I love to read. Every night, I read fiction to help me sleep and because I enjoy a good mystery. But I also am envious of my friends, peers and mentors who can read like 3 business books and a gazillion blogs a week. These people always seem so smart to me and they probably are because well, the more you read, the more you know and the more you can share – like on your blogs and stuff. But alas! Where to find the time? That’s why I’m learning to speed read. I’m learning to speed read on paper but that doesn’t always translate well to the computer.
One of my biggest peeves is the fact I can’t seem to clear my RSS reader of the unread posts. There’s so much coming in daily and I don’t have a huge reading list either. Every time I get in there it’s like 1000+ plus posts. Usually, I end up skimming the headlines – which is why your blog subject line is so important but that’s a post for another time. And then fully reading the ones that catch my eye. Even then, speed reading helps.
Then I stumbled on Zap Reader. Wow! I just made it through a post and had plenty of time to leave a comment. I’m debating right now if I should add the plugin to my blog to help people read my posts faster. At the moment, I use the bookmarklet. On a post that I’d like to read, I select the text then click the bookmark. Hit start and I’m reading at 500 words per minute or more. I think this is fast becoming my favorite free tool. Check out the video below to see how it works.
