourth of a
second, in one second we will see about four words,
depending on the length of each word.
It is possible to increase the number of words that
we see in a single glance if we acquire some essential
techniques in speed-reading.
Use your finger
One of the most effective techniques of speed-reading
is to use your finger. Our eye has an innate tendency
to follow a moving object.
When you move your finger across a row of words, you
will find that your eye will also follow the movement
of your finger and capture the words that you are reading
at a faster pace. Vary the speed of your moving finger
until you find you are comfortable with the pace of
reading.
Initially, this exercise might seem a bit irritating,
and that is a good sign. Speed-reading is similar to
riding a bicycle or driving a car. It is a skill that
you need to engage in actively. It becomes easier once
you get used to it.
Peripheral vision
This is a slightly more challenging technique, but
once you master it, you will realise that you can read
at a speed exceeding 1,000 words per minute. For this
technique, instead of looking at one word at a time,
try looking at a few words at a time.
A newspaper is the best thing to use to practise this
technique. Most newspapers in the world are divided
into columns. The average lines in a column consist
of four to six words. What most readers do is to read
every word in the sentence. Thus, their eye movement
is restricted to each word.
What you need to do is put your finger somewhere in
the centre of each sentence and stretch your vision
as much as you can to capture as many words as possible.
You will notice that your eyes are actually engineered
to see more than a word at a glance. Initially, this
technique might slow down your reading speed. However,
as you become more accustomed to it, you will start
reading faster and better.
Skimming and scanning
The trick to reading faster is "adaptive reading".
This means that you should learn to skim through the
article and pick out key words that are important. Again,
this is not a big problem for most people, especially
if you are reading articles that you are familiar with.
For example, if you have bought a new DVD recorder
and want to know how to use the recording function,
you will not read the whole manual. Instead, you will
skip to the portion on recording.
Scanning is a technique that is useful for reading
newspapers, magazines, e-mails and Internet webpages.
Like a scanner, your eyes will sweep through the text
and look out for information that you want.
Practice makes perfect
Learning to speed-read will help you to improve your
vocabulary and increase your general knowledge. Like
any new skill, do not expect to learn to speed-read
overnight. You need patience and, most importantly,
discipline in practicing the techniques. For a start,
try re-reading this article again using your finger
and see how fast you progress.
About the author:
Daniel Theyagu is a corporate trainer in Speed Reading
and Memory
Enhancement.He runs Lateral Solutions Consultancy which
designs and
conductscompetency-based training for organizations
He is also an adjunct
lecturer with Management Development Institute of Singapore
(MDIS) .
For seminars and workshop enquiries:
E-mail: dtheyagu@singnet.com.sg; website: www.thinklaterally.com.
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