10 Days to Faster Reading Read online

  2. Let technology work for you. Telephone machines and voice mail are meant to take messages for you when you are unavailable to take the calls. Decide how often and when you will check your messages. You can program most e-mail software programs to check for messages at designated times. Try starting with three times a day. Putting yourself on a schedule gives you freedom to concentrate on other tasks.

  3. Let others work for you. To get some uninterrupted quiet time, see if you might be able to swap phone answering duty with a co-worker or housemate so you each get some time. If you are a student working at home or in your dorm room, tell the other residents to hold your calls and take messages until a certain time when you think you will be done.

  4. Listen to Mozart. It has been suggested that Mozart's music or any classical music boosts concentration and retention while reading and learning. Play it quietly in the background even when you work to focus your brain on the tasks at hand. It can also be very relaxing, a feeling many need while working. If Mozart is not your style, listen to music without words or with a soothing beat. Some New Age piano or guitar can work well. Just make sure it doesn't become a distracter.

  5. Move to a more appropriate location. If you want to increase your chances of reading more quickly with better concentration — and ultimately better comprehension and retention — then sit at a desk or table. These are places at which the brain has been conditioned to work.

  6. Turn off the TV. Perhaps you can flip through a popular magazine, not a professional journal, while watching TV, but to read with serious purpose and responsibility, you should reject the TV as a companion to reading.

  7. Read at your peak time(s) of day. If you know you are most productive and focused first thing in the morning, then find a way to incorporate reading at that time. Students can help themselves by not reading at night, but instead going to bed earlier and getting up earlier the next day. You will read faster, learn more, and remember what you read better. Adjust your reading schedule to meet your body's natural rhythm.

  8. Brain Dump. If you are about to read (or work) and you have a lot on your mind, write down what you are thinking about. If you are concerned that you will forget to call someone, make a note about it. If you are thinking about an upcoming event you need to be ready for, write down what you need to do. Carry paper and pen with you at all times. You never know when you'll remember something you don't want to forget. Also trust that your subconscious usually finds a way to solve your problem when you are not focusing on it.

  9. Set a time goal. Give yourself a realistic time limit for reading. By saying you only have a certain amount of time to complete your reading, then you have a better chance of doing it with less daydreaming.

  10.Take short breaks. Contrary to popular thought, you do not need long periods of time to read.

  You should be able to get through a daily newspaper in as little as five minutes or as long as thirty. Remember, it depends on your purpose and responsibility. However, if you have a lot of reading to do, like college students or business professionals, then you will need to read for longer periods of time new and then.

  Reading for long periods of time without resting your eyes and brain can cause burnout. If race car drivers didn't stop during a race, they would run out of gas and wear out their tires, too. Quick breaks are essential for making it through a race. Race car drivers go into a pit lane for refueling, making adjustments, changing worn tires, and so on. The longer the race, the more breaks they have to take. Though it takes time, it is well worth the effort for getting to the finish line efficiently.

  Many drivers pit when a yellow caution flag is waved. This is when the race naturally slows down due to an accident or debris on the track. When you read, you could plan a short break for when you naturally feel your concentration waning. Research shows that concentration can last for only an average of twenty minutes while reading, so you might want to take a quick break, about five minutes, every twenty to thirty minutes. Try not to wait longer than an hour for a break. The shorter the break, the less time you lose and the easier it is to get back up to speed.

  By implementing some or all of these suggestions, it will take you less time to read more with better comprehension and retention. You will also immediately reduce passive mind wandering.

  Turbo Comprehension Challenge: The Ten Minute Trial

  When people tell me that they can read efficiently when they watch television, listen to loud music, or eat lunch, I suggest they try the ten-minute trial to test their perception of reality.

  Step 1. Take some material you have to read. Read it in your usual place under your usual conditions for ten minutes. If you always have a lively radio station on, make sure it is on. If you always eat while you read or have the television on, continue to do so. At the end of ten minutes, write down how many pages you read, what you think you read about without looking back at the pages you read, and what, if anything, your mind wandered to.

  Step 2. Now make some changes in your reading environment, either physical or mental. You might change your music to a classical station, turn off the television, or refrain from eating. Using the same material, try reading again for another ten minutes. Write down how many pages you read, what you think you read about without looking back at the pages your read, and what, if anything, your mind wandered to.

  Step 3. Ask yourself, "Which conditions allow me to read more and/or understand more?"

  Initially you may be distracted from a lack of your distraction. But in the end decide which conditions have the best chance of helping you increase your reading concentration. You have the power to fully concentrate no matter the circumstances.

  Time Trial No. 3

  Now is a good time to test your engine. The following exercise takes less than five minutes to complete. Using the ideas presented in "Getting on the Focus Track," set yourself up in an environment most conducive for your concentration.

  In the following practice reading, you will have the opportunity to experiment with the white card pacer (see Day 1) or Left Side Pull (see Day 2). While reading, be aware of your daydreaming, regressing, or mental talking. Continue to notice whether you do these habits actively or passively.

  1. Time Yourself. See how long it takes to read the passage "A True Athlete" below. Write your total time in minutes and seconds in the space provided at the end of the reading.

  A True Athlete

  By John D. Whitman

  One of the most moving and emotional aspects of sporting events is the chance for an athlete to become, for a moment, superhuman.

  That comment doesn't refer to weight lifters hefting never-before-achieved weights, or high jumpers clearing bars at new heights. Some of sports' greatest moments happen regardless of the number of goals or the speed of the winner. They happen when one player meets an impossible challenge.

  These moments are so incredible, so perfect, that if they were written into fictional stories no one would believe them.

  One of the greatest of these athletes is Michael Jordan, the former star of basketball's Chicago Bulls. Jordan's career is one long list of high scores, heroic moments, and highlight films. He led his team to six championships in the 1990s.

  Fans and announcers alike speculated that 1998 would be Jordan's last season. That year, Jordan carried the Bulls to yet another championship series. They faced the Utah Jazz, a team that had beaten them during all regular season games.

  Following Jordan's lead, the Bulls took control of the first few games of the series. Although they led the series 3-2 at the start of Game 6, momentum shifted to the Jazz, thanks to their All-Star power forward Karl Malone.

  But the Bulls had Jordan, and he did not like to lose. In the final moments of a career full of magical moments, he proceeded to orchestrate a series of moves that would epitomize all his achievements.

  He scored a lay-up with 37 seconds left that cut the lead to 86-85.

  Then, as Malone tried to take position near the basket, J
ordan snuck around him and stole the ball. Dribbling downcourt, the superstar hesitated for a moment as guard Bryon Russell blocked him. Jordan leaned to his left, then turned back to his right, faking Russell almost onto his hands and knees.

  Open for a split second, Jordan shot the ball with 5.2 seconds left. The ball hit nothing but the bottom of the net as it sailed through the basket, placing the Bulls into the lead. The Bulls won the game, and took their sixth championship.

  It seemed like too much to ask: a great player at the end of a great career, summoning all his skills for one final moment of superhuman effort.

  But the sports world expects greatness from athletes, and Michael Jordan literally rose to the occasion.

  ➞ Mark your reading time here: _____ (minutes) _____ (seconds).

  2. Respond to statements. Immediately answer the following statements to the best of your ability WITHOUT looking back at the reading. Estimate the number of answers you believe are correct and put the number in the blank provided.

  Comprehension Statements

  Without looking back at the reading passage, respond to the following statements by indicating whether the statement is True (T), False (F), or Not Discussed (N).

  1. Some of the greatest moments in sports happen when an athlete meets a seemingly impossible challenge.

  2. Michael Jordan played for the Detroit Bulls.

  3. Before joining the Bulls, Michael Jordan played for the Utah Jazz.

  4. Michael Jordan led his team to four team championships.

  5. Despite Michael Jordan's strong playing, the Bulls lost the first few games of the 1998 championship series.

  6. Michael Jordan retired because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

  7. In the last championship game, Bryon Russell fouled out as Jordan dribbled down the court.

  8. Michael Jordan is considered a super-athlete because he also plays professional baseball.

  9. Despite playing on opposing teams, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan are good friends.

  10. Michael Jordan put superhuman effort into the final moments of the last game of his career.

  Now, estimate how many of these answers you have correct out of ten _____.

  3. Check your responses. Turn to the Answer Key. If you have any incorrect, mark the correct response and return to the reading passage to try to understand where you had a problem.

  4. Figure your comprehension percentage. Add the total number of correct responses you have and multiply by 10. Write your comprehension percentage in your Personal Progress Chart.

  5. Figure your words per minute. Look at your reading time and round off the seconds to the nearest 10-second mark. Find your Words per Minute and record next to your reading time. Write your Words per Minute in your Personal Progress chart.

  6. Track your Time Trial scores. Make sure you've recorded your Words per Minute, comprehension percentage, and the date you did the exercise in a Personal Progress Chart. It's also helpful to document other details such as time of day, any preoccupations, strategies used, and so on.

  Focus with a Pen in Hand

  Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about creating concentration while reading, here's another set of strategies. These we'll call the Note Making Tools. They are meant to help you mindfully locate and document the most useful material in any reading. They should not always be used because they can waste your time, especially if your purpose doesn't warrant it or you aren't going to need the information again. The Note Making Tools can be used when you want or need to:

  1. Refer to the information again, or

  2. Quickly locate one piece of information, such as a quote or statistic.

  Using a Highlighter Effectively

  When it comes to using a highlighter, most people do not use it effectively. They use the highlighter as a coloring tool. They locate a paragraph they want to highlight, which is an active reading process, and proceed to cover each line with their colored highlighter. Then they may notice some white space between the lines, and proceed to fill in the color. Finally they see that the color is ragged on the edges, so they smooth out the edges, making a colored box out of the highlighted paragraph. This has now become a passive activity.

  This coloring activity is very distracting and a waste of time. This is because this type of highlighting postpones learning. If you need to learn the information in the paragraph for a test, then you would be using highlighting inefficiently. You will eventually have to reread the whole paragraph, trying to decide why you highlighted it in the first place!

  If you want to highlight efficiently, then only highlight the key words. Rarely should you highlight more than a phrase. Key words for highlighting are the words that have the most meaning in the sentence or paragraph. Now go back to the last paragraph and read only the italicized words for an example of effective highlighting.

  If you feel you need to highlight an entire paragraph, use margin notes instead (see next section). The only time you should highlight an entire paragraph is when you have to document a quote. But generally you don't ever need to highlight a whole sentence or a whole paragraph.

  Creating Margin Notes

  Creating margin notes is sometimes easier and more efficient than highlighting. Instead of highlighting, use a pen or pencil and place a vertical line down or a bracket around the margin of a useful paragraph. Immediately reread the paragraph and decide what is most important. Then put a few of your own key words and abbreviations in the margin. For example, if you were to put margin notes next to the same paragraph highlighted above, the margin notes might read: "3 reasons why ineffective highlighting postpones learning." If you had to go back over this material for work or school, you would either then pass over the paragraph because you knew the reasons or you would quickly review it looking for the three reasons. If you highlighted and made margin notes, you would spend more time initially creating the notes but spend less time reviewing.

  Taking Full Notes

  Taking full notes is time-consuming but very valuable for learning unfamiliar material or documenting details. Write each heading the writer uses for new topics on the left side margin (prefer-ably three inches wide) of your notepaper and then write details on the right side. What you are doing is taking the reading and putting it into your own words in outline form. This works extremely well for nonfiction, factual material.

  For fiction, taking full notes means creating a system of keeping track of the characters, plot, conflicts, climaxes, resolutions, and so on. Your system can be as simple as using index cards tucked into the book jacket or as elaborate as creating a notebook for it.

  If you are reading for pleasure, even just keeping your own cast of characters and list of events is useful, especially if you find yourself reading only a little over a long period of time. Note taking will reduce your frustration with having to go back to find out who is who and what happened when.

  If you are reading for school and you need to know many details, including who said what and what happened when, it is a good idea to read a chapter and then document what you think the most important characters and events are. In effect, you are predicting what the instructor may ask on a test.

  Try This with a Newspaper or Magazine

  Find something you have to read – perhaps a newspaper or magazine article. Experiment using effective highlighting, margin notes, or full notes. See which method works best for you. Remember to take notes only if your purpose and responsibility require it. Otherwise, you are probably wasting your time.

  Start Your Engines: The Right Side Pull

  In Day 1, I described the reasons for and uses of "Adding a Stick Shift to Your Reading."

  You might want to go back to this section to refresh your memory about pacers. Remember you may find that not all the pacers work for you. However, give each a try and stick with the ones that feel most comfortable.

  The Right Side Pull, opposite of the Left Side Pull (see Day 2), is a pacer that hel
ps focus your eyes at the end of the line and also helps keep your place reading down the text. Choose a page in a magazine, newspaper, or this book to experiment with. Place your pointed index finger of either hand at the end of the line on the right side of the paragraph. There should be nothing else in your hand. As you read across a line to your finger, slowly but continually move your finger down the right side of the column. As you get more accustomed to this technique, try moving your finger a little faster.

  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

  Becoming aware of what distracts you is not usually a one-time event. When you make a change in your reading environment, you may find another distracter that you didn't think about. For example, you decide to move to the company cafeteria during off hours to get some quiet time. You didn't know that another department uses the room for group meetings. You now need to find another location.

  Do the best you can to ensure an effective reading environment. But be willing to change where you are and also to accept the fact that you are human. This means you will find times when reading is just not possible.

  In Day 4, you will learn about the three speed techniques for your eyes. They will help you widen your eye span, taking in more words at a glance. Comprehension will be challenged, but by using these techniques your brain will catch up. Read on!