book-92771_1280If it’s one thing that employees at small businesses or big companies hope to achieve at work, it’s productivity. Improving your productivity in the workplace has been associated with increased job fulfillment, as well as the likelihood of being promoted. One skill that is well within each person’s capability of accomplishing is speed reading. People who spend even just a little time each day striving to improve this skill can usually double their average reading speed within a matter of weeks. Learning to speed read will quickly become linked to your work productivity, and here are three reasons why it’ll definitely make you a better employee.

1. Better Focus

As you double your average reading speed from 200 words per minute (WPM) to over 400, you’ll find a refined ability to focus on the tasks you need to complete. Knowing how to read quickly with intent, you’ll discover an enhanced ability to hone in on keywords, key figures, and more in record time. With renewed and sharpened focus at work, you can bet that your supervisor will take a keen interest in you.

2. Enhanced Problem Solving Skills

Part of learning to read faster is learning to exercise your brain in ways that force you to make important connections, and process information faster than you have previously. Most of us develop the bad habit of reading each word as if we were speaking it in our heads. This forces most without training to read somewhere in the 180 to 200 WMP range. By training your brain to view information as puzzle pieces or blocks that can be quickly assembled, and from which the most important information can be extracted, you’ll discover that you become more attuned to logical sequence, and solving complex problems at work.

3. More Self-Confidence

Reading faster will improve your self-confidence, especially as you come to realize you have a slight competitive advantage over the majority of your co-workers. Learning how to speed read will help you become more aware of what you’re capable of, and will help you feel more driven to achieve your personal and work-related goals. If this doesn’t make you a better employee, what will?! Doubling your reading speed will provide you with the confidence boost you need to take your work to the next level, complete that next big project faster, and earn the promotion you’ve been waiting for.