5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Reading Comprehension Today
Re-reading the same page 3 times gets annoying.
Picture this.
You’re reading a great book as time flies by and you stop in a sudden shock. You realize you forgot what happened in the last 10 pages.
Damn.
So, you go back to the last page you remember and start again.
20 minutes later you stop. It happened again!
For the majority of my early life, I had to go back and re-read pages 3+ times before comprehending what I read.
In the last 3 years though, as I started reading consistently, I figured out 5 easy ways to help increase my reading comprehension.
If you’re sick of going backwards in your book… This one is for you!
1. Use a highlighter
As simple as this trick is, few people use it.
In high school and university, going through textbooks, you always use a highlighter. Yet, when it comes to reading a book, you don’t.
Why is that?
Highlighting forces you to go through the key sentences again. On top of that, as you see those key sentences turn bright yellow or pink, it sticks into your head.
Oh, and there is a bonus consequence too!
Whenever you want to go back through your book, you can skim through quickly and re-read the most important parts!
2. Keep post-its by your side
Quite often, you’ll be reading a great book and there is a page that you know will come in handy one day. It could be a lesson that applies to your business, or maybe just a paragraph that resonates with you.
Either way, put a post-it so you can easily come back.
There is a psychological effect that starts to take place once you use post-its too.
Having them by your side makes you look for the most important and memorable parts of your book.
This small thing has been a game-changer for me.
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can colour-code your post-its too.
For example, use yellow ones if it resonates spiritually and blue if it is something you want to tell a friend later, and so on.
3. Read what interests you
One of the main reasons I had terrible reading comprehension when I was younger was that I was never interested in what I was reading.
I remember reading an old article in grade 5 about how we would be eating oil-based hot dogs in the future because we would run out of food.
Weird prediction, I know.
I had to re-read that single-page article over 10 times to properly understand it.
If you read something that captivates you, you will pay such close attention that you will not forget what you read.
4. Listen to an audiobook at the same time
This may seem like a cop-out cheating way to understand what you are reading, but it undoubtedly helps.
If you want to comprehend what you’re reading, listening to it simultaneously helps you register the words differently.
I’ve noticed the more I do this, the less I need to do it.
But, for more complicated books, I do this regardless to help avoid having to go back and re-read pages.
Alternatively, you can listen to YouTube videos about the concepts as you read. It’ll increase your understanding and encourage you to keep going.
5. Analyze external factors
Having a poor attention span, being distracted easily or being in the wrong environment can all affect your reading comprehension.
If your phone is constantly going off or the TV is on at the same time, your attention span will be awful and you will be constantly distracted.
On top of that, if you have not slept well or have eaten poorly, you are going to have trouble focusing on words.
And, if you’re in a loud environment with children screaming or it is too cold or hot… You will have trouble reading.
This is why reading chairs exist.
Conclusion
Books are a blessing and one of the best ways to absorb new knowledge. Improving your reading comprehension will not only make you smarter, but it will also save you time.
And if you’re like I was, it is poor reading comprehension that is preventing you from reading in the first place.
So, working on this skill will change your life for the better.
Thanks for reading