Limitless - Jim Kwik Page 0,91
down your reading. But as children know naturally, using your finger as a guide keeps your eyes focused and prevents them from wandering. Using your finger to read actually increases your reading speed because your eye is attracted to motion.
It is one thing to know this intellectually; it’s another for you to experience it. Let’s practice using your finger by rereading what you used for your assessment earlier. Start from the beginning and use your finger to track the words. End where you originally left off. Do not worry about comprehension and don’t time this because it is just practice. The purpose of this exercise is for you to become familiar with using your finger while reading.
When you are done, set the alarm for two minutes. Start from where you ended during your first assessment. Continue reading until the alarm goes off. Figure out your new reading rate (based on the original formula), and write down your new reading speed.
Studies show that the use of the finger while reading can increase your reading rate anywhere from 25 percent to 100 percent. The more you practice using this technique, the better your results will be. It may be a little awkward at first, just like it was when you first learned how to drive, but be patient and remember that it always takes more effort to sharpen your skills first than it does to bulldoze your way through learning later.
Reading with your finger also introduces another one of your senses, the sense of touch, into the learning process. Much as your sense of smell and sense of taste are closely tied, your sense of sight and sense of touch are also very closely linked. Have you ever tried to show something new to a child? The child’s natural instinct is to want to touch the object.
Using your finger also dramatically decreases regression, and is one of the reasons why your reading speed increases with this practice. Your eyes are naturally attracted to motion, so by moving your finger forward, your eyes are much less likely to regress backward.
Practice reading with your finger, this tool alone will significantly increase your speed and comprehension and will revolutionize your learning. If your finger gets tired, practice using your whole arm, moving it back and forth. It’s a bigger muscle and will not tire as easily.
HOW TO READ EVEN FASTER
Here are some more tools that will help you to become an accelerated reader:
1. Reading Is Like Exercising
When you go to work out, you cannot expect your muscles to grow if you pamper them. You need to push your muscles to where they are a little uncomfortable in order for them to grow. The same applies to reading. If you push yourself to read faster, your “reading muscles” will become stronger, and what was once hard, becomes easy. You can read faster, simply by training yourself to read faster. Those of you who run know this. When you are running on a treadmill, if you practice regularly, you can watch yourself run at faster and faster levels. The levels that were once hard become easy a week later, because you have pushed yourself to a higher degree of excellence.
To increase your speed, even more, try this exercise: You will need an easy-reading novel, a pencil, and a watch or timer:
Read comfortably (using your finger or a visual pacer) for 4 minutes. Set the alarm to go off in 4 minutes and read as you normally would read. Mark the line when your alarm goes off. This is going to be your “finish line.”
Now set your alarm for 3 minutes. The goal here is to reach the finish line before your alarm goes off. Then read (using your finger) until the line in step 1 in 3 minutes.
Set your alarm for 2 minutes. Don’t worry about comprehension. Try to get to the finish line before your alarm goes off in 2 minutes. Use a visual pacer and go through it line by line. Have your eyes follow your finger as fast as possible.
Final stretch. Set your timer for 1 minute. Do your best to get to the finish line in one minute. Do not skip any line, and don’t worry about comprehension right now.
Now breathe. Set your timer for 2 minutes. Start from your finish line to read a new section. Read at a comfortable rate with comprehension. Count the number of lines you read, multiply by the number of words per line, then divide this number