How do people who read voraciously find the time? They have kids, homes to care for and demanding jobs just like you. Do they just ignore the world hours upon hours a day?
You may have set goals in the past to read more, knowing it can advance your career, give you new insights into your relationships, or just give you a more fulfilling method of entertainment and escape. Maybe you even set a goal for 2017 to read more consistently.
Here are some tips on how to establish a reading habit that truly sticks.
1. Reconnect With Your Why. What is the reason you want to add reading to your life? Spend some time connecting with your deep reason why. If you only want to do it because you think it’s something you “should” do that probably won’t carry you through to establishing a habit that truly sticks. What do you yearn for in your life that reading could bring you? More introspection on yourself? Better relationships? A quiet, peaceful activity to interject into your crazy busy life? What do you personally hope to change in your life that becoming a reader can be the path to? If you need a reason to read more here are a few in this article, including increasing intelligence, fighting Alzheimer’s, and better sleep for just a few.
2. Track how you spend your time. If you are still struggling to find time, take a week to account for your hours. Write down at the end of each day how much time you spent watching TV, driving, running errands, etc. Is there a space in there you can either find a way to read instead, or in conjunction with another activity? Working out for example – have you tried listening to a book while running instead of the jamming rap music? Maybe family TV time is important to you – can you pull out your book and read while sitting with your kids and still be together? TV is usually a considerable chunk of time for most people. How much enrichment does TV add to your life vs. what reading more might bring you?
3. Small daily steps make for BIG results. Although three hours alone at a book store sounds like heaven, you don’t need that to reach your goal of adding reading to your life. Reading just ten minutes before bed can add up fast. Ten minutes a day for one year brings you nearly sixty-one hours of reading! On average a book may take three to four hours to read, so with just ten minutes a day could read fifteen to twenty books this year with just that one small daily time investment. This web page gives some interesting facts on how long on average it takes to read popular titles.
4. Keep Lists of What to Read. Your curiosity is a gift. When a topic intrigues you, and you think I would love to know more about that, this is a sign for you to do something. Take an action. Whether you are watching TV, reading an article, talking to a friend and a book is mentioned that you find intriguing, write it down. Have a method to collect these titles no matter where you are. You can put a note in your phone. You can take a picture of the book from online or in social media. You can keep index cards in your purse. Take all of these collection points and put them in one place. The list itself doesn’t need to be organized or even managed. Just review the list once in a while and something will jump out at you that resonates with what you need right then. One of my favorite things to do is visit a book store, browse and take pictures of all the books I find fascinating. Then from those pictures I add them to the list. Later on I buy them used on Amazon for usually a penny plus $3.99 shipping.
5. Pick a Format that Works for You. Audio books, e-books, Kindle, Nook, library books, hardback or paperback. So many delivery methods. Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed or pressured by what others are doing. What feels most comfortable for you? Maybe you do audio books on your commute for fiction, but you find you prefer hardbacks for nonfiction. Or you use your Kindle when traveling, but when at home prefer paper books.
6. Give reading multiple books at once a try. One of the advantages or diving into more than one book at a time is you can keep various books in different locations. You can have a copy of one you keep in your car for using those ten minutes in the school pick up line. You can keep one going on audio on your phone for walks or folding laundry. Reading more than one book at a time also gives you a break in subject matter, which can help with retention.
7. Give yourself permission to quit. The college days are behind most of us. You are no longer forced to read a book. Anytime you feel you’ve given a book enough of a chance, and it’s just not working out quit. A book should feel like it fits. There are so many amazing books out there, When you do stumble on one that doesn’t fit don’t force yourself to slug through it. Sometimes, you will find a book calling to you again years later, and the second go around it suddenly fits. The book “The Power of Now” was like that for me, as was “On Writing.” Both books I quit the first time, but was interested in them years later and the fit was perfect when I was an older version of myself. Some books others loved just won’t be for you at anytime. “Lovely Bones” for me was a book I couldn’t stomach reading, but I loved the book “Lucky” from the same author.
8. Decide on your purpose with each book. What you hope to get out of each individual book may change how you read it. For example, when reading nonfiction books I hope to get some personal growth out, of I either tab my favorite parts, underline, or take separate notes. When I sink into a fiction book for pure enjoyment and entertainment I just dive in with no tools necessary to collect information.
9. Pass it on. Ask others what they are reading, or ask if they could recommend one book for you personally to read what would it be. Let books enter into your conversations. Let others know you are trying to read more and welcome suggestions. When you finish a book you enjoyed pass it on to a friend you think it may be perfect for. Part of the fun of books is the connection and discussion it can bring among the people in our lives.
10. Join a book club. If you are a person driven by structure a traditional book club may make sense. You will have a homework and a deadline. Many people love their book clubs and some belong to more than one. Another newer version is the Silent Book Club where you have a reading party with other readers, but just read your own selection.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one. – George R.R. Martin