Want to read more books? Here is how I do it.
I love reading and I used to be a voracious reader back in school. I spent most of my free time reading (this was the pre-smartphone era) and that’s how the reader in me was born. Once I started college and I got hold of an Android phone, my reading took a nosedive. But I picked up reading again after I started working. I bought a kindle with my first month’s salary and read almost 30 books the following year.
A lot of people message me on Instagram to ask me how I find the time to read with a corporate job and all the chores that come with adulthood. It is pretty hard to get some serious reading done amidst the 100 different shows on Netflix and a myriad of other streaming platforms, the constant ping from your smartphone, and getting a good 7–8 hours of sleep.
Here are a few things that have worked for me and I manage to read at least 12 books in a year. That is still low in my book (see what I did there) but isn’t life always a work in progress?
Coffee and books: Best Friends Forever
Let reading be the first thing you do in the morning. As soon as I wake up, I brew myself a cup of coffee and pick one of the books I am reading. I read for about 20 minutes and this is my me time. I usually read non-fiction in the morning and if I am reading a book that motivates me it is an added bonus.
Listen instead of reading
If you still commute to work (Hello! pandemic world) then get some reading done on your commute. If you drive to work, you can listen to an audiobook. Apps like Audible that offer a set number of books per month to listen to and audiobooks are fun to listen to when narrated well. My first audiobook was “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins and I used to listen to it on my runs. You can listen to books when folding laundry, chopping vegetables, or when you are vacuuming.
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”
— Mortimer J. Adler
Ditch that phone, take a book instead
Keep your phone away from your bed and take a book instead. If you like me have trouble falling asleep, then books can help you ease into the night. Read for a couple of minutes before bed and you will have read a little and also successfully avoided staring at a bright screen or scrolling down Instagram or Reddit until midnight.
Challenge yourself
Sign up on Goodreads and enter the 2021 challenge (or 2022 if you are the ‘I will start new things with a new year’ kind of person). Choose n number of books and try to finish it. If you are a competitive spirit, the excitement of reaching your goal will keep you on track. If not, you will read to avoid the embarrassment of not meeting your goals (I never meet my goals, never).
Make a list
Make a list of books you want to read. Create an Amazon wishlist if you want to and add books to buy when you come across some interesting titles. But here is the trick. Allow yourself to buy 4 new books only when you are done with the previous 4. This was you won’t just be buying books to fill your bookshelf or to get that rainbow-themed book display for the ‘gram.
Here is a list of books I read in 2020. If something piques your interest read it and let me know if you liked it.
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