Establishing a Reading Habit
A quick guide to adapting reading into your daily routine.
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”. — Richard Steele
Reading opens new doors, gives you different perspectives, and broadens your mind. It is the most life changing thing in a person’s life. When people read stories about other people’s lives, it helps them develop the skills to understand the world through another person’s perspective.
I was a huge bookworm when I was a child. Books allowed me to travel to different places from the comfort of my home. However, once I got to college, picking up a book seemed like a chore rather than a joy so I took a break for a couple of years. The break wasn’t intentional, it was something that just happened.
When I look back at the reasons for me dropping reading , it wasn’t just the hectic college schedule but rather the influx of technology. I got my first smartphone, I had more access to social media, and scrolling endlessly on my phone seemed to give me a higher dopamine hit as opposed to sitting with a book.
In the age of readily available entertainment in the form of content creators on YouTube and Instagram and other social media platforms, we have lost our passion for books. Most of us spend hours on our phones without even realizing it. Gone are the days, when our primary source of entertainment were books.
I’m not making technology out to be the bad guy. As Brian Tracy said in his book, Eat That Frog! “Use technology as a servant, not a master. The purpose of technology is to make your life smoother and easier, not to create complexity, confusion and stress.”
Reading has also evolved , it’s not just sitting with a physical book, you have alternatives such as having a kindle or listening to an audiobook and we have many books available online for free and for lower costs.
We have online book clubs that we can join , you have Booktok, Booktube and Bookstagram with huge followings inspiring people to take up reading.
In most stores these days, they even have a dedicated section to BookTok, books features on tik toks.
Some strategies that helped me to get back into reading are:
- Setting a monthly target of reading (for example a minimum of 2 books , 1 fiction and 1 non-fiction).
2. Having both of these books at my bedside table or in easily visible areas if it is a physical book
3. Incorporate reading 10 pages a day or reading for 10 minutes daily in the morning or at night as per your convenience.
3. Tracking my progress on Goodreads (mobile app available as well)and on a physical reading journal (optional).
4. Inserting reading into the little pockets of time that you get — e.g. while commuting to work or school, etc.
5. Don’t force yourself to read a book if you are disinterested in the premise of the book after a couple of chapters. It’s okay to drop reading that book and pick up an interesting one instead.
Lastly,
6. There are no rules set in stone. Reading should be something you find pleasure in as a leisure activity. Starting with fiction is the best way to get into reading.
As I mentioned earlier , reading in today’s digital age can be done in different ways, you can play an audiobook on your mobile phone or in the car while you drive, the possibilities are endless.
Now that I’ve mentioned a few strategies, let’s move on to encouraging reading amongst our family and friends.
As Frank Serafini rightly said, “There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book. ”
This is true not only among children but adults as well.
You can encourage reading among family and friends, in different ways.
Reading bedtime stories to young children is an excellent way to get them interested in reading. Another method is to begin initiatives where you can swap books or set up mini libraries in your home.
Lastly, there are several benefits of reading include developing stronger vocabulary, entertainment, increasing attention span, strengthening cognition, providing a safe way of exploring strong emotions, and promoting bonding.
Let us all spread the joy of reading!
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss
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