This weekend I attended The Iris Reading Speed Reading course, which I purchased from Groupon. While reflecting on what I learned at the Iris Reading course and the High Speed Learning course which I attended a few years ago, I have some thoughts about reading faster without sacrificing comprehension.

Three Habits Acquired When We Learned to Read

1. Regression: We learned to read from left to right, one word at a time
2. Fixation: We focus on one word at a time and break down monosyllabic words into syllables
3. Sub-vocalization: We read phonectically, breaking down the words in our minds first before we move on to the next

We learn best when we are in a happy, relaxed environment. The Alpha Brainwave State is best for optimal learning.

To Go into Alpha Brainwave State

• Sit down in a comfortable position
• Close you eyes and let all thoughts drift away
• Take a few deep breaths, breathing deep into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm (you know that you are breathing deeply when your stomach pushes out when you are inhaling)
• With your eyes still closed, look upwards as if you’re focusing on the point between your eyebrows
• When you feel a slight pressure, start counting down slowly from ten to one
• When you reach one, you are now in the alpha state
• Relax for a few more minutes

• You are now ready to focus on the task at hand

Basic Rules of Reading Faster

• Read groups of words at a time
• Never read over what you have already read. Trust that your subconscious will get the gist, and later fill in the blanks
• Move a finger or pen beneath the line you are reading, in a left to right manner, to force you to read faster

Daily Drills to Read Faster

Like any new technique, you become better with practice. There are online tools called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), which are designed to help you read faster. Using RSVP tools, you can quickly increase your reading speed by practicing a few drills online every day for a few minutes. Some of these RSVPs allow you to use your own reading material, which is simply gold for people who read a lot online. They are also good for people who are dyslexic because the words are flashed on screen in the sequence they should be read.

1. Spreeder.com – very versatile: you can set the number of words you’d like to read at time, the speed at which you’d like to read (number of words per minute), and you can copy and paste your own reading material
2. Readability.com – extension for Firefox and Google Chrome, which clears away the clutter from web pages, and allows you to read faster without unnecessary distractions
3. Reasy – extension for both Firefox and Google Chrome. When you install, highlight the article or page you’d like to read online, the Reasy presentation pops up and you click to start reading)

Process to Read Faster While Reading Well

Before you read, think about why you are reading. Are you reading for entertainment, information or to further knowledge? If you are reading for entertainment, the last thing you want to do is to speed read, and miss out on the wonderful imagery in that romance novel or murder mystery. However, if you are reading for information or to further your knowledge, speed reading is the way to go since at least fifty percent of the information is not important.

• Go into Alpha Brainwave State

• Preview
  • For a magazine article – read the first and last paragraph
  • For a journal article – read the abstract, in addition to the first and last paragraph
  • For a book:
    • Read the description of the book that’s given
    • Flip through the book several times using your index finger to move through the pages. If you miss a few pages, keep going until the end. And while you are flipping through the book a few times, make sure that you also do it with the book upside down a few times. (I learned this process in the High Speed Learning Course I took with Lydia Danner, and it works for some reason)
    • If it’s a textbook or one filled with diagrams, look at the chapter titles, all the headings in the book, the words in bold, all diagrams, then flip through the entire book
  • Create a mind map of what you have learned so far
• Overview
  • For an article – read the first sentence of each paragraph, remembering to read groups of words at a time
  • For a book – read the first sentence of each chapter, then glide your finger down the middle of the page
  • Build on the mind map that you have created
• Read
  • Read group of words at a time and use a pencil on your finger to force you to read faster
  • For a book, spend roughly 30 seconds on each page
  • For a two-page magazine article, spend approximately six and a half minutes, reading 400 words per minute
  • Complete the mind map, which is a good refresher for what you have read

What tips do you use to read faster without sacrificing comprehension? How can you use this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Image Credit: Flickr

Related posts:

1. Summer: The Time for Reading, and a Look at How to Read a Book
2. To Read or Not to Read, Now That’s the Question
3. Do You Speed Read?
4. Reading & Listening Plan Process
5. The Uber Successful Make Time for Reading, Do You?

When it comes to taking control of your professional development,  how do you rate yourself?

I spent this weekend at Podcamp Toronto, the first time I have ever attended. I am not going to focus on the the sessions I attended, but on what the organizers said during orientation, which resonated with what I have  consistently said on this blog.

Podcamp, the unconference, is different from other conferences because it’s organized by participants for participants. Connie Crosby, one of the key organizers emphasized that participants are responsible for their own learning, that is, take control of their own professional development. With that in mind, participants were encouraged to leave sessions if they felt that they weren’t getting what they needed (A concept called The Rule of Two Feet), and attend others to see if there was a better fit for them.

Other key aspects of Podcamp unconferences are the sharing, paying it forward and flexibility. Presenters who are also participants share their knowledge, wisdom and experiences so that others may learn from them. Many who have attended previous unconferences subsequently present at later unconferences, honoring the idea of paying it forward. And when you attend these unconferences, there are slots left free for sessions that participants can fill if they want to expand and continue a conversation, or start a conversation they see missing. Traditional conferences can learn from the flexibility of unconferences, as well as practice the Rule of Two Feet to increase attendee satisfaction.

A model such as this, fills some very basic needs, and people learn from their peers or those who have traveled further down the path they are on. When the economy slows down, training budgets are the first ones that are  slashed. How do you respond when this occurs? Do you place your professional development on hold, waiting for the economy to pick up? Or are you proactive  and take your professional development into your own hands? I hope it’s the latter and that you are taking care of your continuous learning.

How might you apply the idea of the unconference to your life? What are ways in which you can take care of your professional development? One way is to get a group of friends together, where each friend would present to the others on a topic that they are very knowledgeable and/or passionate about. This could be organized as a potluck dinner because food makes everything better. Each person in the group would benefit, and may even learn about a model or concept that could be applied in their field or industry.

Another way to apply the concept is to teach others what you know, so that they may learn, and in the process you will deepen your knowledge in the subject.

Let’s keep the conversation going, please comment.

Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN, I can assist you with that too.

On February 22, 2010, from noon to 1 pm EST, I will be the guest speaker on a teleseminar on women re-inventing themselves. If you can attend, the call in details are Conference Dial-In:  1-712-432-3100, Conference Code:  932589.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons via Apture

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Anyone wishing to succeed personally and professionally must possess the “right” knowledge. Acquiring the “right” knowledge means understanding why you are learning what you are learning. There are specific situations that foster learning: meaningful projects, available support and resources and time to reflect on the tasks at hand, and what has already been done. Also, learning is enhanced when learners know their learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

What is your preferred way to consume information?

• Visual learners: Want to see how something is done. Benefit most from maps, diagrams, charts, pictures, and films. If you show them, they will understand. They will likely say, “I see what you mean.”
• Auditory learners: Prefer to hear explanations and like to talk their way through things. Benefit most from traditional learning techniques, where the leader presents the information. They will likely say, “I hear what you say.”
• Kinesthetic learners: Want to get lots of hands-on experience so they can feel how something is done. Learn fastest when they are involved in the activity, such as science labs, drama presentations, skits, and field trips. They will likely say, “I feel what you mean.”

How we learn

A research report by The William Glasser Institute about how we learn indicates that we learn:

• 10 percent of what we Read
• 20 percent of what we Hear
• 30 percent of what we See
• 50 percent of what we See and Hear
• 70 percent of what we Discuss with Others
• 80 percent of what we Experience Personally
• 95 percent of what we Teach to Others

How can you use this information to your advantage?

To acquire knowledge for a reason, and be able to apply that knowledge, requires developing a learning strategy which uses all the information presented above.

Step 1

• In what area do you need to build your knowledge base to become more valuable to your employer, industry and your customers?
• Why is it important for you to learn this information? Promotion? Prestige? New job? Start a business?
• Identify the unique leaders (invisible mentors) who you can learn things from in the area that you are trying to build up
• Start to acquire knowledge in the identified area

Step 2

• If you do not know already, take a test to identify your predominant learning style
• Consume the information you want to learn in your predominant learning style

Step 3

• Apply your new found knowledge by using the information at work
• Discuss what you have learned with your peers, and others you know who would be interested
• Create a presentation to teach the information to others

By following these three simple steps, you will acquire knowledge for a specific reason, subsequently learning things that really matter to you and that can make a tangible difference in your life.

How might you use this information? Let’s keep the information flowing, please comment.

Video Credit & Definition via Apture

Related posts:

1. Do You Make This Mistake About Knowledge?
2. Websites Where Knowledge Rules

During the past 10 years, many online learning tools and resources have cropped up to assist the self-learner at an affordable price: University Open Courseware, Wikipedia, You Tube Edu, iTunes U, eduFire, and Learn.com are a few of the educational resources that you can use to build your body of knowledge.

Wikipedia: Is a free encyclopedia created by users and is the world’s largest encyclopedia. Wikipedia is one of the first places to start research when trying to build a body of knowledge in any area.

You Tube Edu: You Tube worked with universities and colleges to create video and audio lectures by the best professors in the United States and made them available for free.

iTunes U: A mobile way of learning, iTunes U provides over 200,000 lectures, presentations, videos, readings, and podcasts from all over the world, for download. Some of the content has been created by the best professors in the United States. Many universities have a separate website for iTunes courseware download.

eduFire SuperPass: Is a response to the rapid rise in the cost of education. A paid subscription-based virtual classroom, eduFire offers live audio and video learning.

Learn.com: Offers courses to develop individual skills. It is also an on demand workplace development and productivity resource.

And, if you are someone who like a good speech, here are a few websites to delight you:

http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/presidential-speeches/index.htm

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=speeches

Using just a percentage of the online resources mentioned above will set you apart from your peers. Your self-learning journey will not be easy, but with focus, determination and passion to do what it takes to succeed, you will get that edge that is needed for a recession proof career.

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Photo Credits: Avil Beckford Orchid in Jamaica

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