This series contains ways that you can supercharge anything you’re learning; anything you want to internalize; anything you want to become more competent at, no matter the topic. If you do the things suggested in this series…

* You will learn faster

* You will comprehend difficult, new concepts more quickly

* You will blast through obstacles in life more swiftly and easily

The concept here is based upon the fact that those teachers who are thoroughly engaged in the subject matter they’re teaching, tend to learn at an ever-deeper level the material they are teaching.

Read Out Loud              

Whether you are taking in fiction or non-fiction, a magazine or a textbook, the benefits of reading out loud are several. Let’s consider a few.

You’ll become a better reader. Of course, it is true that we get better at whatever we do more of. So, we don’t need a researcher to tell us that the more we read, the better we’ll get at reading. But there is something special about the act of reading out loud. Back in 1985, the National Institute of Education issued a landmark report titled “Becoming a Nation of Readers.” According to the report, reading out loud is “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading.”

Not a good reader? Read more… and do so out loud.

You’ll stimulate your brain.

In reading out loud, you are engaging your brain and your other senses more thoroughly than when you read silently.

• Your eyes are more active when you read out loud. They are taking care that you take in every word (as opposed to silent reading when we tend to skim when you’ve decided that we get the “jist” of what the author is saying).
• Your brain is now taking in the words by way of the ears as well as the eyes.
• Your body resonates with every word. Okay, I know how hokey that might… sound. However, consider that the sound of your voice is a vibration. Now consider that the vibration of your voice is coming from you; your body. Now get it? If not, go ahead and hum a single fairly low note for about five seconds. You should be able to feel that vibration in at least the upper third of your body and especially in your head; in your jaws and especially in your throat. Your entire body feels it. This is a very good thing, especially if what you happen to be reading is positive and uplifting in some way.
• You are forced to develop the skill of sounding conversational (… or in whatever speaking “theme” you perceive that the material’s author might have intended his or her words to “sound”). This means you are tapping some of the creative parts of your brain as you quickly determine how these words on paper ought to sound out loud. Involving your brain in this kind of immediate oral interpretation is extremely invigorating to the intellect.

You’ll Win Friends and Influence People.

Research indicates that the kind of mental stimulation described above…

• Will increase your vocabulary. It follows that the more words you’re properly pronouncing, the more those words will find their way into your everyday use
• Will improve your ability to “think on your feet” and speak extemporaneously
• Will increase your confidence. The more you get used to hearing your own voice, the more confident you will become when it comes to speaking to groups or in social settings that might otherwise make you nervous
• Will increase your conversational skills.  The more you speak the organized thoughts of someone else, the more clearly you’ll be able to verbalize your own thoughts
• Do I need to list the benefits of being a better communicator? You get the idea

Okay, so perhaps you read as infrequently as possible, and maybe that’s because you don’t consider yourself to be very good at it. So, maybe as a consequence of not being very good at reading, you hate doing it. If that is so, chances are good that you’d like to read more… if you could read better. And if that is so, then this article is very good news for you! Hopefully, it’s good enough news to get you to start reading more.

I suppose if you hate to read, you’re probably not reading this blog. Someone else is reading it to you! Go ahead: try reading this article out loud. Come on. It’s less than 800 words. I dare you.

If you already love to read, start reading out loud. Before too long, you’ll notice the above benefits kicking in after reading out loud for just a few minutes every day or two.