You will agree with me that knowledge cannot be acquired in a vacuum. Since time immemorial, books have become important materials for seeking and improving one's knowledge. In fact, books are a perfect way through which individuals can better their lives. A person who is fluent in reading and who has amassed knowledge is always confident and does not shy away from debates. However, speed reading is not something that each and every single one of us is good at. Some of us have developed bad reading habits that have considerably affected our reading speed as well as our ability to not only comprehend but also retain what we have read. What are some of the poor habits that hinder speed reading?
• Focusing on reading word by word
You will agree with me that there are a number of individuals whose main focus is on reading every single word in a sentence. The downside to this is that they tend to slow down the rate at which they read as well as fail to comprehend what they are reading. When you read word by word, you mostly fail to comprehend the contextual meaning of the sentence. Not every word in a sentence is there to be paid maximum attention to. It's therefore important that you stop the bad habit of reading one word at a time as it hampers or slows down your reading speed.
• Re-reading sentences or lines
Re-reading is mostly common in individuals who tend to believe that they might have missed something and therefore go back to get a better understanding. This habit slows down the reading habit and is more often than not informed by lack of confidence or fear that you might have missed something. If you have the habit of re-reading lines, chances are that your reading speed is very slow.
• Reading words aloud or subvocalization
Subvocalization refers to a situation whereby a person reads loudly to hear themselves pronouncing words. Sub-vocalization is believed to slow down the reading speed as it hinders the ability of your brain to sort out information or comprehend the information that you are reading. The thing that most people don't seem to comprehend is that the movement of the lips has nothing to do with the speed at which one's brain grasps information. One, therefore, needs to allow the mind to take center stage when reading rather than resorting to sub-vocalization as it tends to reduce reading speed.
Kicking bad reading habits can be quite difficult especially if it's something that you've developed over a long period of time. However, this does not mean that we cannot kick away this habit if we set our minds to it. The ability to effectively read is something that we all aspire to be able to do. The first step in breaking the jinx of poor reading habits is through making the effort to kick it away. Start using speed reading techniques to enhance and improve your reading speed today!
