Recently I’ve embarked on a Life Experiment to read 1000 words per minute by the end of June 2009. This has given me the impetus to study speed reading thoroughly, and to practice my reading skills often.

There are a few ideas and tips on speed reading that have had a MASSIVE impact on my ability to read swiftly and retain good levels of comprehension, and thats what I’m going to bring to the forefront today.

Though I’ve seen a lot of techniques and tips out there, here are the 5 that I’ve found most helpful (I’ve recently gone from about 250 to 750 word per minute):

1. Expanding you peripheral vision - Nothing new to speed readers, but the idea is critical: if our vision is wider, we are able to take in more information per eye movement. Our eyes snap to another spot on the page about once every 1/4 seconds. Though 4 words per second might seem quick, it only amounts to 240 words per minute. If we can take in big chunks of a line at a time, it will not only allow us to take in far more information, but it will FORCE us out of the habit of reading word for word in our head, or mouthing the words (a dreaded habit!). Increasing our peripheral vision also means we do not have to read to the side of the page – we can let our peripherals pick up the end of each line and the biginning of each line.
2. Chunking and looking at big words - This probably helped me out more than anything else in terms of technique. Its important to be able to identify where your eyes will ‘blip’ to next – by separating the line into digestible chunks and/or by focusing on the large words. I do a bit of both. Once you get used to it, you become more and more capable of finding rhythm on any page, and your eyes skip masterfully from “chunk” to “chunk.” This rhythme is what eventually develops into a natural flow across lines and down pages. 
3. Record what you remember - To increase comprehension, it helps to recall the main points of what you’ve read on paper. Directly after speed reading, pick up a pencil and jot down the main points of what you’ve just read and all the details you can remember. This will give you an idea of your comprehension – which you can track over time to gauge your improvements.
4. Set up a proper reading environment – This helps big time. Especially when speed reading, I’ve found it very important to keep your back strait, to sit upright at a desk or table, and to have enough elbow room to read comfortably. I’ve found that slouching and laying down put me to sleep when I read – and sitting up strait puts me in “student mode.” Reading faster definitely requires alertness. 
5. Breaking from comfort zones - This is the underlying driver of my increased speed, hands down. Speed reading to me is about constantly challenging yourself to APPLY everything that you learn. This involves reading at far greater speed than you are comfortable with. This forces your mind to adjust and catch up in comprehension. Below I include one exercise I use to increase this skill.

Pushing your comfort zones exercise:

This is something that I’m sure I didn’t invent, but I’ve never seen anywhere else. Get a good book, and determine about how many pages per line the book has. Then count down in rows until you reach the number of words you strive to read in a minute (make sure its well over your usual capacity). Get out a timer (most cell phones have one) and see if you can read the entire segment you identified in a minute flat.

For me this is about 900 words per minute. For example, if a book has about 11 words per line, I read about 82 lines per minute. You might not always have an ideal amount of comprehension at first, but with time be reading the same pages and different pages you will find that you brain is forced to “keep up” with your eye-rhythm. timing yourself over and over you’ll notice jumps in comprehension and reading speed.

Experiment with these ideas on your own – and I encourage you to check out some resources for speed reading. Different resources include different tips and techniques, some of which work better for some people than for others. I, for example, do not like to use a “pacer” when I read swiftly (using your hand or an index card to guide your eyes while reading). You might really like pacers as a tool.

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