One the creative thinking techniques that helps with regards to improving oneself is the ability to input and digest information. We’re going to talk about reading as a form of input to your brain and mind. Now, a lot of people will have specific problems when it comes to reading which included me not so long ago. I don’t hold a PhD in NLP, but there is research that states that there’s a difference between how fast you read and how fast you understand what you’ve read. I believe that there’s a tradeoff that you have to experience yourself by practicing and using these techniques.
Skimming
One technique for speed reading is referred to as skimming. Basically, what you are doing when you are skimming is looking over text, and you lightly skim your eyes over the text, over sentences just to get a clue of what it all means. So you’re not interested in specific word-for-word per se, but you are actually interested in the meaning of what’s going on behind a text. In other words, the core meaning of the text. For some people when it comes to learning, it is more of interest to them to get the gist, the essence, the core concepts of a thing so that it can be translated easily in their own words, rather than mimicking word-for-word detail of what they are reading, and then having to remember those specific word-for-word details.
By skimming you look for core concepts and trying to visually look for clues to help you gain your understanding. For some people it’s a natural thing, but truth is that this can be done very easily with practice. Simple research says that, for normal reading, just to get an understanding the rates would be somewhere around 200 to 230 words per minute, depending on where you go. However with skimming and looking for information you will find that reading jumps dramatically to 700 words per minute and more!
Meta Guiding
Another technique some people refer to as Meta Guiding. Meta guiding is when you use a visual aide or guide, like a pen, a ruler or a finger. And what you do is you move your finger slightly faster than you can read, so that you actually read faster. And this way your visual awareness increases by looking at the text. Some techniques involve moving your hands over the material line-by-line. Some research authors believe in moving your hands in certain positions over the page of text and that increases your intake and conceptual knowledge increase in terms of studying. One of the benefits of Meta guiding is that it can help you to reduce sub-vocalizing because you are moving your hand at a faster rate than you will be able to speak. See part two of this topic to learn more about this topic.
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