This Mindful Reading Habit Can Help You Become a Better Reader
A 3 step guide to mindful reading.
Let’s face it.
Devoting time to reading books or building a reading habit can feel like a stretch, especially when you’re reading to learn.
You eye-roll whenever you hear the “read a chapter a day” advice.
And when you finally get yourself to pick up a book, it’s a struggle to get to the last chapter. You probably don’t remember what page you left that self-help book at.
For someone who mostly reads to learn, this used to be the case for me.
In my attempt to read a book, the priority was on how fast I could finish the book and how many books I could read within the year. Reading became a performance, something to check off my to-do, so when I’m asked “What books have you read this year?” I’d have an answer.
I was deluding myself with the idea of learning new things but wasn’t applying anything I had learnt.
Not until I formed this productive reading pattern that focused on small, incremental improvements — perfect for beginners.
In this reading method I’m about to share, the emphasis is on how well, not how many. So if your goal is to read 15+ books a year, this isn’t going to help you (sorry, not sorry).
Let’s get to it.
Step 1: Start with reading 3–5 pages a day
The read-a-chapter-a-day advice is a good one if I’m reading fiction or reading for entertainment.
But when it comes to non-fiction or self-help books, I find myself counting the number of pages in a chapter to ascertain how much I’d have to read.
If this sounds like you, consider reading 3–5 pages. You can always add more pages to read per day in the future.
The plan is to read every day, but I believe it’s okay to take breaks. Life may get busy and some weeks may get swamped. In those weeks, depending on your schedule, aim to take no more than 2 days off from reading.
Also, you’re free to discontinue reading a book that didn’t turn out to be what you expected. I won’t be the one to tell you to stick with an uninteresting book, but I would tell you to check out reviews and recommendations before starting a book. This way, you won’t feel guilty for abandoning it.
Step 2: Write as you read
Contrary to what you may be thinking, writing as you read is not complicated.
According to neuroscience, writing after you’ve read, holds many benefits for your memory. It engages different parts of your brain and helps you remember the book better. Besides, you can always go back to your notes if you don’t want to re-read the book.
Either daily or weekly, you want to capture your thoughts and ideas on anything interesting from the pages you’ve read. This won’t always be the case. But on many occasions, you would find something interesting to write about.
What should you write about?
The advice or suggestions given, steps mentioned, a quote, anything you can relate with, your view on the story or the characters, your criticisms, your questions, etc.
It doesn’t have to be formally written. Writing an entire page is fine, but mostly a concise paragraph like a POV, will do.
I prefer to write in a physical notebook, but you can use any notes app for this.
Step 3: Take action
This step is crucial if you read to improve your habit or change something.
We collect so much information everywhere and rarely apply it. You definitely don’t want to do this with the X no. of days you’ve spent reading this book, right? You chose to read this book for a reason, seal the deal by taking action.
You’ve finished reading this insightful book, and you’ve probably been writing down bits of advice you want to implement. What you do is turn them into 1–3 actions to take for the next 21–30 days.
These 1–3 actions have to be of high importance and relevance to you. In most cases, I do 2 actions so I can keep track. Whatever actions you plan out, keep it realistic.
Forming a new habit takes anywhere from 2 months. But in 21–30 days, you can tell the little progress you’ve made. This small win would motivate you to keep going.
What do I mean by turning advice into action?
Say an advice from a self-help book reads:
Strike up conversations with people, not to begin a relationship with them but to get comfortable with talking to strangers.
Sample actions to take would look like:
- Talk to one person every time I go get groceries.
- Introduce myself to any new member who joins our club/group
- Speak to a colleague I’ve never spoken to every Friday.
You know your situation, make the suggestions into actions that work for your situation. And remember, always start with low-risk actions.
Final words
This approach to reading was made to fit what I consider sustainable and that may be different for you.
Use this as a guide to develop what fits your version of a sustainable reading habit.
Lastly, reading has to become a priority for you to make it into a routine, no advice or motivation can help you do that.
Thanks for making it to the end. If you found this helpful, kindly share.
