In this instructional video Jim Kwik shares three practical strategies to read faster while maintaining comprehension. He first stresses the importance of proper posture and book angle, explaining that an upright, well‑breathing stance and tilting the book toward the eyes reduces visual fatigue and makes words appear larger. Next, he guides viewers to establish a baseline reading speed by marking a page, reading for 60 seconds, and counting lines (or estimating words per line) to calculate lines‑per‑minute, typically around 200‑250 wpm for most adults. The third tip introduces a visual pacer—using a finger, pen, or mouse to underline words as you read. This simple motion increases speed by 25‑50 % and keeps the eyes focused, because humans are naturally drawn to motion. Kwik also explains the neurological basis: multisensory integration (sight‑touch, smell‑taste) and evolutionary attention to movement help maintain focus. He recommends pairing the pacer with active questioning of the material to ensure understanding. The video concludes with a promotion for a free one‑hour masterclass at jimkwik.com/more, where he demonstrates these techniques in depth and offers a longer course promising up to a three‑fold speed increase.
Chapters
Okay, so when you're reading this book, have a purpose for doing so. Notice that I just want to close this out, that if I'm not going to bend my body, and if you're not watching this video, I have the book again on the tabletop, and I'm in visual posture, meaning I'm upright and I'm breathing properly, and I don't want to see at an angle. So instead of collapsing my body, I just want to close this loop. Then you can just move the book, right? So now I could see the book and at an angle, I can even rest it on the table or rest it on my knee.
And that makes a difference.
It does, because over time, especially with you're reading faster, part of what keeps people reading slowly is just visual fatigue. Right. So if the book is at an angle, then the words are smaller, so more difficult to read, logically. But if they're tilted towards me, then all of a sudden they are noticeably larger and easier to read. Right.
Yeah, I love that.
And then I have questions that I'm asking. So then I say, oh, there's the answer, there's the answer, there's the answer. So I never get in a situation where I read something and I just forget what I just read or didn't understand it. It just like time passed, one eye out the other or whatever. And then I'm asking questions. Now, that's for smart reading. But for speed reading, if you want greater speed, like all we teach is not skimming or scanning. Like, we work with a lot of attorneys, a lot of financial advisors, a lot of medical doctors. You don't want your doctor to get the gist of what they're reading, right? I know I don't. So a lot of traditional speed reading is scanning, skipping words, getting the gist of what you're read, right? And that's never worked for me because I started as a memory trainer. So one of the ways you can improve your reading speed is, first of all, get your base rate. All right? So I would say put a mark in the margin, pick up a book that you're reading or a brand new book, put a little mark in the margin where you're starting currently today. It might be somewhere in there. And then read for 60 seconds. Set a timer, your phone, to go down for 60 seconds and have it ring. And then put a mark in the margin where you left off. So it's 60 seconds. And then count the number of lines you just read. And it counts, you know, you could guesstimate, right? So don't— if there's 2 words in a line, don't count it as a line. And then you have your lines per minute, right? That's how many lines you read in a minute. And you could easily also kind of approximate how many words there are per line. And most books you'll find about 10 words per line, right? If I was to count or average the average number of words per line, about 10. So let's say you go through and you read like 20 lines, and to simplify it, in 60 seconds, 200 words per minute, right? And that's, by the way, about the average reading speed, about 200, 250 words per minute. Now, if I ask you to pick up where you left off and put the clock on 60 seconds again, pick up where you left off, but just do one thing different, is what I'm going to ask you to do is just underline the words with your finger or a pen. You're actually not marking it, but just use it as a visual pacer. And a visual pacer is it could be a pen, a highlighter, a mouse on a computer, right? I use my finger because everyone carries them with them, right? So you don't have to worry about them. You have them at all times. If you just underline the words, right, you don't even have to touch the page, and you did that for 60 seconds and count the number of lines you just read, that second number will be on average 25%, 50% or more.
So, okay, I love this. So you read one section to get your baseline, right? Then you're not rereading that.
No.
You go into a new section.
So you're putting a mark in the margin where you start and where you end, count the number of lines, and you have your base rate.
And then the second time, all you're doing is, as you're reading the new piece of— the new words, you're just underlining with your finger.
Yeah, you're just going underlined. You're not— yeah, exactly. You're just going left to right, left to right, left to right, right, left to right, back to left and right. And you're just—
Not everything, just keywords.
No, no, you're not marking it. You're just literally using your finger and going right underneath and like this. Oh, the whole thing? Yes, just like this. And you're just following your eyes across the page like this.
Wow.
I'm telling you, you don't have to believe everything I'm saying. Everyone listen. Just pick up a book and do it, and then count the number of lines you did. Even without practice. You haven't even practiced this. But if you practice it, it'll even be more. And I'll tell you why logically, because as human beings, we want the explanatory schema, the reasons why. A couple of reasons. First of all, kids naturally, when they're learning to read, will use their finger while they read to help them to focus. Until, depending on what kind of school system you went, you got unique feedback. Some people got a ruler to their hand or whatever because they wanted— and I'm not saying there's a conspiracy trying people not to use their finger because they want to keep people ill-informed or anything. I'm not saying that. But if you just use your— it's interesting. Kids organically will use it, use their fingers to help them focus. Interesting also, we do it. So When you do this, notice when I ask you to count the number of lines you just read, everyone will start doing what? Using their finger to point. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Or a pen. 1, 2, 3. Because you're using a visual pacer to count because you know it helps you to focus. So why not use that while you read? The third reason why I use your finger while you read, or a visual pacer, again, you could be using a pen across. You're not marking it, right? You're just going right above the line, is because your eyes are attracted to motion. Because as hunter and gatherers, like, if you're in a bush and you're hunting lunch, right? There's a rabbit there, there's carrot, whatever your lunch is, right? If a bush next to you moves, you have to look at what moves because that's survivor— survival. Number one, it could be lunch, or number two, you could be lunch, right? So you have to look at what moves in your environments. And so when you're underlining the words across the page, left to right and back and forth, your eyes are being pulled through the information as opposed to your attention being pulled apart.
Right.
And the other reason why, because right now, if something— someone just walked across the room that we're in, everyone would look, even people watching on video, right? You and all of us, because your eyes are attracted to motion. So when your finger is going across the page, your attention is being pulled through it, and it maintains your focus. But another reason, if that wasn't reason enough, it's how your neurology is set up. Certain senses work very closely together. So, for example, do you love, like, a fresh piece of fruit? Like, right off the vine, right from the farmer's market? Not something that's been sprayed and waxed and sitting in a store for 6 months, but something like—
Yeah, for sure.
Have you ever tasted a great-tasting peach?
Yeah.
Yeah. And so, in actuality, we're not tasting that peach. What are we doing? We're smelling that peach. The tongue is not capable of really tasting what a peach tastes like, but the sense of smell and taste are so closely linked. that your mind can't perceive the difference. It can perceive the difference when we're sick. If your nose is congested, what do a lot of foods taste like? Tastes bland, right?
Yeah.
Because your sense of smell and taste are so closely linked. So is your sense of sight and your sense of touch and your nervous system. So, like, if, like, you know, we have a newborn baby, you know, if I was starting to, like, you know, grasp— but if you're going to infant and take your keys and just shook the keys in front of the infant or, you know, they won't understand hands and say, look at these keys. What would the child naturally do? Grab them, right? Because they associate looking with touching, right? In fact, when people read using their finger, they say they feel more in touch with their reading over time. Oh, here's another way. If someone loses their sense of sight, how do you read?
Braille.
Braille. Touch, right? And so I would encourage everyone to do is just a kind of a quick tip, because obviously, you know, we do You do full courses that people can sign up for. Yeah, 10 minutes a day for 30 days, and we'll triple anyone's reading speed with much better comprehension. But even if you just underline the words while you read, you'll feel not only greater speed, a lift of 25%, 50%, but you'll feel more in touch with your reading also as well, especially if you're adding the questions and everything else we talked about. And so I would say everyone could experiment with that. Can I give a link?
Yeah, sure.
If people go to jimkwik.com/more, K-W-I-K.com/more, there's actually a free 1-hour masterclass where I'll actually work and walk you through it. You bring a book online and I'll show you how to do this visually, and I'll show you some really cool shortcuts. But that will boost your reading speed 25%, 50%. And that's not a little bit. That's a lot.
That's a lot.
Right. If they say time is money, how many people got a 25%, 50% return on their investments last year? Right. So it really adds up over time. And little by little, a little becomes— it becomes a whole lot.
