Speed Reading Tactics: 5 Proven Reasons Why "Speed Reading" Doesn't Work

To Master Speed Reading - Know the 5 Proven Roadblocks to Speed Reading Success

The term "speed-reading" delivers 55 million results on Google. There is an overabundance of information related to this topic. Even if you are highly motivated to improve your reading and comprehension, the information overload is enough to make you want to quit before you start! Obviously, quitting is one of the reasons why speed-reading does not work. However, there are several more reasons why people do not master speed-reading that you should know.

Reason 1: Misinformation: The web will allow you to access 55 million pages on the topic; resulting in being overwhelmed and misguided by much of the information that is available, especially the "free stuff." As you dig into the results of the search term, you will find contradictory, outdated, and often false claims and information from savvy marketers, most of whom do not know the subject themselves.

Reason 2: Overemphasis on "Eye-Span" and Eye Speed - To read faster and better, you do need to move your eyes (the mechanics of reading) in a more efficient manner. However, nearly all speed reading programs focus on only this component. Software programs are particularly designed around this single aspect of reading. The truth is you can only read as fast as your mind can comprehend, or understand the material. Reading requires the reader to understand the material, whether done speedily or not. Very few programs teach the comprehension aspect at high speeds and leave it to the learner to "get it" someday with enough practice.

Reason 3: Effective Reading is "Whole-Brained Activated" - Using a simple model of left-brained, right-brained functioning, language is primarily a function of the left neo-cortex in the brain, as well as sequencing, grammatical structuring, linearly, individual parts (words), etc. To teach traditional reading, a left-brain approach is used. Nearly all speed reading programs build on this same premise and thus merely speed up what the reader has been doing for years. The right neo-cortex, however, is the center for imagination, creativity, understanding "gestalt" (wholes), concepts, and meanings. Without learning how to activate the right side of the brain, speed reading will only be an exhausting way to doing what you have always done. To make faster reading work for you, you need to understand the "whole" of the material before your mind can adequately understand and remember the parts.

Reason 4: Effective Speed Reading Requires a Shift in How You Comprehend and Perceive - To radically change your reading behavior, your approach to comprehension needs to also change. You have read and understood printed material using the traditional approach you learned many years ago. It is habit. Nothing will really change permanently in your comprehension and reading behavior, until you make the shift from that old approach to a new one. To make sense of the material, your brain/mind will always tend to go back to the previous habit. It is your default way of comprehending.

Reason 5: Mastery of "Whole Brained" Faster Reading Requires Masterful Correct Practice - When you start change your habits of comprehending, you begin to re-train your brain/mind. This change does not happen easily. Your mind is a very powerful tool. It is also a very resistant friend. The brain/mind will try to keep you stuck in your old ways. Only through repetition of correct practice will the new behaviors and perceptions take hold. Beware of learning to "speed read in 16 minutes!" That phrase makes for good marketing copy, but but in reality, it is false.

Also, notice the term "correct practice." Without practicing under the guidance of a trained specialist, you will most likely fall into mistakes. After coaching thousands of learners for many years, I have learned that just because someone says they are "practicing," does not mean they are doing the correct behaviors that lead to mastery. Practice requires monitoring, coaching, and feedback when learning how to speed read masterfully. You can do it! Nearly everyone can learn to read four to ten times faster with good comprehension.

Now that you know the five most important reasons why traditional speed reading does not work, I would like to invite you to learn more about effective speed reading tactics and proven tips by going to:
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