TFF #10: How to Be a Better Reader
Hi friend,
If you want to be successful, you need to read.
According to Statistia, 86% of people with an annual household income of $75,000 a year read at least one book every year.
Additional research indicates that 85% of successful people read two or more self-improvement or educational books per month.
Of course, none of this should surprise us.
Success requires constantly learning new information, challenging your presuppositions, and listening to the stories of others.
Reading is an efficient way to do those three things all at the same time.
So in this edition of The Fearless Five, we’re going to look at what it takes to be a better reader.
1. How to Improve the Quality of Reading Time
Reading without understanding is a waste of time.
Strong readers understand this. They focus not just on reading more books, but getting as much out of each book as possible.
In other words, strong readers improve the quality of their reading as much as the quantity.
There are a number of soft skills involved in quality reading:
Decoding: sounding out words you’ve heard but never seen written out
Fluency: reading clearly with flow
Vocabulary: decoding or determining the meaning of new words
Inference: connecting information from texts to our own ideas and opinions that help us identify the meaning of what we just read
Retention: remembering what you read
The good news is that there are practical ways to increase each of these five skills:
Improve decoding by educating yourself on phonetics
Improve fluency by listening to an audio recording while reading the text
Improve vocabulary by quizzing yourself on new words every day (as well as the roots of words!)
Improve inference by trying to find connections between the various materials you read
Improve retention by stopping after you finish a reading session and reformulating what you just read
Ultimately, each of these skills are like muscles. The more you work them, the stronger they’ll become.
2. How to Speed Read
There’s so much information to consume, and so few hours in the day.
That’s why speed reading is a tempting skill for many people to learn.
So how do you actually become a speed reader without sacrificing reading comprehension?
The key is to change your reading strategy.
Generally, slow reading is the result of three things:
Inefficient eye movements
Re-reading
Lack of concentration
Speed reading involves transforming how you approach these three areas.
In terms of eye movement, the key is to reduce your fixations.
As your eye scans the page, it’s taking a new picture with each movement. When it stops scanning, that creates a fixation.
Because most people read word-by-word, we take too many fixations.
So by training your eyes to keep scanning the page, you can instantly improve your reading speed.
Next, you need to cut back on re-reading.
Now, I’m not talking about an intentional decision to go back and review something you’ve just read. This can be a valuable part of your reading practices.
I’m talking about unconscious rereading, where your eyes revert to an earlier spot on the page.
The way I avoid doing this is by taking a pen and placing it at the edge of each line.
Once I finish a line, I move the pen down. That way, I have a visual reminder of where I am so I don’t go backwards.
Finally, speed reading really only works when you achieve full concentration.
There are so many things that can disrupt our concentration. Phone alerts. Kids shouting in the other room. People walking in and interrupting. Our own brains finding something to distract us.
By staying focused on the task in front of you—even if only for 15 minutes—you can get more out of your reading session, and will increase your speed over time.
3. How to Improve Your Vocabulary
I mentioned earlier how vocabulary plays into reading comprehension.
This is incredibly important as you start to read more difficult and complex texts, or if you’re diving into a field where you have no exposure.
Nearly every area of expertise has its own lexicon; learning these new words is key to understanding texts within the field.
In fact, there’s research to suggest that previewing unfamiliar words prior to reading can help you avoid “stumbling” over them while reading (Graves, 2006).
So how do you improve your vocabulary? Here are some tips:
Keep a dictionary & thesaurus handy. Thankfully, our phones make this easier than before.
Play word games. Believe it or not, your Wordle habit is actually making you a better reader!
Download a “Word of the Day” app. This can expose you to words you may not have sought out yourself.
Use vocabulary flashcards. There’s a reason we did this all the time in school: because it works!
Read more. The more you’re exposed to, the better you’ll be able to contextualize new words.
4. Paper Books vs. eBooks vs. Audiobooks
Time to ruffle some feathers.
When the topic of paper books vs. eBooks vs. audiobooks comes up, people draw battle lines.
So when I say that the best readers actually employ all three of these tactics, you may feel a little offended that I’m not “on your team.”
Or that I’m “playing both (or all?) sides.”
But hear me out.
Each of these three media have their own benefits:
Paper books give you a permanent record of the original text, require no charging, and are easy to lend out to friends (not to mention that a physical library is hella classy)
eBooks are often the most economical type of reading in terms of space (it’s not hard to carry an e-Reader around) and cost
Audiobooks are easy to consume passively, so you can “read” them while accomplishing other mundane tasks
In my opinion, a mix of all three enables you to realize the benefits of each, thus improving your overall reading capacity.
But what about reading comprehension? Is there a marked difference between reading vs. listening?
The short answer: no.
A 2016 study from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania divided their subjects into three groups: a listening group, a reading group, and a group that both listened and read. They then took a quiz designed to measure how well they had absorbed the material.
According to the results, there were no discernible differences between the three groups.
Given this information, you don’t have to worry about one method being better than the other. So go ahead and reap the benefits of all three!
5. Practices to Help You Get Better at Reading
Like any other skill, reading is a habit. And you only get better at habits by doing them right and doing them regularly.
So if you want to get better at reading, here are a few things that I recommend you do:
Read every day. Except in a legitimate emergency (no, a coworker Slacking you at 9pm doesn’t count!), respect your daily reading time. It’s a chance to invest in yourself and your professional (and personal) growth.
Set reading goals. Don’t be too ambitious here. If your goal starts out at five pages a day, that’s fantastic! You can always grow from there.
Read the table of contents. For me, I find it easier to retain information if I read the table of contents before I start reading, and then again afterwards.
Find connections between your reads. You’d be surprised how often the concepts among various books connect. Identifying and exploring these connections will not only make you a better reader, but a better thinker too.
Highlight and underline. Reading with a pen in hand can help trick your brain into thinking “this is important,” which will prime you to retain more information.
Take notes AFTER you read. For me, this is a simple practice of copying passages into a notebook, occasionally adding my own commentary. However, I only do this after I finish my reading session, because it’s very disruptive to reading flow.
Check your shelf before you wreck your shelf.
One word of disclaimer:
A lot of the tips I’ve mentioned have been helpful for me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be helpful for you.
So feel free to try out these tips, and make adjustments as fits your life and schedule.
Ultimately, becoming a better reader is all about improving yourself. So make sure these habits are giving more than they’re taking from you.
But if you found these tips helpful, could you give us a share on social media?
That way, your fellow readers can make use of these tips.
Until next time,
Timothy