As we get older, a lot of us have less and less time to read. It can be hard to set time aside to read a whole book so learning to read faster can help us to squeeze reading into our busy lives.
Of course, when we read we hope that we are retaining what we learn. This is something you can work on and practice. That is why in this blog post we will go over how you can read faster and retain more.
You will learn how you can read faster by reducing fixations, eliminating regression and back-skipping, increasing your peripheral vision, how to stop subvocalizing while reading, and using your finger to track while you read.
We will also share how you can retain more of what you read by giving you 3 tips that you can use! If you’re interested in stepping up your reading game, this blog post will show you everything you need to read faster and retain more!
What Is Reading Faster (Speed Reading)?
I’m sure we all want to read faster but what exactly does that mean? Reading faster or speed reading is not achieved simply by reading the words quicker but is more about training your eyes.
Tim Ferriss writes about a cognitive experiment about speed reading called “The PX Project”. In this experiment, they teach people how to read faster using a few simple steps.
How To Read Faster
Below are 5 tips to help you read faster. By incorporating one or all of these, you can increase your reading speed exponentially.
Reducing Fixations
When you are reading, you will find that you sometimes get stuck on one word or sentence, reading it over and over again. This immensely slows down your reading speed.
To reduce your fixations, make it a point to keep your eyes moving while you read. Don’t spend time looking around at areas you are not reading or looking back on places you’ve read before.
Eliminating Regression and Back-Skipping
Two things that slow down reading for a lot of people are regression or conscious rereading and back-skipping or subconscious rereading due to the misplacement of fixation.
In order to eliminate regression, you need to make an effort to not go back and reread things. If you do need to revisit something, wait until you’ve finished reading the whole thing through once. I find a lot of times that I can figure out whatever I missed as I’m reading using context clues.
To manage your back-skipping, you need to train your eyes to focus better and not to fixate on any areas that you are not currently reading. This can be difficult but mastering this skill can significantly increase your reading speed.
Increase Your Peripheral Vision
When reading, you use your peripheral vision to see the words before and after what you are currently reading. What your eyes see clearly is your fixation.
Increasing your peripheral vision can be both helpful and inhibiting to your speed depending on your ability to focus your eyes. If you are seeing too many words and focusing on words you’ve read already or words you are about to read, this can really slow you down.
You want to train your eyes first to ensure that you can control what you are focusing on and then work on expanding your peripheral so that you can move from word to word quicker.
Stop Reading In Your Head
I will be the first to admit that I am always reading in my head or subvocalizing. I’ve always found that this helps me understand what I’m reading better however it does help if you are trying to increase your speed.
If your main focus is to read quicker, I would try to stop subvocalizing and focus on the speed. If you want to read faster and understand what you are reading better then I would keep reading along in your head and focus more on the other tips.
Use Your Finger To Track Your Reading
This is something I find myself doing a lot and usually I will use a bookmark to block off what I am not reading so that I can better focus on what I am currently reading.
For some, reading along with your finger could seem juvenile, like something you did in Kindergarten, however, this aids in your speed reading journey.
How To Retain More Of What You Read
Most people are reading in order to learn something which means that you probably want to retain what you are reading. The problem is that a lot of us are reading mindlessly and forgetting what we just read moments after we finish.
Below are 3 things you can incorporate to your reading in order to ensure that you are retaining more.
Summarize What You Read
Let’s go back to the basics. One of the reasons you did so many book reports in school was so that you could better remember what you read.
Writing out or even just verbalizing a quick summary of what you just read can help you to remember it better. This can also help you to find any holes in your memory so that you can go over those parts again.
Read It Again
If you ever feel like you have no idea what it is you just read, it can be helpful to take some time, let it sink in, and then go back and read it again later.
I typically will not read something again right after I finished it because I find it yields the same results but if you give it some time, you’ll be looking at the literature with different eyes!
Active Recall
This is something else we learned in school, specifically while we were studying. If you practice active recall or remembering something you just read over and over again, you are more likely to remember it long term.
If it is really important that you remember something you read, creating flash cards and using those as a memory refresh can be a big help.
Frequently Asked Questions
Reading is a skill that requires practice. If you don’t read often or haven’t practiced reading and understanding, it can be hard. For anyone who feels like they are having difficulty reading, I suggest reading more and creating challenges for yourself to test if you remember what you’ve read.
Sometimes it seems we are reading all the time but we never remember anything. The brain is a muscle and you have to use it in order to ensure it is working at peak performance. If you feel that you are having trouble remembering things, try playing memory games or practice actively remembering things throughout your day. This will strengthen your memory muscle.
While most of us do not have the time to read a lot everyday, if you do that is great! Obviously everything in moderation but if you are reading a lot every day you will learn more, read faster, and overall be working out your brain which is important, especially as we get older.
You did it! You now know how to read faster and retain more. By reducing your fixations, forbidding yourself from rereading until later, training your eyes to not linger on words you’re not reading, expanding your peripheral vision, quieting your inner reading voice, and using your finger to track your words, you’ll immensely increase the speed at which you are reading.
When you practice summarizing what you read, rereading anything you want to really remember, and testing yourself you ensure that you will better retain what you are reading. If you found this post helpful, please check out these other posts which will help you better your life!
