Step III: Concentration

The effectiveness of every part of the Modern Reading technique is dependent on the ability to submerge yourself completely in the reading process. Concentration is the secret. You cannot read at your fastest speed and still get all the mean­ing unless you concentrate.

Ask yourself these three questions:

1. "Do I really concentrate now when I read?"
   
   
2. "Am I so thoroughly engrossed that exterior noises will not make me look up?"
   
   
3. "Can I control my mind with such discipline that it stays fixed on what I read and will not be disturbed by remembering a phone call I should make, a bill that needs paying?"

If such thoughts creep in, your mind is not thoroughly engaged when you read. You have not learned to concentrate.

This is a discipline you must train yourself to follow at a moment's notice. If your attention is caught by a newspaper headline, and you pick up the paper, read the story with con­centration.  Otherwise you might just as well leave it unread. The headline impressed you because it was big and black. You'll remember that. But you will remember very little of the news story unless for the few minutes it takes you to read it your whole attention is involved.

You can test this in a very simple way. Most people have the habit of reading a newspaper in the morning, either at home or on the way to work. For the next few days make sure the newspaper is saved or bring it home with you. Reread the stories you read in the morning. Ask yourself honestly if you recall the details. If someone had brought up one of the stories during the day, would your recollection have been so clear that you could talk about the situation intelligently?

These are fair questions, and I hope you can answer "Yes" with a clear conscience. But as a man who has given retention tests to a good many thousands of Modern Reading students, I will tell you that until you train yourself to concentrate you do not remember nearly as much as you thought you did if leading questions are asked. Most people, men and women, read aim­lessly. Their minds are only partially engaged. Unless you involve your mind fully you will never become an efficient rapid reader.

Concentration is something of a trick — to be learned like all the techniques of Modern Reading. At home or in the office — you will do most of your reading in those two places — you can ease the process by creating the right environment. Make sure your light is good — sunlight or a 100-watt lamp, but avoid glare by having at least one other light source in the room. Pick a chair that is comfortable but not too relaxing. That old cliché of "curling up with a good book" is bad advice for Modern Readers. With a little experience, you will find you are far more comfortable if you sit upright — and a great deal more alert. The most satisfactory position for reading is the one the orthopedists recommend: a firm, straight chair with your lower back firmly pressed against the back of the chair.Lean slightly forward, but keep upright. You can sit this way for long periods without feeling fatigued.

It is useful, of course, whether you are at home or in the office, to shut out distracting noises by closing the door. This helps you to relax from tensions and fix your mind on what you are about to read. If you are at home the closed door may shut out the insistent music and voices of television or radio from another part of the house. Hold the book, magazine or news­paper in your hands if you wish. I think the more comfortable position is to rest it on a desk or table. But make sure it is at a correct angle and at the proper distance from your eyes so that you see the type without strain.

After exterior noise, the greatest enemy of concentration is worry or emotional problems. There is no general cure for these, but I can suggest a therapy that sometimes works. If you have something on your mind, take positive action before you start reading. Is there an important phone call you must make at ten o'clock and now it is only eight? Then write your­self a note: "Call So-and-So at ten." If there is nothing you can do until tomorrow, at least you can relieve tension by try­ing to plan definite action and promising yourself that you will solve the problem next morning. This may seem like some­thing of a subterfuge but it will often calm anxieties so you can concentrate.

Reading With a Purpose

With distractions out of the way, you are ready to practice the technique of concentrating. And it is a technique. You may think now that it comes naturally but you should under­stand clearly the processes by which your mind becomes engaged. Reading with a purpose is the most important, and let's see how this works with a few examples:

a. You pick up your newspaper.   A crisis has developed somewhere in the world. Information is your purpose. You are eager for details. You absorb yourself to learn what this new crisis may mean.

b. There was a big pro football game yesterday. You know how it came out but you want to learn what the experts thought. You're not so much seeking information as a Monday morning quarterback's estimate of the game.  But you concentrate on the expert's rundown because you want to talk with friends about it later.

c. You have a book — a biography.  It is a big best-seller, and you think you will enjoy reading it.  You will be reading purely for enjoyment and self-enrichment. To be sure, you will gain information and the interpretation of events and character. But the promise of the book is that it will plunge you into the sheer enjoyment of a reading experience. That is your goal for the evening, and you let it enfold you completely.

Just how do you involve yourself in these several reading experiences? You do not let yourself become a passive reader. You adopt a questioning attitude. Is the correspondent report­ing objectively on the crisis situation about which he writes? Is the football expert biased or does he give a fair enough estimate on the game? Is the biographer trying to persuade you to a particular point of view about his subject? You read with this kind of question in your mind.

It becomes a sort of game which enormously increases your enjoyment of reading. You already know the purpose with which you read the article or book. But what was the author's purpose? Was he honest in what he told you? Was he trying to mislead you to establish a certain point of view? Has an argument been built up which you can demolish because of your knowledge of the facts?

These are questions which will crowd your mind when you are "concentrated." They will not even occur if you are not fully involved, and you will miss half the pleasure of reading. When concentration is complete it will shut out everything else. You will begin to anticipate what the author is going to say next. You will almost feel that he is in the room with you and that you are engaged in a personal argument. When you reach such an attitude your mind is fully engaged.

Concentrating is a skill you can practice every day — at home or when you are reading in your office. It won't be easy at first, and there are no exercises that can help you. Mastering the technique is sheer will power at work, for you must disci­pline yourself. What is required is that you learn to detach your mind from, first, the distractions of the exterior world and, second, the inner anxieties of your emotions so that it becomes absorbed in a third reality — what lies on the printed page before you.

You will know you have succeeded when you can study a business report undisturbed by spike-heel shoes clattering up and down the corridor outside your office. When a book com­pletely absorbs you at home with children's voices outside your open window and a record player blaring across the street, then you have acquired the trick of concentration. And you have taken a giant step toward faster — and better — reading.

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