This Simple Trick Doubles Your Reading Speed 😳
The speaker explains that using a finger to guide your eyes while reading can eliminate visual regression and potentially double reading speed. He also advises against subvocalizing words, as speaking speed limits reading speed. The average person reads around 200 words per minute, but simple techniques can significantly improve this.
Summary
The speaker, identified as Ron, offers practical speedreading advice centered on two main techniques. The first involves placing a finger beneath the words being read and forcing the eye to follow it. He explains that without this guide, the eye naturally bounces around the page in a phenomenon called visual regression — for example, re-reading parts of a sentence like 'the boy went to the store' multiple times without realizing it. Most people are unaware they do this because it happens so quickly, yet it significantly slows their reading pace.
Ron notes that when observing experienced speedreaders, you can see them moving their finger or hand across the page deliberately — this is the same technique in action. For those reading on a laptop or computer, the mouse cursor can serve the same purpose as a physical finger guide.
The second key technique is to avoid subvocalization — that is, saying or mentally pronouncing words while reading. Ron argues that if you're sounding out words internally, your reading speed is capped by how fast you can speak, not how fast your brain can process information. The average person reads approximately 200 words per minute, but by combining the finger-tracking method with reduced subvocalization and improved focus, most people can realistically double that rate.
Key Insights
- Ron claims that visual regression — where the eye unconsciously bounces back and re-reads parts of a sentence — is a common but largely unnoticed habit that slows most readers down.
- Ron argues that most people who believe they read straight through a line are likely still experiencing visual regression, just too fast to consciously notice it.
- Ron contends that using a finger to force the eye to track linearly across a page alone could double a person's reading speed.
- Ron states that subvocalization — saying words internally while reading — caps reading speed at speaking speed rather than the faster pace the brain is capable of processing.
- Ron cites that the average person reads approximately 200 words per minute, and claims that nearly everyone can reach twice that speed simply by using the finger-tracking technique and maintaining better focus.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] The best speedreading strategy I could give a person is put your finger underneath the words that you're reading and force your finger to follow the words. When we're reading, what happens is you're reading the boy went to the store, but your eye is not trained. It bounces around a lot and it's called visual regression. So the boy went to the store. Your brain would read that. The boy went, the boy went to the boy went to the store. It's bouncing around. And people all say, "Ron, I don't do that. I just read straight through." You probably don't. You're probably doing it so fast you don't realize it. But because you're doing it, it's slowing…
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