The Secrets of Speed Reading

Have you ever wanted to read faster? If your like most people, surely there have been many times when you wish you could read faster. Whether at school, work or just reading the endless amount of email we all get, being able to read faster is an enormously valuable skill. The desire to read faster is so wide spread that teaching speed reading has become big business. There are plenty of companies offering speed reading but you won't need to fork over your hard earned money for a speed reading course if you follow these simple steps.

1. Skim what your reading: Most things that you read have their important parts and parts that are just filler. The trick is to just read the important parts and to skip over the filler. To do this skim the page first and establish the key points and then go back and read those points.

2. Teach yourself not to reread: Most of us when we're reading have a tendency to stop and go back to reread the sentence we just read in order to make sure we fully understand it. In most cases this is not necessary and most of just do it subconsciously. One way to break this habit is to place a ruler or a piece of paper under the line you're reading, just keep moving the ruler down every time you finish reading a line.

3. Read with your hands: When reading try putting your finger under the word you are reading, just keep moving your finger across the page. This should speed up your reading and help prevent you rereading words.

4. Stop reading out loud: Most people read out loud or at least move their lips when they read and this slows them down. Again this is usually subconscious and it's just a matter of training yourself not to do it. A couple of things you can do to help with this is to try humming while you read or try placing your finger on you lips while you read.

5. Read groups of words: When we are first learning to read we are taught to read one word at a time, which is necessary for learning but is not the most efficient means of reading. You should be able to read a whole sentence just by looking at it without having to read each word individually.

6. Adjust your speed depending on material: Not everything you read should be read in the same way. It's appropriate to skim a newspaper article for the key points but not a math textbook. You need to determine whether using speed reading techniques is appropriate for the material you are reading.