Habits & Productivity
5 Tips For Anyone Who Wants To Make Reading a Long-Lasting Habit
How to get into the habit of reading consistently, from someone who used to never read
Reading is a hobby that anyone can learn to love.
Many of us wish we read more, yet we rarely ever pick up a book. I barely read books for fun before, but this year I managed to finish 22 books. What changed was that I identified the root causes that stopped me from reading.
This helped me figure out how to read more.
Sharing my best tips that helped me read dramatically more this past year!
Read Books That You Actually Enjoy
This may seem obvious, but reading should not feel like a chore.
Everyone has their own preferences and that includes books.
I thought I hated reading as a kid because I never finished the Harry Potter series. But this year I realized I simply preferred other genres. If you start a book and realize it bores you, then drop it and move on!
Explore and find the genres that YOU find the most enthralling.
That’s how reading will stick.
Use a Kindle
Convenience is crucial when you’re trying to build a habit.
Many of us don’t read often because we:
- find carrying books too heavy
- lose interest in the one book we brought
- don’t have the time to go to a physical bookstore to buy books
A Kindle solves all these problems.
Yes, buying a Kindle requires spending money, but I found the investment to be worth it. Plus, I’ve personally found Ebooks to be generally cheaper than physical ones. Eventually, it should cancel out!
I love the experience of reading a physical book just as much as the next person, but as a non-reader, getting a Kindle lowered the barrier to reading by so much.
And it allowed me to read so much more.
Getting your hands on a book has NEVER been this easy.
Carry a Book or Reading Device Everywhere You Go
We have so many random pockets of time every single day to read.
On the subway? Waiting for a friend? Standing in line?
These are the perfect times to read. It’s easy to think we need 30-minute chunks dedicated to reading when 5 minutes is all you need.
My commute to and from work every day is around 50 minutes. I used to stress over how long it was taking. Nowadays, I almost wish there were extra stops so I could squeeze in a bit more reading.
Next time you find yourself waiting and reach for your phone, pull out a book instead.
Talk to Your Friends About What You’re Reading
Reading should be social too!
Talking to friends about books forms new insights, generates recommendations, and holds you accountable if you choose to read together.
Reading will also become part of your identity that both you and your friends associate with you — according to Atomic Habits, this is one of the best ways to build a habit.
Soon enough, people will start coming to you for book recommendations and reviews!
You’ll be surprised by how many riveting conversations you’ll have with friends over books.
Create a Goodreads Account
Something I wish I had done sooner. Absolute game-changer.
Goodreads is an amazing, free platform to engage with friends, read reviews of books, discover new books, and track your reading progress. All in one place.
Before I read a book, I almost always check its reviews first to see how other people found it. If I’m currently reading another book, I can also add it to my “Want to Read” list, so that I don’t forget about it later on. When I’m done with a book, I’ll mark it as “Read” and give my review.
Over time, it’s fun to see which books you’ve read and how you and your friends rated certain books.
Goodreads also has a fun feature for you to make a goal on how many books you want to read this year. Throughout the year, it tells you if you’re on pace to reach that goal.
In January I set my goal to be 22 (since it was 2022). And I got there!
Make Goodreads your one-stop shop for anything reading-related.
With these 5 tips, I hope that reading can bring you as much joy as it brought me this year.
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to reach out to me at yyw.writing@gmail.com — I would love to hear from you! Also, be sure to follow my newsletter!
