Below we have listed the main steps to achieving the mindset of a master speed reader. Be sure to take these steps, and then prepare to sit back and enjoy the results.

Relax - Take a few deep breaths, calm down, and clear your mind. You are not going into a fully fledged meditation, just a few seconds where you can mentally prepare for some seriously fun reading. To get the most out of your reading experience you want it to be as stress free as possible. Think about how you learn better when you are relaxed and how confident you are in your speed reading ability.

Get Comfortable - Who said reading has to feel like work? Speed Readers should be relaxed, but not too relaxed as to where it will become a distraction. Find a comfy chair at a table that is at about the height you would find right to eat on. Loosen any restrictive clothing, and take a quick stretch before sitting down. You will find that you read your best sitting straight up with your back touching the chair, and your feet flat on the ground.

Have a Purpose - In the same way that a life should not be lived without a purpose, a book should not be read without an intention or goal for the material. Reading with a reason is the key to understanding and remembering the material. When you know why you are reading, you will notice that your mind will hone in on certain details, and will store the material in a manner that allows for easy access. Sit down for a minute or so before you begin reading and decide why you are reading and what you hope to gain from this session. You will notice the results immediately.

Concentrate- We all have come to the end of a page and looked back up and had no idea what had happened in the past 30 or so lines. This can happen when you lose focus and let your mind wander. If you notice this happening, you may find it helpful to get up and stretch for a minute or so, or to sit back and remind yourself why you are reading. Long study periods can create periods where you drift in and out of paying attention resulting in wasted study time and feeling the need to reread sections. Go in 20 or 30 minute study sessions with 5 or 10 minutes of breaking in between. Your brain can take in a lot more information than you would expect, so remember to break often and remove distractions, and you will never feel the need to reread again.

Most Importantly- Have Fun. Speed Reading should be enjoyed whether it is being used business or leisure. Don't get stressed.

Speed Reading, of course, is used to read quickly through written material. Books, Magazines, Newspapers, etc; they are all common materials that can be quickly read through. Take note, not all material can be absorbed through speed reading. Video and Audio files for example, are just as time consuming to learn to the speed reader as to another. With technologies today, advantages can be had to help you "speed read" through those materials.

First off, there is a program called MySpeed, by a company called Enounce. The main function of this software is to speed up flash videos that you see online. YouTube, Hulu, Etc; The speed that they are played can be sped up to 5 times as fast as normal, or slowed down to 1/3 the normal speed. This can make the extremely fast talking lecture, move at a "normal" rate which is easier to take notes on, or on the opposite end of the spectrum can make the slow boring narrative move at an upbeat pace which will keep you from falling asleep. Best of all, you will not experience the Chipmunk sound that will often be run into when speeding up records, cds, or using another program to do this.

MySpeed can cut the 30 second commercials on Hulu and YouTube down to 6 seconds, as well as slow down a ton of other online Audio and Video file types. Warning: after trying this product, you will wonder how you ever lived without it. Look up the program on Google, and they give you a free 1 week trial on their site. If you are interested in saving %20, feel free to use the coupon code QUICKEYE20. As you can see, this is the only product other than our own that we have ever given a recommendation to our readers for, so you can trust, that there really is some value to be had. Again, One Week, Free Trial. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Sorry to make this sound like a commercial, but it truly is amazing software that we highly recommend to anyone who would like to increase their productivity and become a true speed learner. I have heard of a few free options that can do a similar task as MySpeed, however I’ve never tried any, and therefore cannot suggest an alternative. Personally, for files that I have on my computer, Windows Media Player does a decent job at speeding up Audio Files, and Quick Time, has the ability to speed up Video Files. However, they were not designed to play the media files at an increased rate, so you may find the high pitched Chipmunk sound as a result.

Do not limit yourself to only increasing your reading speed. Think of Speed Reading as the gateway drug to a World of more effective learning techniques that will change your life. QuickEye just partnered up with a company called Speed Student, which can be found at http://SpeedStudent.com. They teach you how to think faster, learn faster, take tests faster, and at least a million other ways to increase your output and productivity levels. Thanks for stopping by and reading this, be sure to check them out. Thank you. ~The QuickEye Team http://quickeyespeedreading.com