One of the first things that an effective speed reading program will do is teach you how to identify and eliminate bad habits. In addition, it will help you recognize the good habits you already have, and show you how to make them work for you. For example, you might have the habit of using your finger to help you keep track of where you are in a page of text when you’re reading it out loud to an audience and have to look up frequently to make eye contact – but you probably don’t do that when you’re reading a novel at home, because you think it will just slow you down. However, done correctly this can be an effective speed reading training technique.
Using your finger or a pen to “scroll down” a page of text as you read actually helps improve your reading speed for two reasons. First, it forces your eyes to focus on the page, which means you’re less likely to get distracted by a pop-up message on your computer, or someone walking by your office, or any other visual intrusion (which can quickly become a mental intrusion). Second, you can gradually increase the speed that your finger is going down the page, and your eyes will automatically follow at that new speed. This helps you get into the habit of absorbing chunks of text (groups of words, or even entire lines) at one time, an important skill in speed reading.
If one of your bad reading habits is regression (also called “backtracking”) then instead of your finger, you can use a sheet of paper. Starting at the top of the page, cover up each line as you read it. If you can’t see the text you’ve just read, you won’t be tempted to go back to those lines. This will also help you focus and concentrate on what you’re reading, since it’s your “only chance” to read it.
On the other hand, backtracking to re-read something is not always a bad habit, if you’re doing it for the right reasons. Having to re-read a page or two because you lost your focus and can’t remember what you read is one thing (that’s the bad habit), but deliberately reviewing the key points of a chapter to verify that you understood the main ideas is something else entirely. If you’ve remained focused on what you’re reading, this is the work of a few minutes, because you’ll remember where you saw those key points. There’s nothing wrong with pausing briefly to mentally sort and organize what you’ve learned in one chapter before moving on to the next.
Pay attention to the details of how you read, and you’ll quickly learn how to read faster.
