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As you enter a dance floor, you enjoy the rhythm and beating of a popular song. You start nodding your head in unison with the music. As you enjoy and listen to the lyrics of the song, you miss a beat, then another beat. Now you understand the song by listening to the beating, still you continue to miss beats the more you pay close attention to the music. Why is this happening to you?

Can you tell why you are missing the beat the more you pay attention to the lyrics? You have proper comprehension of the lyrics, yet you are missing the beat (meaning). How does this affect speed reading you may ask? Well, it has everything to do in nearly all we do in life.

In speed reading, you must be fully absorbed in what you are reading. You should be able to feel and read between the lines to derive meaning other than the exact expressions you are seeing in the written text. I will explain with the following real life illustration in music because i started with a music illustration at the beginning of this article.

You may know about the popular song 'Good-bye Earl,' this song was compose and written by the Dixie Chicks. If you know the story, you will remember that this song caused serious chaos in the world arena. People who have watched the clip responded bitterly because of misunderstanding of true intentions and meaning of this music. The true meaning of this music was the need for the society to stop violence. However, the world misunderstood the whole concept because in the video, it seems that these girls who sang this song killed Earl and tried to conceal the body. What these ladies actually meant or was implying was that violence should be put away. They used this in a figurative way, but the majority of the world misunderstood them. What a way for the world to understand an an innocent intention that these women have.

So it goes with speed reading! Let's consider the following statement to further clarify my point.

Test exercise:

Geek: The geeks are amazing type of people. When they learn, they learn meaning from bits of information gathered from different sources. They bring this details together to form a whole meaning to them. Geeks use insight and wisdom to discover hidden facts that are otherwise unnoticeable.

What do you understand from the above.

True meaning of test exercise:

Geek: A person who is able to assemble puzzles together to form a whole. Someone willing and able to collate facts and make a meaning out of those facts. This person makes uses of all his five senses to decode information to make meaning to him.

Do you understand what i'm trying to let you comprehend? Do you get my point? If you don't, go back and reread this article till you get my drift. What i'm saying is your ability to comprehend depends on your ability to put information together and get a meaning from it.

Do not allow people's opinion to decide your understanding of any particular event. Make judgements from the facts available to you and decide your comprehension from these information. Look beyond what you see to grasp the meaning of material and events. It is an art you must learn if you will be successful in speed reading. That way, your speed reading skills will be maximally improved.