1. Remove Distractions

Any distraction at all can reduce your reading speed as well as your reading comprehension. Worse, that distraction can get you thinking about other things, and your focus will quickly drift away from what you are reading, onto something irrelevant.

2. Give Yourself a Reason to Read, and Develop Genuine Interest

When you sit down to read something, you’ve obviously got a reason. Stick that reason firmly in your mind, and think of nothing other than the content of the book. You have to be interested and invested in what you’re reading. Otherwise, the reading itself will hold less value.

If you’re unable to develop a genuine interest in what you’re reading, you should take a break and try some other activity. This will prepare your mind to focus again on the text.

3. Rest Periodically.

Try stopping at the end of each chapter for a rest. Then, you get a chance to really think about the text, and maybe take some notes. When you come back to the text, you will be even more prepared than you would be if you had kept reading straight through.

Reading straight through a book does have the “benefit of the flow”, but some rest-time between sections will drastically improve comprehension. After all, the writer probably did not write the whole book in one sitting! A lot of time and research goes into writing books – you should treat them that way.

So remember: remove all distractions, give yourself a reason to read what you’re reading, and take breaks occasionally too. These 3 tips will drastically improve your concentration while reading.

Tips like these and many more can be found in the Speed Reading Manual. Learn how to speed read today!

Your first step every day should be to draw up a time-table for everything you want to do that day. Write out everything you want to accomplish, and make estimates on how long it’s going to take you to finish each step.

Start your day with your most important job. If you do that first, you’ll feel better for the rest of the day, knowing you don’t have to worry about it anymore. And plus, your mind is freshest in the morning; it’s a good idea to take advantage of that.

End your day with something fun. Maybe watch a movie, or play a video game, or read a fiction book you enjoy.

In the middle of your day you put in the rest of the things you want to do. Don’t forget to work in time for rest, time for meals, and possibly time for a nap in the middle of your day. The key is to not waste time on things that don’t matter. Make the best possible use of your time.

Do not overload yourself with too much work. You’ll find that there’s a limited amount of work you can do before you get exhausted. Exhaustion won’t help you at all. Mix it up with a few fun activities and work that you enjoy. A monotonous routine will only make you bored.

And whenever you feel like you can’t concentrate anymore, just take a break. But don’t go too easy on yourself! If you want to get things done, you better expect to run into at least a little bit of difficulty. Try to keep your breaks short. Long breaks may make you lose interest in what you were working on, and increase the likelihood of procrastination. And during your breaks, remember that the goal is to relax – not to have fun. Have a snack, meditate, lie down for a bit. Don’t turn on the TV. You’re still working, you’re just on a quick rejuvenation break.

It may take some time to find the right balance between work and other activities, but it will be worth it in the long run. So experiment, and find the schedule that works for you.

Speed reading is a complex skill. There are many things that can contribute to your reading speed, and also many things that can contribute to your reading comprehension.

And so, achieving the highest possible speed AND comprehension is a pretty complex task.

Luckily, these days it’s pretty well understood how to speed read, and it can be learned without much difficulty.

One good way to approach learning speed reading is dividing it up into multiple elements. When you classify the big issue into multiple little issues, you can tackle it more easily.

For example, one essential part of “learning how to speed read” is employing intense focus and concentration. These two are extremely important for the successful execution of the skill.

If there is anything that CAN distract you from your reading, then it WILL. Distractions always end up reducing your reading speed as well as damaging your comprehension.

Even worse than that, though, is that those distractions can infiltrate your mind and make your brain branch out onto several unrelated topics. Everyone experiences this at some point: while “reading,” you catch yourself thinking about something else, and then you skip back to a part in the text you remember reading.

Obviously, this is a huge problem for anyone who wants to learn speed reading.

So consider this: when you sit down with a book or a newspaper or whatever, you’ve obviously got a reason for doing so. Whether you’re trying to learn how to do something new, or you’re absorbing some news or something, you’ve got a good reason for reading.

It doesn’t really matter what the reason is, specifically, as long as you have it clearly defined in your mind, this is going to work…

Place that reason firmly in your mind. This will prime your brain and motivate you to read. And while reading, try to think of nothing other than the content of the text. You have to be totally focused on what you read, otherwise your comprehension level will not nearly be as high as it could be.

This is a crucial maxim of fast reading.

So if you’re unable to focus properly on what you’re reading, just take a break! Try some other activity. Go do a crossword puzzle or something. If you focus on the distraction consciously, and then return to the text, you’ll find a renewed interest in the material.

So take a nice break every once in a while – it will prepare your mind to focus again on the text.

Also, try resting at the end of each chapter. Then, you get a chance to really think about what you read, and maybe you’ll want to take some notes, to make sure you remember the stuff.

Taking notes is actually another Key to speed reading. I don’t want to cover it in detail here, but note-taking can drastically improve comprehension – even if you never look at the notes again.

After a couple minutes of thinking and/or note-taking, you will be even more inclined to continue reading than you would have been if you had kept reading all the way through.

Reading straight through a book does have the “benefit of the flow”, but some rest-time between segments will drastically ameliorate your comprehension level. After all, the author in all likelihood didn’t write the entire text in one session! A lot of time and thought goes into writing books. You should your books much in the same way the writers would treat them: they take serious thought, dedication, and focus.

If you want to learn more keys to speed reading, check out our free Speed Reading Newsletter. It covers not only how to speed read, but also how to improve your memory, and how to maximize comprehension. It’s an easy (and free!) way to get started on the right foot. What more could you want? Sign up here.