Did you make a New Year’s resolution to read more books? After all the diet and exercise goals it’s one of the most common. I start every year with an ambition to read a certain number of books and of all the resolutions I might make, it’s the one I’m most likely to be successful at.
Unfortunately, reading books is on the decline. It’s competing for our shortened attention spans with video games, cat videos, click-bait headlines, and the latest binge-worthy TV show. I find, however, that being purposeful about reading more long-form content does wonders to help me retrain my brain to focus for periods of time longer than a TikTok video. It educates me more deeply about the world around me and stimulates my creativity.
So, after turning off your screen, here are my 8 tips for reading more:
Set a Goal
Whether you start in January with a New Year’s resolution or whether you start today, have a goal of how many books you want to read over a period of time. I tend to think in months – how many books can I realistically read over a month given all my other commitments? This is then the basis for my annual goal. But, having a goal in the first place helps me stay focused and on track throughout the year.
Keep Track
Once you’ve set your goal, now keep track of your progress. Simply logging all the books I read has been one of the most effective strategies to help me read more as I know where I stand against my goals. I use Goodreads but spreadsheets or fancy handwritten logs in a journal work just as well. There is great satisfaction in marking a book complete
Quit
Life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy. Give yourself permission to quit any book you don’t like or that’s not keeping you interested. It might take me months to slog through something I feel “I should” read. It might take me a day to read something I love. (I’m looking at you Harry Potter.) Read what you like and stop saying “I should.” I don’t care that many consider Ulysses by James Joyce a literary masterpiece, that book was a snooze-fest.
Listen
Embrace audiobooks. Now, there might be reading elitists out there who say listening to audiobooks is cheating. Poppycock. My roundtrip commute into the office is between 3-4 hours. If I can spend this time listening to some amazing stories and compelling narrative, then I’m better for it. On audiobook, I tend to favor non-fiction over fiction as I find this an easier way to consume what might be difficult topics to read. And, a good narrator can even improve on the written word, their performance adds depth and character to the content. Memoirs read by the author are particularly good. Some books improved by audio:
Always Carry a Book
Let’s face it, most of us don’t have hours of uninterrupted reading time. What we do have, however, are small pockets of time which, when added together, can accumulate into a lot of reading time. Waiting in a doctor’s office, waiting for pasta to boil, waiting in line at the shop, waiting for your child to get out of school, waiting at the airport. The possibilities of reclaimed time are endless. But in order to succeed at leveraging this time, you have to carry a book with you always. These days, I personally read more books on Kindle instead of physical books. That makes carrying a book around all the time simple. I just open the Kindle app on my phone and I can access what I’m reading anytime, anywhere.
Read More Than One Book at a Time
One of my other tricks to reading more books is having at least 3-4 books on the go simultaneously. I tend to have an audiobook, a fiction book, and a couple of non-fiction books all in various stages. This allows me to keep reading throughout my shifting moods and interests. Maybe I’m just not in the mood to read some heavy non-fiction on a given day. Instead of forcing myself to read that book to completion and thus potentially not reading at all, I’ll just dive back into the suspense novel I’ve got going on the side.
Save Recommendations
To read a lot of books you always have to be looking for ideas and thinking about what your next book is. Whether on Goodreads, an Amazon Wish List, or a journal, have a place to bookmark and keep good recommendations you come across. I’m personally an e-book hoarder. When I come across books that interest me, I download them into a special collection on my Kindle called “Unread.” This way I can quickly and easily jump straight into my next book. My top 3 non-fiction and fiction books from my 2019 reading list:
Make it Social
One of the things that helped me maintain a reading habit for years was participating in a book club. It was a group of friends, we chose a book to read each month, and then we gathered to discuss it over wine. And then we all started having families and people started dropping from the group like flies. I’ve not been able to recreate the magic of this group I was in 20 years ago but I still find that sharing books with friends, colleagues, or internet acquaintances helps encourage me to read. So find your tribe, find people who share your love of reading and get started!