In this lecture we're gonna be talking a little bit more about the limitations when it comes to speed
reading and how it's connected to neuroplasticity.
Before moving on to the actual techniques doc can help you when we talk about limitations why we can't
read an incredible speed.
We have cognitive processing limitations sensory output limitations and comprehension and retention
limitations.
We need to keep in mind several different factors.
One of the biggest factors is our lack of concentration nowadays where the average concentrations fan
is no more than eight seconds and I will say this in several lectures that it would take you up to 25
minutes to reach the pinnacle of your focus and concentration.
Having our smartphones around and having distractions all around us it is very easy to have this lack
of concentration and when you have lack of concentration.
This is going to affect the speed reading process.
You can not expect to know how to speed read when you have absolutely no sense of discipline and concentration
if you can't concentrate you can't speed read period and a lot of people think that the slower you read
the better you'll be able to comprehend information and retain information which is wrong.
Scientifically speaking this is not true.
The correlation between reading and comprehending has nothing to do with how fast or how slow you're
reading but it has everything to do with your cognitive abilities when it comes to this specific learning
mechanism which is reading and what happens a lot of times is that people don't really evaluate what
they're reading properly they read the entire book as if it's all at all contains equal important information.
Books have little important information and a lot of details.
So being able to know how to evaluate what you're reading properly to know what's important and what's
not as important and what's just some boring details that you don't need is essential to be able to
read better if you're slow reading the entire book.
Going through all of these details that that has nothing to do with the idea that's just a random story
that has nothing to do with anything you are putting your concentration your mental energy cognitive
energy your memory your focus on this piece of material on these reading material that you have on this
paragraph or on this chapter when in fact it is not relevant.
If you're just doing reading for the sake of enjoyment you should not be doing speed reading.
You should be reading at your own pace and forgetting about all the techniques that you're about to
learn.
But if you want to read in a way that you can retain and comprehend a lot more information and less
time then you're doing the right thing.
But as we go through it you will be able to identify the important material when it comes to books.
You'll be able to identify what's important and what to focus on and what not to focus on.
And there are also a lot of factors linked to our senses when it comes to our vocalization.
When it comes to our eye movement through our hearing and mostly to our attention and in the part where
we're talking about focus concentration and attention you guys are going to know that there is a difference
between the three concepts.
Focus is not the same as concentration is not the same as attention and speed reading is not just affected
by our lack of concentration but also by our focus and our attention our limited attention as one of
the reasons why we keep reading words over and over and over again because we weren't paying attention.
And this is why we read out a very slow rate reading word by word because we don't want to miss any
of the information.
And if there was ever a small risk of us missing something even if it's not of any value even if it
has nothing to do with what you're reading in something that is that is just adding information and
adding boring information to it you will feel like you want to reread the material to make sure that
you didn't miss anything.
Otherwise you won't be able to understand the rest of the book which is wrong.
So keeping in mind these limitations is not just to know these limitations is to also know that you
need to work on these limitations cognitive processing limitation means that there is a certain level
where reading and comprehension will not go along anymore.
You'll be reading too fast that your comprehension will drop dramatically and you won't be able to comprehend
anything while other people when you read at the same speed they can comprehend way more than you.
And this is all linked to cognitive processing limitation.
People who had the habit of reading books ever since they were six years old and now they're 22 and
they're reading books every single day they have a higher cognitive processing abilities when it comes
to the reading learning mechanisms than you do.
And if you for example read let's say one chapter a week.
You also have a bigger advantage over people who read one chapter a month over people who read one book
a year.
Practice develops neuroplasticity which develops your cognitive processing and gets you out of the limitation.
And another thing as we said is sensory output limitation.
When we read we use a lot of our senses we sometimes read and you can hear yourself reading.
So what you're doing is you're actually pronouncing every single word you're reading you're hearing
the word and you're reading at the same time.
That's how a lot of people read.
Some people cannot read without making noise.
A lot of people can't read without actually reading.
They can't read it in their mind's eye.
They need to read it and hear the word in their ear to be able to comprehend it better.
So when they're in a situation where they are in a library and you can't really be loud there are people
around you then they have to read with the sensory output limitation which has them reading without
actually vocalizing.
And for them it will be an obstacle they won't be able to comprehend the way they want to comprehend.
And this is all due to sensory output limitation which we will also work on.
And lastly comprehension and retention limitation.
And this is different from cognitive processing limitation.
Here we're talking about the correlation between comprehension and retention.
It is one thing to read the book and understand it but it's another thing to retain information and
get something get some knowledge out of the book.
If you read the entire book in one day and you understood it fully but the next day you did not remember
anything from it you just wasted your time.
We want to read because we want to keep this information stored in our brains.
We don't just want to read to read and then just let go of information.
Now as much as speed reading is influenced by neuroplasticity is not as related to neuroplasticity as
learning for example even though speed reading is a learning mechanism.
Speed reading is a bit more specific than learning mechanisms as a big major topic.
Speed reading usually doesn't involve emotions and by now you know that emotions are one of the biggest
factors when it comes to neuroplasticity.
So 80 percent of the speed reading mechanisms are related to neuroplasticity but 20 percent are related
to the techniques themselves are related to the extra external work that you're doing not just the internal
work that is taking place without you realizing that it's going as you use these 20 percent these techniques
the 80 percent will unfold by itself.
The reason why when you practice these techniques for the next six months you get to a point where even
without without even thinking about these techniques you'll be able to speed read amazingly and comprehend
and retain the information is because of neuroplasticity and of course it develops with time.
The more you use these techniques the more it will have a positive influence on the neuroplasticity
a mechanism that is taking place at the same time.
So now without any further ado we'll get to the techniques of speed reading.