Speed Reading

You read all the time. Even if you don’t read for pleasure much, you will be reading a lot for work: reports, client letters, regulator consultation papers, finalised guidance, meeting minutes, articles, blog posts, white papers and (far too many) emails.

Imagine that tomorrow you could read twice as fast as you can today. How much more knowledge would you gain in just a single year?

Speed-reading is a game-changer. Some personal development skills are nice to have, but learning to read faster is essential.

Just as someone who works at a keyboard all day should learn to type quickly. If you read a lot, it’s a no-brainer to learn to do so faster. Doubling or trebling your reading speed is incredibly valuable.

The problem is most of us still read with the bad habits we learnt as a child. Realise just how much time you could be saving if you read faster.

Faster reading that doesn’t sacrifice comprehension

Make more informed decisions – There’s a limit to the amount of time you should spend gathering information before reaching a decision. Speed-reading allows you to dramatically increase the amount of research you can conduct, without delaying the time it takes you to reach a decision (and that means making better ones).

Power through that reading list – Let’s be honest, your reading list is getting longer, not shorter. You know there’s a tonne of valuable information in that list, but you’re just too busy to make headway. Reading faster will help you tackle that list and start benefiting from the extra knowledge.

More quickly assess the value of content – You will first scan a piece of writing to determine whether reading it is worth your precious time (this is particularly true on the web). With faster reading skills you’ll be able to more quickly decide what is and what isn’t worth your attention.

Keep up-to-date with change – The financial industry changes quickly. New threats, new opportunities and new regulations all create a lot of extra reading. Make sure you take advantage of this information by reading quickly.

The Course Agenda

Analysing your reading speed

• Compare your reading speed (against the average and the best)
• What constitutes reading skill?
• Identify where you need to focus to improve speed and comprehension
• Use the SMOG readability measure and establish your own reading levels
• Explore the benefits of faster reading

The right approach for different reading purposes

• What do you read (work versus leisure)
• The typical documents regulators issue
• When should you speed up or slow down your reading?
• What techniques work for different types of document?
• Learn to analyse the structure of a document to decide how to read it

Improving your retention of the content

• Outline of the cognitive approach
• The five senses as memory prompts
• Linking ‘context’ and ‘setting the scene’

The faster reading techniques

• The different techniques (how and why they work)
• What is a photographic memory versus “photoreading”
• Recognise what approach best suits you
• Get more practice to train your eyes to gain speed

The importance of fonts

• Fonts and what aids reading (consider this for the reports you write)
• On screen and paper contrasts
• Experience the impact for yourself

Putting learning into practice

• Establish how to retain and improve your speeds