10 Days to Faster Reading Read online

  The subject of the communication.

  Its relevance to your current tasks.

  Who sent it.

  Your time frame.

  Your knowledge level of the topic.

  The author's writing style.

  Whether a response is needed.

  No matter the type of written communication, be sure to pre-view it for general content, use key words, phrases, or key phrases while reading, and a pacer (hand or card method).

  Special Tips for Speed-Reading E-Mail

  Nowadays, e-mail is de rigueur in the business world and is used ubiquitously to correspond with employees, clients, customers, and so on. Here are four tips to help you manage your e-mail in-box.

  Look at who it is sent to as well as who sent it. Are you one of many who received this e- mail or was it only sent to your attention? If it was a group e-mail, then chances are greater it is more an FYI than a crucial business communication. If your e-mail program allows, set up a preference that puts e-mails from certain senders in a specific folder. For example, all e-mails from your boss will automatically go into your "Boss" folder. So each day when you check your in-box, immediately go to that folder first.

  Look at the subject line. Ideally, the subject line of an e-mail should give you an indication of the topic of the message. Encourage senders to be specific as to what they want you to know before opening the mail. Some examples are:

  RE: Your input on meeting agenda needed on 11th for 12th.

  RE: How is the budget proposal coming?

  RE: Thanks for your quick response on the sales meeting.

  By reading the e-mail's subject line, you'll be able to determine whether you can read the e-mail later, just skim it, of delete it without reading it at all.

  Pre-view. Some e-mail programs let you pre-view the communication, which allows you a quick peek at the content to decide whether or not you want to spend your time on it now, later, or never.

  Use speed techniques. You can use the key word, phrase, or key phrase technique on screen.

  Pacers, however, are more challenging. Instead of using your arrow key to read line by line, try using the mouse to scroll to the section of text you want to read, read the entire section, then scroll to the next section of text you want to read, scrolling right past sections you want to skip. (Since this book was produced, we have come out with another ebook called "Read More, Faster . . . On-Screen" which includes other on-screen speed reading tips. Get your copy at www.RevItUpReading.com.)

  Start Your Engines: The Open Hand Wiggle

  Here's another pacer to try. The Open Hand Wiggle is a comfortable movement for the hand. Choose a page in a magazine, newspaper, or this book. Make sure the reading material is placed firmly on a reading surface, not held up in your hands.

  Open either hand with your fingers extended outward and your palm facing the page. Place your hand over the text with the middle finger centered in the middle of the column. Slowly slither your hand in an S shape down the column, moving down and across a few lines at a time. Your hand should lightly touch the page as it moves. Your eyes move from left to right. You can use key words, phrases, or key phrases to help you go even faster. You are to follow your middle finger down the page. As you become more accustomed to this method, try moving your hand a little faster.

  How to Speed-Read a Web Site

  Whether you are a student doing research, a professional researching a new project or your competitors, or an avid home surfer working on your next vacation or home improvement project, you know you can find helpful and valuable information on the Web. However, you also know that sometimes you spend more time than you need finding what you want.

  Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, noted researcher about the Web, has put appropriate names to what Web users do: forage and consume. Web foragers are information searchers who ruthlessly seek out what they're looking for. They are focused and hungry for information and don't want to spend any more time than necessary locating it. They do not read anything in its entirety at first. Instead, they scan, looking for specific information. Once they have found it, then they consume the information, or skim for more detail. This behavior pattern shows Web users naturally perform useful speed reading techniques.

  Here are some tips to help you limit the number of Web sites you have to forage through to gain key information without going cross-eyed.

  Know the difference between a search engine and a directory. A search engine is a pro- gram that receives your search request, compares it to entries in its index, and matches the results closest to your topic. Key word searching is most effective for search engines but can yield incredible amounts of pages to sift through. A directory is a subject guide developed by people rather than automated software and usually organized by major topics and subtopics. Directory-based sites tend to give fewer results but typically more useful ones. The biggest and most successful directory is Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com)

  Identify your top three search engines or directories. With so many to choose from, you can be searching for years. Here are some of the more well-known ones:

  www.google.com

  www.yahoo.com

  www.altavista.com

  www.dogpile.com

  www.webcrawler.com

  www.looksmart.com

  www.snap.com

  www.msn.com

  www.hotbot.com

  www.lycos.com

  www.infoseek.com

  Learn how to perform effective Boolean searches. The more you narrow down your search results, the less you have to read. Boolean searches refer to using the most efficient search terms that you can to locate what you are searching for, usually by employing words such as "and" or "+". Search engines will then locate sites that include the words or terms you've coupled together. For example, when you enter "Shakespeare" as your search term 6,600,000 sites will come up. Use a Boolean search to narrow your choices to something like "Shakespeare+regional festivals."

  View only the top 10 percent (or less) of your search results. Search engines such as www.google.com prioritize the sites they find for you – those that most closely match your search criteria appear first. You may choose to view only these sites, then move on to another search engine or restate your search criteria with a different Boolean search.

  Don't wait long for graphics. Graphics take time to load onto your screen. You can either go elsewhere or always keep some other reading material next to your computer. So when the graphics are loading, you can get caught up on some of your paper reading.

  Use a home page as a table of contents. Most Web sites have a home page with links to various topics on other pages of the site. Skip the other pages.

  Bookmark your favorite sites. This will save you time when you want to go back and look for information.

  Use speed techniques. You can use the key word, phrase, or key phrase technique on screen. Get proficient at foraging (scanning).

  Set a time frame. Seasoned users know that spending time on the Web can easily take up valuable time. If you set a specific time frame for Web searching, you will work more efficiently.

  Resist printing – read on screen. You will save valuable time by reading the text on-screen rather than taking the time to print a document. Also, it will cut down on your reading pileup.

  Making More Time: How to Manage Monthly or Weekly Tasks.

  Let's face it, there are not enough hours in a day to accomplish those time consuming tasks such as preparing a weekly dinner menu or grocery shopping and still have time to read. However, if you devise a system and stick with it, not only will those tasks be less time consuming, but you will have more reading time. For example, there is a system for managing your bills to make more time for reading.

  For most people paying bills is a boring and time-consuming activity. But it can become less painful if you become aware of your bill-paying pattern and look for better, faster, more efficient ways of doing it.

  Many people find that using t
heir computer to pay bills saves a great deal of time. You can easily track your accounts and print your checks on the computer, saving a lot of time writing and calculating. Once you print out the checks, all you have left to do is sign them, put the checks and bills into envelopes, put on stamps, and address the envelopes. Some people take it a step further and never handle a check; your bank wires the money for your bills with the click of a mouse. No sig- nature, stamp or checks.

  Depending on how you choose to pay your bills, you may find a good idea in the following suggestions that will save you time:

  Prepare the bills as soon as you open them. Open the bill, quickly review and discard the excess pages, then paper-clip the bill and the return payment envelope together. Put the bills in a large manila envelope or folder titled "Bills Payable" and keep it in a place that will be a constant reminder for you.

  Mark the envelope with the due date. With every bill you write "date to pay" on a sticky note on the return envelope. Make sure to keep the bills in the order of their due dates to make it easier when it comes time to pay them.

  Create a list of your monthly bills. Make twelve copies, one for each month. Include the name of the company and in the space next to it write the amount payable and due date. When you sit down to pay your bills, either by computer or hand, you know exactly how much you owe and you can expedite the check-writing process.

  I cut off two hours of bill-paying time by using the above ideas. Now wouldn't you like that nice time nugget for reading? Try devising your own time management system for daily, weekly, or monthly tasks that you think are eating up too much time.

  Gauge Your Attitude

  Let's take an attitude check. Mentally fill in the blank of the following statement:

  I am a(n) ________ reader.

  Is your reading attitude changing?

  Pit Stop: Tip of the Day

  If you want to really push yourself with these faster reading strategies, try using a metronome. A metronome is a time keeping device used by musicians. It can be set at different speeds and makes a tick sound each time the ticker goes back and forth. I suggest using reading material with narrow columns such as a newspaper or magazine for this exercise. Begin by setting the metronome at a slow rate to gauge your ability to read it. Your objective is to start at the beginning of the first line on the first tick and then reach the end of the line at the second tick, go to the be- ginning of the next line on the third tick, and so on. It is challenging to get into a strict reading rhythm but it is a great exercise for helping you develop speed. As you become more comfortable and find you are reading faster than the ticks, increase speed on the metronome.

  In Day 8, you will learn about your hypothetical gear shift, which includes the overdrive features skimming, scanning, and skipping. You will also look at the issues related to reading a computer screen.

  Day 8: Fine-Tuning Your Reading Skills

  When you are on the highway, you can drive fifty-five miles per hour or in some places sixty-five or more. But during rush hour, you probably can't. And driving down Main Street in your town might be faster at midnight than midday. There are many factors that determine the speed of your vehicle, such as time of day, traffic, weather conditions, construction zones, and so on. Race car drivers adjust their speed, too, depending on track conditions. Being aware of these conditions and adjusting your driving speed accordingly, you ensure a safe and efficient journey.

  Today you will look at your hypothetical gear shift and the speed control you have with your reading. Knowing your purpose (Day 3) and applying pre-viewing (Day 5) are the key factors for determining your over drive speeds: skimming, scanning, or skipping. You'll look at the differences between reading on paper and the computer. Also, you'll get another opportunity to gauge your reading attitude and take a Time Trial for tracking your progress.

  Your Control Box: The Gear Shift

  Race cars have a gear shift. That's because adjusting your speed is much more efficient with a standard gear shift than with an automatic. You have greater control over the vehicle and more power to get where you want to go at the speed you want to get there. Efficient readers have a gear shift that allows them flexibility to change gears depending upon the conditions of the road or driver.

  In car racing, there is a flag waver who informs the driver when to speed up and slow down. If it's okay for the driver to speed up, a green flag is waved. If the driver needs to slow down, a yellow flag is raised.

  You have your own reading flags that help you know when it's safe to speed up or slow down. Many of these signals will be familiar to you from previous chapters – learn to pay attention to how each affects your speed.

  Purpose and responsibility. If your purpose is to get the gist of your material, then you can speed up; if your purpose is to study or memorize, then you need to slow down.

  Pre-viewing. Pre-viewing provides you with background knowledge. This familiarity helps speed up your reading. Without it you spend more time trying to figure out the reading's meaning and the result is that you read more slowly or read material you don't need to read.

  Background knowledge. Any reading content that is familiar or has easy vocabulary speeds you up. Any content that is unfamiliar or difficult vocabulary slows you down.

  Noise level. You read faster and more efficiently in a place that has a noise level you are comfortable with. Most adults prefer a quiet location; so a noisy location may slow you down.

  Distractions and interruptions. Taking control over your distractions and interruptions while reading will help you read faster and usually with better focus and comprehension. If you allow your kids, other people, the telephone, e-mail, or other distractions to interrupt you, your reading naturally slows down and results in reduced focus and comprehension.

  Time factor. If you are reading to meet a deadline, you have great reason to speed up. If you have all the time in the world, then you have the option of reading quickly or slowly.

  Time of day. Knowing your peak, or awake, times of day, and reading at those times, helps you speed up your reading. Trying to read at your non-peak, or sleepier, times of day slows you down.

  Physical condition. If you are well rested, not hungry, in comfortable clothes, feeling well, and so on, then you are able to read faster than if you are exhausted, starving, wearing constricting clothes, or ill. I poll my classes and ask how many feel well rested most of the time. Not many raise their hands. If you feel tired most of the time, I do not want you to think you are condemned to reading slowly your whole life. This would be a good time to use some of the speed-up strategies to help you get through the material quickly. And if you read faster, you'll have more time for sleep.

  Using a speed technique. If you use an active reading strategy such as key words, phrases, key phrases, or a pacer, you read faster. If you don't, you won't.

  Location. If you are reading for school or for work, then being in a place the brain is used to working, such as a desk or table, helps you read with more speed.

  Temperature and lighting. A room where the lighting is adequate for you and it's neither too hot nor too cold is more conducive to faster reading than one with inadequate lighting or an uncomfortable temperature.

  Interest. People differ about how quickly they read when they are interested in the material. What do you do? Do you speed up or slow down? Some readers prefer to get to the meat, the main gist of the reading, while others like to chew everything slowly and read a piece of material from start to finish.

  Column width and print size. Do you know if you prefer narrow or wide columns? Which font size do your eyes prefer? Generally speaking, wider columns are more challenging to read than narrow columns. However, pacers can help with any column width. Reading material that is agreeable to your eye speeds you up. If not, you tend to slow down.

  Author's style. If the author's style engages you, then chances are you will enjoy what you are reading and read it faster. If you dislike the author's style, then y
ou will think about how much you don't like what you are reading and slow down.

  You might be thinking, "It would be great to read with all of these green flags up at the same time. How can I do it?" Yes, it would be great but it would also be unusual and unrealistic. The idea is not to strive for perfection here, but rather to take as much control over your reading material, reading time, and physical environment as possible to make your reading experience as efficient and as effective as possible.

  Through trial and error, you will figure out which conditions matter and which don't. You will become a pro at getting the most out of the material you read in the least amount of time. Be aware, though, that even a pro has a bad day but it doesn't mean he can't race. It just means he has to take better control of his gear shift depending upon the current track conditions. Let's say you have to read a proposal for your business meeting the following day. No problem. Except you are really tired. What do you do? Either you can take a short nap or get up early the next morning to read the report. I always suggest reading at a table or desk with good lighting but never read anything extremely important when you are very tired. You will daydream a lot, have a hard time following the author's train of thought, and you won't retain what you read.

  Skim, Scan, or Skip

  Skimming, scanning, and skipping function like the overdrive on your gear shift. They are the three most used reading techniques. They might best be described as techniques for not reading. The fundamental skill in each lies in knowing when and how to do it without missing what you may need to comprehend from the reading. As with so many reading skills, the selectivity is found in your reading purpose and responsibility (Day 3).