5 easy ways to read more and transform your life

I have resolved to read 40 books this year. It is Jan 22nd 2017, and I am already on book 4 .Science tells us the innumerable benefits of reading — — it improves intelligence, increases empathy, helps you fight Alzheimer’s, makes you more successful, among many other benefits. Reading changes you and transforms your life.

Most people who I meet tell me they simply don’t have time to read. Here are 5 smart and easy ways, to get you back into the reading habit.

1. Start with stuff that you love: Choose a genre which you really like. If something is your cup of tea, then you are likely to stick with it. Doesn’t matter what it is — romance, thriller, science-fiction, or even a book for young adults or even a children’s book that you once enjoyed. Start with something that you find interesting and hard to put down — then you are likely to finish it.
   
   2. Set up auto switch off for your phone: Set up a time for your phone, where it switches off automatically and comes on at a particular time the next day, or after a few hours. You might find it hard initially to get used to not checking your phone every now and then (how dependent we become on it!). But this will take care of distraction which can cut into your ‘sacred time’. (Yes, the time spent for reading is always sacred time.)
   
   3.Carry a book everywhere you go: No matter where you go, carry a book with you. While waiting to see someone, while traveling from one place to another, anywhere! If you get five minutes, open your book, not your phone.
   
   4. Watch less TV: The equation is simple. Books > Television. Less TV means more books. TV watching is mostly a matter of habit. Observe when you plonk down in front of the TV. After dinner? As soon as you come from work? Tweak that to make more time. If you plonk down after dinner, go for a short walk instead. Trick your brain to jolt out of the auto-pilot mode it operates on.
   
   5.Commit: Commit that you will read one chapter a day..or 50 pages a day. Then stick to that commitment. When you break down the book into smaller chunks, it is easier to stick to it — and before you realise, you would be done with the book. That will give you an incentive to do more..and with books, once you start, you just can’t stop.

Do you have any more to add? Tweet to me (at)preetishenoy and I will retweet your suggestion.

If you like these suggestions, please click ‘clap’ so other people can see this on Medium

Follow my blog blog.preetishenoy.com or to know more about me go to www.preetishenoy.com