Myths, Misconceptions of Reading and Speed Reading and What Are the Facts

Quick preview of what we have learnt till now:

1. We learnt how to calculate our learning speed and found out what was our reading speed.
2. We have set our learning goals.
3. We learnt the difference between comprehension and recall and new way of reading without any expectation of recalling.

For this lesson I am assuming that you have finished action steps of previous lessons. If you haven’t done them, I recommend you to stop now and do them. Let’s start with today’s lesson: Ask yourself this question: What is the difference between an effective reader and not so effective reader? Why do some people read faster and others very slow? Stop for a second and think for an answer…. Here is my answer: Effective readers have right mind set towards reading and have good reading habits. Not so effective readers, don’t have right mind set towards reading and have bad reading habits. Not so effective readers also have wrong misconceptions towards reading and learning. In the coming lessons, I am going to cover these 3 aspects, namely:

1. Myths, misconceptions of reading and speed reading (Module 2)
2. Good and bad habits of reading (Module 3)
3. Right Mind set for reading. (Module 5)

Now, let’s start with popular Myths, misconceptions of reading and speed reading.  I want you to get results fast, so I will skip all the theory and come straight to the point.  

Myths, misconceptions of reading and speed reading.  

1. Myth: You should aim to understand 100 % of what you read the first time.

Reality : You can never understand 100 % of what you read the first time.  We have learnt in previous lesson that while reading, we should focus on understanding the text and not on remembering them.  Some have this misconception that they should understand 100 % of what they read the first time. Understanding comes in layers and it may take multiple reading to reach that position. It is also not practically possible to understand everything the author says even after multiple readings. There are some books, which I have read for more than 25 times. Even after reading for more than 25 times I get new insights while reading for 26^th time. It doesn’t mean that I haven’t read properly before.

2. Myth/ Misconception: Speeds of over 1000 words per minute isn’t possible.

  Reality: There are many readers all over the world who can read more than 1000 wpm. It takes practice to reach this level. I will share lot of exercises and insights which will help you to increase your reading speed faster.  Just trust the system I am sharing and do the exercises.  You can not only read lot faster, but I will also share a system where you can read a book in day.  

3. Myth/ Misconception: You should read at same speed for all reading materials.

  Reality: Your reading speed should vary depending upon the material you are reading.  An expert reader varies his reading speed according to the book you are reading. Speed would be less for technical materials where as your reading speed would be at maximum while reading a fiction or less technical books.  You should do the same. Don’t have the mind-set of reading at” XX” speed for all the books. It isn’t possible. Vary your reading speed depending on the book you are reading.  

4. Myth/ Misconception: For better comprehension you should read slowly and carefully.

  Reality: Like I have mentioned above, your reading speed should vary depending upon the material you are reading. Expert readers vary their reading speed depending upon the text. You should do the same. Generally, reading slowly will put your brain to sleep.  If you don’t trust me, do this exercise. Take any book and read it out aloud at half your reading speed. After few seconds, you will be bored to death. In few books if you read very fast, you may not understand it fully, in that case you should slow your reading speed. Sometimes, you may have to increase your reading speed.

5. Myth/ Misconception: you should have a dictionary close at hand. When you come to a word that you do not understand, you should look it up immediately in dictionary.

Reality: This practice will actually get you out of your reading state and is not effective. If you come across a difficult word, you should just mark the word, and proceed ahead. Most of the time, you will understand what the author is saying even if you don’t know the meaning of that word. You can look in to the dictionary for the meaning afterwards.  Not looking at dictionary immediately will save lot of time as well.  

6. Myth/ Misconception: One of the negative points of speed reading faster is that your comprehension is reduced.

  Reality: Most effective readers are fast readers. Compare top scoring students with low scoring students. You will find that top scoring students are faster readers. Comprehension will reduce if you read faster than what your present skill is. You are reading slowly because you haven’t trained yourself to read faster. Comprehension has nothing to do with the reading faster.  

7. Myth/ Misconception: For novels and poetry slower reading speeds are important in order to appreciate it.

  Reality: It would actually be a barrier if you are reading fiction or poetry at a very slow pace. Try reading at 50 wpm and 200 wpm, you will see a major difference in enjoyment.  For instance, I have read the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a day. I enjoyed it very much. The enjoyment might have been very less, if I had read the book slowly and over a period of one month.  

8. Myth/ Misconception: Word-to- word reading helps comprehension.
9. Myth/ Misconception: Skipping words is a lazy habit and should be eliminated.

  Reality: Word to word reading is not at all necessary to understand what the author is saying. You can understand the text even after skipping many words.  You need to strategically skip words, paragraphs.

Note: These 2 myths will be covered in detail in the lesson covering “mind set “.    Above 10 are the most popular myths/ misconceptions. There would still be some things which you think are true and may not be the reality. If you have any popular beliefs about reading which you think are true, share them below. I will guide you.

Action steps:  I know this is an intense lesson. In my live coaching, I see lot of “A-ha” moments at this point.

1. I want you to read this lessons at least 3 times. Each time you read, I want you to stop after each point and think - what you think is true and what is your belief regarding that point. Share your thoughts/ observations about your popular myths.
2. I want you to share below your breakthroughs while reading this lesson and how are you going to apply it from now.

~Srinivas Reddy