The Attractive Life

One of the things I’m interested in and I’ve posted about on the site somewhere (don’t really remember where) is the topic of accelerative learning. Part of that topic deals with altered states of consciousness. The other part is how you use those different states to allow outside (and sometimes inside) information to be absorbed and processed in the most efficient and effective manner.

To that end, I’m suspecting my topic for next month for the 1 month practice is going to deal with speed-reading, or more specifically, something called Photoreading. One of the main reasons I’m going to be going through this program (again) is to start really focusing on what can actually be accomplished by following the methods taught in this program.

To really get ahead in most jobs, you really need to absorb a lot of information extremely fast. Traditional reading methods don’t really cut it in today’s high paced world where everyone suffers from some form of information overload. Granted, I can absorb information faster than most people. When I’m really trying to learn something fast, I can usually read at somewhere around 2,000-3,000 words a minute. My family and friends have seen me do it on more than one occasion.

When I was a teenager, I got my hands on an Evelyn Wood Speedreading course book. I’ve read it several times and have gotten a lot of benefit out of it. What’s kinda sad is that when I was in school, somewhere between 4th and 6th grade, I used to do speed reading naturally. I would study my textbook about 5-10 minutes before a test (the only time I ever even looked at the information) and re-read the information probably 10 times or so in that space of time, and would usually ace the test.

Unfortunately, my teachers saw me doing that and advised me, in their misguided but well meaning manner, that nobody could read that fast. I had the bad misfortune of actually believing them and have spent a significant portion of my life trying to relearn how I used to absorb information that fast.

That brings me back to what I’m planning on for next month. The Photoreading Whole Mind system method of learning is a quantum jump forward (no pun intended) in how a person can learn new information. My goal before finding this course was to eventually hit 4,000 – 5,000 words a minute reading speed. With Photoreading, they’ve had practitioners hit calculated speeds hitting ranges over 100,000 words a minute.

They have proven this speed over and over again, so I have no doubt that it’s possible. The main limit to the “reading” speed is how fast you can actually turn the page. Using a computer, some practitioners have hit calculated speeds of over 1 million words a minute.

The main stumbling block to people believing it’s possible to ‘read’ at this speed is what actually happens when Photoreading. You’re not reading the material in the traditional sense of the word. You’re actually absorbing information via the preconscious processor. It’s along the same theory as how you can absorb a photo. You don’t look at each dot that makes up the photo, you absorb it as a whole.

Once the information is loaded into your mind via the preconscious processor, you unconscious mind categorizes and processes the information. After letting it gestate in your mind, you go through a few more steps to allow the information to be available the conscious mind.

Realistically, if it can be learned from a book, you can probably become an expert on any topic within weeks instead of months. With that being said, I’m hoping that by using the process all next month, it’ll help cement the process into my habits once and for all so I use it all the time and become much more proficient in it and have more faith that it’s working and an effective means to learn new information.