Reading a lot of books can be difficult but with the right techniques and tricks, you can get more reading done. In the following post, I will show you how I was able to read more and how that helped me read over a hundred books in a single year and how you can read more books than before too!
What is Preventing You From Reading More Books?
While most people want to read more, they just can’t seem to find the time. Work, choirs, looking after the children are things that need to be attended to. There are many obstacles that come in our way that prevent us from reading as much as we like. But the biggest obstacle might be our fault.
It comes down to motivation. When you are waiting for a cab, train, Uber, or a bus, what do you do? You check your phone and get distracted. What if instead of being on your phone, you were to read? Let’s say the bus takes 10 minutes to come. and you take this bus 5 times a week each way. That is 10 times you are waiting for the bus for 10 minutes.
Saving Time
That is a total of 100 minutes or 1 hour and forty minutes of waiting. A novel normally takes about 6 hours to finish. You would have read one third of the novel if you read every time.
You are probably thinking that that isn’t that much time and it is annoying carrying a book while going somewhere. If you don’t like carrying a physical book, then you can read on an e-reader or even on your phone. It is up to you to motivate yourself to read more because there are opportunities throughout the day.
Besides traveling, you can also read during a lunch break. Some are 30 minutes and others are a whole hour. You can grab lunch and eat and read right after. Stealing time here and there adds up and over the course of the year leads to you completing a lot of books.
When you do laundry and are waiting for the clothes to watch, you can read in between. Or waiting for the rice to cook.
Schedule Readings Throughout the Day
In the previous section, I showed you ways to steal time and get extra reading done. In this section, you will plan out a reading schedule. You aren’t stealing time here but making the most of small windows available. For example, when you are eating breakfast, you can get a little bit of reading done. What is stopping you from doing that? Whatever excuse you make. Nothing else.
A good way to make sure you get more time to read is to plan it. Wake up a little earlier and read before you start your day. You can also schedule some reading before you go to bed. With no distractions, this is the best time to read.
To get a lot of reading done, you should choose certain times when you want to read. That way, when the times comes, you will stop whatever non-important thing you were doing and start reading.
Set a Daily Reading Goal
Some people tend to be goal oriented and that works too. Choose a reading goal for the day and stick to it. Stuff happens throughout the day and that makes achieving your daily goals impossible every single day. And that is fine. Just remember, you can steal time from other parts of the day that are mentioned above.
How I was Able to Read 102 Books in A Year
You probably are wondering what genius trick did I use to read over a hundred books in a year. You are looking at it right now. All the stuff mentioned above is how I did it. I read during and from my commute all the time. I had an hour commute each way on the train and would read on my Kindle all the time. So I was reading almost 10 hours a week on the train alone.
I would read whenever I did laundry and I would read on my break. Or if I was anywhere waiting. I had my Kindle in my bag and would take it out and read right there. Nothing was stopping me and I was really eager to find out what happened next in the novel.
An advice I would give out to people trying to read as many books as possible is to have your next book planned out. I would finish one book and start the next one right away. So make a list of to-read books and add them to your reading list on the fly.
Conclusion
Nobody can force you to read. It is something you have to motivate yourself to do. Usually, when you read a book, the writing itself will keep you reading. If it doesn’t, try another book because your time is precious and don’t waste it.
If you use the tips and techniques mentioned above, you will be able to read a lot more then before. Do you have any great tips that should be on this list? Let us know in the comments below.
i would roam around he city freely without having to worry about people judging me.
“Usually, when you read a book, the writing itself will keep you reading. If it doesn’t, try another book because your time is precious and don’t waste it.” THIS! I’m already tired of telling people that it’s not that they don’t like reading, they don’t like the books they’ve been picking up! You wouldn’t guess how many people are resistant to this idea, of simply changing the book, the genre, the author
I don’t know why people do it to themselves. If it’s not good for you, just admit it and move on. Otherwise you are torturing yourself
I know, it really makes no sense! I think it’s because they let themselves influenced by the media they get exposed to and think there’s some genre or book they must read. So when they don’t like it, they still keep going
Hard agree on this advice! My secret has always been to keep a book closer at hand than anything else––whenever a spare moment hits, it’s the very easiest to pick up 😌
Yep. Might as well read when waiting!