Learn to Read With Great Speed! (4 page)

When I started my self-development program, I'd stumbled upon a workbook about speed reading. The author outlined a program there for a massive improvement in the speed of reading within three months, but you were supposed to practice 1-2 hours per day, every day.

Two hours per day! That's a lot of commitment. About 25% of my available time. And I need that time to commute, to spend with family, to pray, and to learn other skills. Out of the question.

But I had fresh in my mind all the examples of consistent fruitful efforts from my past, so I gave my 10 minutes philosophy a chance. "I'll only practice fast reading for 10 minutes a day," I decided. Why not? It was just 10 minutes. So, I took that program and modified it by extending each week into 12 weeks.

The program from the workbook I found starts with exercises eliminating sub-vocalization. I read a lot, so I have plenty of opportunities to practice, but beating rhythmically while reading made me dizzy. Either I didn't understand what I was reading, or I couldn't keep the rhythm. One way or another, the practice was no fun. Nevertheless, I stuck with this exercise for a few weeks.

The last time I had checked my reading speed was during my university study. I read about 240 words per minute. Since that time, my skills had no chance to improve, as I was reading less rather than more and neglected any training in that area.

I checked my results after a month from starting my 10-minute practice, and I was blown away! It was 360 words per minute, a 50% progress! One month, 30 short sessions of practice, and I was able to read 50% more books in the same time. Later on, it appeared this result was just coincidence. Reading speed varies from one test to another; it is dependent on the text I'm testing on, my mood, and external circumstances. But still, after six weeks of practice, I read about 340 words per minute, and the progress was impressive.

You can't even imagine what it meant to me. I'm a reader. I had read thousands of books with my meager 240-words-per-minute speed. Suddenly, I felt like a kid in a candy store when a 50% bargain sale was announced. To get the picture of my state at that moment, try to recall Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, drooling and lisping, “my presssscious.”

From that moment on, I had no hesitation at all. I've been going through the next stages of the program, without flinching. I used the practice sessions to read some classic books I had never had time for: Homer's
Iliad
and
Odyssey
, Clausewitz's
On War
, Napoleon Hill's
Think and Grow Rich
, and several others. I am reading Marcus Aurelius'
Meditations
now.

When it came to the selection skill practices, I used those sessions to read Early to Rise newsletters, which had piled up in my mailbox. I skipped the text looking for the articles or conjunctions, and I was able to get the meaning, by the way.

My results have regularly been above 360 words per minute for several months. The best results I've gotten was 511 words per minute, and I'm reaching over 400 words quite often.

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When I read the stories of people who
improved their reading skills by 100% within a few weeks
,
I feel a little dumb. My progress is meager and slow compared to them. But I really practice just 10 minutes a day. I do 90% of my reading on a computer screen; the only pointer I can use, in this case, is a mouse cursor, and it is not the most comfortable tool for this job.

I'm living proof that a 10-minute practice can be fruitful. I can read more than 50% of what I read a year ago within the same time. I can read 90 minutes a day (including the speed reading practices) and still read the same amount of text that used to take me two hours to read a year ago.

You can do it, too. Do yourself a favor. Save your reading time for more interesting activities. Read much more in the same amount of time, and improve your skills and knowledge. And you can get much better and more rapid results than me. Practice 20 minutes a day, instead of 10. Practice in optimal conditions, not on noisy, crowded buses. Just be more serious in your training than I was, and you are bound to progress faster.

Value your time. Your time is your life. Start today, grab a book and use your finger as a pointer, or read and simultaneously pat your thigh rhythmically. Just for ten minutes. Discover that there is no magic in speed reading and keep practicing.

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I want to ask a favor of you. If you have found value in this book, please take a moment and share your opinion with the world. Just let me know what you learned and how it affected you in a positive way. Your reviews help me to positively change the lives of others. Thank you!

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Thanks for reading all the way to the end. If you made it this far, you must have liked it!

I really appreciate having people all over the world take interest in the thoughts, ideas, research, and words that I share in my books. I appreciate it so much that I invite you to visit:
www.michalzone.com
, where you can register to receive all of my future releases absolutely free.

You won't receive any annoying emails or product offers or anything distasteful by being subscribed to my mailing list. This is purely an invite to receive my future book releases for free as a way of saying thanks to you for taking a sincere interest in my work.

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www.michalzone.com

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I’m Michal Stawicki and I live in Poland, Europe. I’ve been married for over 14 years and am the father of two boys and one girl. I work full time in the IT industry, and recently, I've become an author. My passions are transparency, integrity and progress.

In August 2012, I read a book called "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson. It took me a whole month to start implementing ideas from this book. That led me to reading numerous other books on personal development, some effective, some not so much. I took a look at myself and decided this was one person who could surely use some development.

In November of 2012, I created my personal mission statement; I consider it the real starting point of my progress. Over several months time, I applied several self-help concepts and started building inspiring results: I lost some weight, greatly increased my savings, built new skills and got rid of bad habits while developing better ones.

I'm very pragmatic, a "down to earth" person. I favor utilitarian, bottom-line results over pure artistry. Despite the ridiculous language, however, I found there is value in the "hokey-pokey visualization" stuff and I now see it as my mission to share what I have learned.

My books are not abstract. I avoid going mystical as much as possible. I don't believe that pure theory is what we need in order to change our lives; the Internet age has proven this quite clearly. What you will find in my books are:

- detailed techniques and methods describing how you can improve your skills and drive results in specific areas of your life

- real life examples

- personal stories

So, whether you are completely new to personal development or have been crazy about the Law of Attraction for years, if you are looking for concrete strategies, you will find them in my books. My writing shows that I am a relatable, ordinary guy and not some ivory tower guru.