Archive for the ‘Speed Reading’ Category

So the official Speed Reading Life Experiment is over.

Maybe not TOTALLY over, but I set a deadline by the end of June, and with that deadline was a goal to read 1000 word per minute with around 50% comprehension. 

Time to face the music. Over the last few months I’ve been speed reading regularly, but only up until very recently did I attempt reading 1000 words per minute for longer periods of time.

Just today I read 10,000 words (around 36 pages) in 10 minutes. My comprehension was probably about 20 – 25%. Some main points I missed, some I got, some details I read, some were skimmed completely to keep the speed up. 

It seems as though I’ll have to do these 10 min / 10,000 words experiments more to see decent comprehension for longer reads – but I think overall this experiment was fantastic. I had a great time moving faster and faster and developing the pacing and the honed focus to read and retain material at such a faster rate.

I’m glad I’ve cultivated the speed I have, just a little bit of effort over 2 months has definitely created massive changes in my ability to read quickly and effectively.

When I do some more speed reading or have an update, I’ll post it up here – but the official experiment is over now as a main focus of my development. On to something new…

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Here’s my last update on the Speed Reading Life Experiment before the finale at the end of this month. Wow, that went by quickly…

The goal is 1000 words per minute with around 30% comprehension (enough to get the basic gist of the work as well as some important details and names). 

Am I there yet? I better be, I’ve only got about a week left to go!

Currently I AM in fact able to read at about 1000 words per minute, but my comprehension is not always at 30% (not stable) and I am not able to sustain 1000 WPM for long stretches of time – my comprehension wanes.

Today, however, I am going to read 3000 words in 3 minutes, then 5000 words in 5 minutes and do a write-up afterwords to determine my reading speed.

I have had a heck of a lot going on, especially with my internship, the Summer FunBoys, and running my Jiu Jitsu Academy. I’m also still working on an ebook about applied Sport Psychology that should be tremendous. 

Despite this, I’ve still found time to do weekly comprehension tests and relatively regular speed reading exercises. 

My next post will be the finale of this Life Experiment, so this week I’m going to actively dig into bumping up my comprehension and really testing myself. 

The brutal truth, next time…

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(This post was written May 17th, 2009)

I’ve now been speed reading for a few months, but recently its been more intense since my 1000 word per minute goal by the end of June.

How I’ve been training:

- I aim to get in some reading on a daily basis, usually involving my comfort-busting exercise, which I wrote about recently.

- I do at least one “3-2-1″ exercise per week. This is where you read as much as you can in 3 minutes and then write down all that you remember. Then you read the same amount in 2 minutes and record what your remember. Then the same is done at only one minute. This forces you to adjust your comprehension to the increased reading speed.

- I practice on everything. If I’m studying a book, I’ll randomly test my speed with it (its interested to try this with different material). If I see a newspaper, sometimes I’ll speed read it. I even do this with websites.

Right now I’m cruising along at somewhere near 750 word per minute, though at times I find myself doing alright reading 850 words per minute. This is encouraging. I’m definitely optimistic about my 1000 WPM goal.

Check out my speed reading tips post. This is where I’ve listed my favorite techniques for increasing reading speed.

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ALRIGHT!

I am pumped to write this right now because this whole speed reading thing has been amazing. We learn so much faster than we give ourselves credit for.

Recently I posted about the speed reading tips that have worked best for me (check it out in the Self Development category).

With these limited tips I’ve gotten pretty comfortable reading about 900 word per minute, from my not-so-long-ago 250 word per minute.

Granted, I’m not at 100% comprehension (there is a lot of material that you should never even try at 900 word per minute because it would be impossible to process). However, through a combination of skills I’d say that my comprehension is about 25-30% most of the time, enough to get a firm grasp of the “skeleton” of the writing. 

Its surprising to me that once you get used to it, you can skip words or lines here and there and your brain still takes in the content you never even looked at – or at least it fills in the blanks with context.

Though I’ve already laid out an extended list of tips on my previous post on speed reading, I’m getting an even clearer picture of exactly what’s getting results. For me, the most important aspects of developing speed and comprehension have been these:

-Expand your peripheral vision (be able to look directly at one word, but take in the ones to the left, the right, and even the words above and below it)

-Trust your brain (understand that your brain will be able to get the big picture and even the important details even if you don’t look directly at every single word)

-Find a rhythm (become smooth with “ticking” your eyes from spot to spot across the lines, swiftly moving to the next line. On a line with 11 words, one or two direct “ticks” – or “eye stops” – should suffice)

In combination with the reading exercises I’ve been doing, I think anyone can more than double their reading speed in a month. However, I’d certainly recommend that you also get information from a lot of sources and see what sticks with you.

My goal by the end of May is to be reading at 1000 words per minute! By the end of June, I aim to crank up my comprehension and reach my goal for this life experiment (about 50% comprehension at 1000 WPM).

Ever since I was in third grade I can remember being a slow reader. I was the slowest in my entire class. Even just a few months ago I was reading most material at the same speed I could say it out loud (200 words per minute). Personal growth-wise, this set off a proverbial fire alarm.

Then I realized just how much more I could take in if I didn’t have to sounds the words out in my hear one by one. How many more books could I read in a year?! How much more information could I take in and process towards self-development and writing my own material?!

So I ordered “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading.” Not because I think I’m a complete idiot, or even a partial idiot, but because the book had good reviews and didn’t cost me much.

A few months in and my comfortable reading speed is up to about 500 word per minute.

So here’s the experiment:

I want to be able to read 1000 words per minute by July 1st, 2009.

That means doubling my current reading speed and keeping my comprehension in tow months. I had this written down as one of my “by 2010? goals, but seriously, I think I can do it in less time.

If I don’t, at least you’ll have some funny stories to read about me trying. I’ll be posting back here in a few weeks time with another update, stay tuned.

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