How to read more
We are in the golden age of content and entertainment, we have tons of high quality and easy-to-access content of all formats, news, videos, articles, movies, photos, etc. Companies expend millions of dollars into the development of algorithms and content design for having our attention. It is not easy but we must be honest with ourselves and analyse what provides real value and actually enjoy, not just refreshing your timeline for the dopamine hit. If reading is something you think you may enjoy or you want to learn stuff, you may find this article quite useful.
I used to read a lot when I was a teenager, from 10 to 15 years old, I read over a hundred books, most of them fantasy books such as Harry Potter. I spent countless hours in those magical worlds, but suddenly I stopped reading. Why? The iPod Touch, now books had real competition, it was much easier watching videos and playing games than reading. Eight years later, in September 2018 my friends gave me a book for my birthday, Elon Musk’s biography. I was really interested in his companies and I knew he was revolutionizing multiple industries, which combined with the fact it was a present… I read it. I actually enjoyed it, I felt again that passion, and ever since, I’ve been reading consistently and increasingly more, which is something that I’m really proud of.
Here you have some personal insights on how to read more:
Why do you want to read more?
This is the most important question, you need to know why you want to do it, you need to remember that reason whenever you want to read but you can’t bring yourself to do it. Having a purpose is key and a very powerful motivational driver.
Make it easy
The less resistance there is between you and your desired goal, the more successful at it you’ll become. In my case the Kindle was the key, I’m able to bring it everywhere, even in my pocket, and I have over 100 books to chose from. Any time it is a good time for reading, I’m ready, at the doctor waiting room, at the bus, etc.
The power of habits
If you read 30 minutes a day you could read around 36 books a year (the average reading time for a book is around 5 hours). You spend much more time than that in non-productive activities that don’t even make you feel good about yourself at the end of the day. If you read 5 books per year and you are 25 you will read around 300 more books in your life, but if you read 24 books a year, which is not that hard, you will read around 1400. That is 1100 more worlds, stories or topics discovered.
Set aside time for reading
To get into this 30-minute habit or whichever habit you want to acquire, you could make the conscious decision of reading every day in your commute, after lunch or dinner, or before going to bed. This is the most effective way for achieving your initial objective, this way you know what you should be doing and that resistance gets significantly smaller.
There is no need to finish every book
If you find yourself not enjoying a book and you gave it a fair chance, there is no need to finish it just for the sake of it. You could be reading another book you really enjoy and reading much more, I know how difficult it is to read something when you have no motivation.
Find books you actually care about
When you really dive into a book and every page you read makes it more interesting, reading suddenly is easy. For this reason, you should do some thinking and research some times, especially when you don’t know what to read. What do you want to read about? What kind of stories do you enjoy? But obviously, you can also follow recommendations and try new things.
Make a list
Another great tool for reading more is having the next book ready, for motivation and not spending time just looking for the next book, buying it, etc. There are many ways to do this, you can just download a bunch of them on you kindle or have them ready in you nightstand, you can make a paper or digital list with all the recommendations or books you hear about you may be interested in, or you can also use Goodreads (reading social network) and add them to the “to-read” shelf.
Make it a challenge
It depends on your personality, but there are many people who are quite competitive, not necessarily with other people but also with themselves. Therefore, having a challenge is very useful, for example, I decided to read at least 24 books in 2020 and I’m on the right track, four books ahead of schedule, that sense of progress and commitment really helps me to pick up the book when I’m lazy.
Or make it social
Another powerful motivator is sharing the experience and pleasure for reading with other people, this is why book clubs have been around for almost 150 years. Another social tool at your disposal is Goodreads, the social network I mentioned previously, where you can categorize the books you’ve read, you are reading or want to read. You can also see what your friends are reading, explore the bibliography of writers, write and read reviews, etc.
You can read multiple books at a time
Not all books are equal, there are books that require concentration because of the complexity and must be read in the peacefulness of your home, whereas others can be read in a more effortless way, for example in the bus. So you can have multiple books for multiple settings or states of mind.
I hope these tips help you as much as they helped me. For some book recommendations, you can check my Goodreads profile, where you can also make yourself an account and set a reading challenge or list of books you want to read. The earlier you start the more worlds, stories and knowledge you will uncover.