Speed reading is quickly becoming an essential skill for everyone. Techniques and reading habits taught at school prove to be ineffective in a world where an online data explosion is overwhelming. People need much more time-efficient skills to tackle all this content, and speed reading techniques are ideal for coping with the 21st century.
Here are the most crucial advantages of being a speed reader.
Speed Reading is the Only Way Out of the Digital Data Chaos
Simply put, you cannot afford not to speed read. Just consider these stats from the Data Never Sleeps 2.0 infographic by DOMO.
Every minute in 2014:
Facebook users shared nearly 2.5 million pieces of content.
Twitter users tweeted nearly 300,000 times.
Instagram users posted nearly 220,000 new photos.
And thats not all. Every minute in 2014, 72 hours of new video content was uploaded on YouTube and Apple device users were downloading about 50,000 apps each passing minute.
Email users were sending about 200 million messages per minute last year.
These numbers related to the online data explosion are overwhelming. We need to speed read if we are to keep up with our reading lists.
Handle School and Work Load Stress Free
For many students and professionals, reading makes up a large percentage of their daily activities. People read to keep up to date with their assignments, to take exams, to create content for their business, classes or clients.
Reading fast helps you read more content in less time, making the entire process significantly more enjoyable and stress-free.
Feel Confident and Empowered
Being able to speed read, or even read with an above-average speed, means you can stay on top of a number of topics— related to work and/or your social life —so that you can discuss virtually any topic that comes along at parties, meetings, and casual meet-ups.
There’s nothing more liberating than being able to discuss everything with just about everyone in your life, don’t you agree?
Increase Your Emotional Well-being
Stress is part and parcel of modern life and reading is a known cure for stress, anxiety, and even depression.
By speed reading you reap even more emotional benefits because you concentrate on what you’re reading, so any anxious, stress-inducing thoughts are put to a halt.
Speed reading, in a sense, gives you a much needed “time out” from life. It gives you space to unwind and recharge so you can return to your life’s to-dos and have-to’s empowered and calm.
Climb up that Career Ladder
Knowledge is power and the more you read the more power you accumulate.
This means you can get an entry level job much more easily because you’re just naturally more versed and skilled in things other candidates don’t have the time to learn or simply don’t bother to read about.
It also means you can enjoy better employment opportunities and climb the career ladder much faster than the competition, simply because getting new knowledge and skills is not as hard or time-consuming for you as a speed reader.
Learn to Concentrate & Become a More Efficient Learner
Speed reading is a cognitively complex skill that engages skills such as language, communication, reading, memory, comprehension, and sight. This means you need great amounts of concentration so as to be able to process and digest what you read before you move on to the next paragraph.
Over time you will see that as a speed reader, you manage to increase your focus when you need to, making it easier to successfully and quickly complete a reading task. And it’s not just about focused reading, it extends to all other activities that require utter concentration to perform.
With great focus comes better learning capacity, too. When you can focus on a learning activity you’re more likely to master that knowledge fast and without having to reread it to understand it.
You consolidate that knowledge at once because your concentration and cognitive skills work at a more advanced and efficient pace, thanks to your speed reading skills.
Improve Your Memory, Sharpen Your Acumen
If you ever come across any speed reading courses or how-to’s online you will know that speed reading is not focused solely on reading rate. A good speed reading program will also improve your comprehension and memory capacity so that you can remember, recall, and utilize what you speed read.
Speed reading also enhances your memory and lets you recall the right thing at the right time. So this means speed reading broadens your knowledge and gives you a sharp memory so you can make the best of that knowledge in your personal and professional life.
This post would take no more than 1 minute and 30 seconds to read for a speed reader. How much time did it take you?
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments
