Are you always wondering why don’t you read more often or how to read more? I’m going to give you some easy tricks to make reading a daily habit even if you feel you can never find the time to do it.
I was very lucky because in my family reading is a big part of our lives and we all started doing it at a really young age and we had libraries full of books from top to bottom, everybody was always reading something. But even in that environment, it took me some time to find my love for reading and make time to have a moment with books.
There are multiple ways around it but I’m going to share the ones that work for me, these are simple things you could do or use to your advantage if you are looking to integrate reading into your daily routine.
START (READING) SMALL
An easy approach to reading is to take short books, to begin with, or just read a few pages a day, you can also choose a book that has a collection of short stories. This helps you not to feel overwhelmed and it avoids getting feelings of frustration for not finishing a book. Here is a short read that you can fit into your daily routine.
DON'T STRESS YOURSELF
You don’t have to finish a book or a chapter every time you sit down to read. Create realistic goals depending on how much you usually read. It could be reading until a paragraph ends, or even as little as 3 pages. If a whole book sounds like a lot of reading to you, try reading articles instead.
READ FOR PLEASURE
The more we like something the easiest is for us to do it, so if you are not interested in a certain subject, it would be harder for you to find the time to read about it because you are not dying to know what’s next. My recommendation is to choose a genre that you love to keep you interested, you are very excited about mystery and crime stories (we all are, don’t lie to yourself) then pick a book about that. If you are more of a romantic check the Best Romance Books To Read.
COME PREPARED
Always carry a book or an e-book or an audiobook with you, even if you don’t, you can easily get one on the go on YouTube or the internet. Preparation is key, if you have any type of book available you will find yourself reaching for it more times than you would think. Get a library card, most libraries have sites where you can borrow e-books for free. This is one of the best tricks for making reading a daily habit.
USE YOUR IDLE TIME
How many times have you been waiting in line, riding the subway or the bus for a long time, or in the waiting room of your doctor’s office without anything to do? Grab a book and start reading! Makes waiting a lot more bearable and time will pass without you even noticing it. The next time you feel you’re in a similar situation, do this. At the airport waiting to catch a flight? Read! Waiting for your friend that is always late? Read! Stuck on a train because of delays? (People in NYC can relate) Read! Read! READ!
CHALLENGE YOURSELF
If you have a competitive side (I do) you can make little challenges for yourself to create that motivation to read more often. It can be any type of challenge, like reading 10 pages every day, or reading for 10 minutes twice a day, and if you are feeling adventurous you could try making a reading challenge to see how many books you can read in a year.
GET YOUR APPS
It is the era of technology, there is no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of it to make reading a daily habit. There are multiple apps available out there, take Kindle, for example, that can always be easily used on any phone, we also have Google Books or iBooks, if you want to go a little bit further and be a full nerd (like me) you can use Goodreads.
In my opinion, Goodreads is an amazing tool, it works as social media for readers, you can see what your friends are reading, they let you create a reading challenge, you can save books that you want to read and books you have already read, rate them, and see reviews. They even have giveaways for books on your Want To Read List and the best of all, it is free.
TIME IS EVERYTHING
We all have different preferences, and we know which time works best for us to do certain things. What is yours? Could be before going to bed or as soon as you wake up in the morning, maybe while you’re in the bathroom or while you sip your cup of coffee, or even during a break at work. Anytime that is a good time for you is enough.
There are a lot of benefits you can get from reading (we can talk about it later in another post) and I hope these tricks will help you to include reading as a part of your daily routine, let me know which ones you are already using.
Me parece excelente tu recomendación de cómo poder adquirir los hábitos de lectura.
En mi partícula yo adoro los libros pero en papel.
Felicitaciones
Muy buen artículo mi amor. Me encanta tu narrativa ligera y amigable.
Todavía recuerdo cuando te leía cuentos a los 3 años y tú te los aprendías de memoria, para luego engañar a tu abuelo haciéndole creer que ya sabías leer 😄