BECOME A "MILLIONAIRE" THIS $UMMER
July 6, 2017
I HAVE JUST DONE THE MATH ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE THIS SUMMER.
Here’s how it goes. Sally Shaywitz, M.D., in her book Overcoming Dyslexia, displayed a graphic titled: “Figure 29. Good Readers Read Many Words Per Year; Poor Readers Read Very Few.”
One axis of the graph had time spent reading each day, and the other axis, Reading Test Scores. At the 20 minutes per day mark, the stack of books yielded 1.8 million words per year.
So, I did the math on how many minutes a day one would have to read over the summer to become a million word reader. Here is the report: 45 minutes of reading every day this $ummer can make you a millionaire!
Ok, words aren’t dollars, but they could translate to dollars some day in the future.
The more one reads, the better reader one becomes. Reading is a skill and skills improve with practice. The 10,000 hours of practice rule to develop expertise applies to reading--as well as other endeavors.
The more one reads, the more words one sees. The brain is a pattern machine and begins to recognize print patterns and their meaning. With consistent repetition, it begins to respond automatically to print and reading fluency increases. The more one responds automatically to the printed word, the faster one reads . The decoding phase of reading becomes effortless, as words and meaning are automatically processed. Vocabulary will expand because text has more uncommon words than daily conversation. Syntax, too, is more formal in written text, and will develop the capacity for complex thought. Background knowledge expands as one learns content through reading, and the more background knowledge one brings to reading, the better one’s reading comprehension. Overall, there is great wealth to be had in a daily reading habit. Get $tarted thi$ $ummer!