How to Increase Your Concentration When Reading

Reading concentration is a very important skill, especially for students and professionals whose bulk of work includes reading long texts. An average individual could only read non-stop for about five to seven minutes. This is a far cry from the actual capacity of the human eye to focus on written text for about 20 to 25 minutes before getting tired.

Reading concentration, however, is a skill that could be developed by an individual. Through constant practice, one could attain a high level of concentration while reading.

The following are useful tips on how to increase your concentration in reading:

1. Find a quiet place for reading, away from any distractions. Concentration requires freeing your mind of any distraction. Try to associate a particular place at home with reading. You can read in your desk or at the coffee table in the sofa. However, keep distractions, like the TV or the computer, away from you. Do not try to read while doing something else.

2. Get your baseline. Getting your baseline means measuring how you fare initially in performing the skill. Try reading non-stop until you get distracted or tired. That would be your starting point in determining your improvement.

3. Spread out your program. Don't expect results in increasing your concentration fast. Try spreading out your goals in a few days or weeks. A good plan could be increasing your concentration for two minutes every week until you reach twenty minutes. For example, if you have a baseline of five minutes, aim for seven next week. Add two minutes every week until you reach 21 minutes or so.

4. Stick to your program. If your goal is to increase your reading comprehension by two minutes every week, follow that program strictly. If you plan to read for seven minutes from your baseline of five, faithfully stick to seven. Use a timer to alert you every seven minutes.

5. Practice. Schedule reading practice every day. Read non-stop for your specified time. Have an interval for rest, like for about 10-15 minutes. Practice some more until you have at least 5 repetitions.

6. Reward yourself. Don't forget to reward yourself for a job well done. After reading successfully, you can treat yourself for an ice cream or a piece of chocolate. Any reward would do, as long as it would fall within your rest interval of 10-15 minutes. Rewarding yourself would reinforce your positive behavior and help you increase your reading time.