 Reading is an essential part of our personal growth and development, although it sometimes seems like a boring activity, it is very vital to us. It's one thing to build a habit of reading, it's another thing to learn how to read fast. Here's the thing, reading books can transform your life because of the wealth of information embedded within the pages of every book. Now, imagine how many books you'll be able to read in a year, or perhaps a month without struggling so much or spending a massive chunk of your day flipping through the pages of each of those books. When you learn to increase your reading speed and comprehension, your speed of personal development will in turn be improved. So, in this video, I'll share with you 7 steps to read faster. If you're new here, consider subscribing so that you don't miss out on exciting videos like this. 1. Figure out when and where you are most productive To improve your reading habits, especially your speed, you have to first figure out your peak performance period. It is the time of the day when you focus the most and it differs for everyone. While some people are most productive in the morning, others are at night. Alongside figuring out the best time of the day to read, you also have to find out your ideal location for maximum productivity, whether it is in a library, a cafe, a corner in your room, office, etc. It doesn't matter as long as your connection is maximum in that location. Once you have this figured out, it will help to be consistent with your timing and location every time you want to read. 2. Shadow breaks in between your reading time Yes, you want to be the faster reader in the room, but to what end will that be if your comprehension level is minimal? Reading isn't only about reading fast but also gaining control. As a result, you need to know when to slow down and take breaks between reads. The good thing now is that you've determined your peak performance period. Say you read best within the first two hours of waking up. You shouldn't read for two hours at a go, otherwise, you'll barely assimilate anything after the first 30 minutes or so. While your two hours should be designed for uninterrupted reading, you can take breaks in between. Do you know that research has shown that most people have trouble maintaining their focus on a particular tax for more than 25 minutes? So if you have to read for two hours, don't do it all at once. You could read for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, and then repeat the cycle until you have exhausted the two hours. Reading this will not only increase your speed but also improve your level of assimilation. 3. Learn how to read without subvocalizing Most of us learnt to read by vocalizing the words. When we vocalize the words, we are limited by the time it takes to pronounce each word in our subconscious mind. As a result, we graduated from speaking the words aloud to vocalizing the words in your head. This is known as subvocalizing. Although subvocalizing helps us to understand and follow in narratives, we don't necessarily need to grasp every single word to get the meaning of a sentence. Everyone can read without subvocalizing, it only takes practice. Being able to read without subvocalizing can open up the top speed of your reading rate and useful for understanding text easily. To practice this, start by looking at words without the need to pronounce them. It might feel a little strange at first because the idea of looking at words without the desire to hear the sound is totally strange but after a few practice, you begin to get the hang of it. 4. Use a pointer while reading Using any pointer such as your finger to read is a reading trick mostly reserved for children. However, if you want to improve the speed of your reading, then it is a trick that you should be willing to try out. Here's something about the eyes that you should know. The eyes don't actually stay fixed on one spot. They make brief twitches away from the center of the focus from time to time to gather more information. However, when they do, they relocate back to the previous position. Unfortunately, in the case of reading, the position isn't static. It means that when your eye stretches away, it causes you to slow down as you try to search for the current reading position. Imagine what using a pointer will do. It will help you relocate where you stopped quickly. When you use guide, your primary goal is to move your guide at a very consistent pace. Don't stop your finger, slow down or go too fast so that you don't lose track of where you are. Also, using a pointer can help you stop sub-vocalizing the text easily. Number 5. Get rid of distractions. To be able to achieve your goal of reading quickly, you need maximum focus and concentration. So, before you begin, minimize noise and distractions as much as possible. Turn off your phone notification and other interruptions around. You should also get rid of foods around if it will continuously make your mind wonder. The thing with distraction is that it can make you read a few sentences passively without focus, then spend time going back to rereading to make sure you understand them. The overall effect of this is that it slows down your reading, so get rid of distractions. Number 6. Practice time reading. If you want to increase your reading speed, use a timer to test how many words or pages you can read in a minute. When you keep practicing it to track your progress, you'll become faster in no time. Number 7. Reading rate comes with practice. Finally, to read faster, you need to read more. Read more to read faster. You can start by reading a book every week and increase the number as soon as you notice that your reading speed has increased. There you go. Thank you very much for watching our videos. If you like this video, watch more videos on our channel and subscribe. We love you.