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6 Practical Tips to Help You Cultivate a Reading Habit
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The Essence
It’s important to have a deep willingness to read and grow in the process. Approach reading as a fun, enjoyable and transformational activity that ultimately impacts your life.
With this kind of mindset, you’ll become intentional about the books you read by picking out those areas in your life that need improvement and plan towards growing to the next level by reading the right books that target those problem areas.
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Determine Your Reading Goal
Start off by setting a goal. This goal should be articulate and backed up with a purpose.
For some, it could be a goal of reading 24 books in a year. Once you’re done placing a target figure to your reading goal, then divide them into smaller goals.
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Make a List of Books for Each Month
Write out a list of the amazing books you want to read. Ask for recommendations from friends and mentors.
By being intentional about your reading list, you’ll stay focused on your ultimate goals and avoid lurking at any book that passes you by.
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Read at Least 10-20 Pages a Day
Consider setting aside at least 10-20 pages per day to read, especially if you have a busy schedule. This process will help you stay focused as you look forward to accomplishing your daily goal of a specific number of pages.
Take out time to understand and engage in the reading process. This way, you’ll be open to learn and be able to transfer that knowledge to others when an opportunity comes.
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Invest in Tools that Encourage Reading
For most people today, mobile apps, tablets, news aggregators, ebook readers, and other online tools actually work wonders. Because the world is digital, most people prefer having their handy mobile appliances that would help them stay on top of their goals.
Figure out what tools work best for you and invest in them.
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Set Reading Times and Days
Set aside specific times every day to read your assigned book for the week/month and any other articles you may have bookmarked.
Ready for at least 30-40 minutes a day is a great start and would help you develop a concrete reading habit as you’ll always look forward to having your ‘me time’ that supports your reading goals.
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Get a Reading Partner or Book Club
Get a reading partner who has a heart and willingness to read, and create a plan to help you achieve your reading goals.
With a book club, you’ll create a concrete strategy that constantly keeps you motivated and inspired to grow beyond your comfort zone. Such gatherings give you an opportunity to discuss lessons you learned and other thoughts.
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One of the biggest obstacles to reading books we enjoy is that we think we should read books even if we don’t enjoy them—specifically, the idea that if we start a book, we must fi...
The To-Go Box Method
For a weight-loss hack, it goes like this: As soon as you order a meal at a restaurant, ask immediately that half of it be put in a to-go box once it’s ready and only the other half served to you. It’s basically a stricter version of portion control.
We can apply the same technique to get ourselves to read more.
Instead of 2 hours of Netflix each night, cutting it in half would still give you the satisfaction of watching Netflix in the evenings but also free up time to read as well.
Book Summaries
Preview the book in order to vet whether or not it’s worth investing your time in.
- Use book summaries. Find apps that give accurate and concise summaries of many of the most popular books out there and are constantly updating their library.
- Use podcast interviews with the author. Authors often go on the podcast circuit to promote their books.
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Reading is highly enjoyable
... if you have a good book.
If you have a lousy book (or an extremely difficult one) and you are forcing yourself through it, it will seem like a chore. If this happens for seve...
Set times
Have a few set times during every day when you’ll read for at least 5-10 minutes. These are times that you will read no matter what — triggers that happen each day.
For example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch (and even dinner if you eat alone) and when you go to bed.
Always carry a book
Wherever you go, take a book with you, unless you know you definitely won’t be reading (like at a movie).
If there is a time when you have to wait (like at a doctor’s office or at the DMV), whip out your book and read. Great way to pass the time.
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Key Ideas
A habit of compounding growth
Reading is a habit of compounding growth. When reading, you'll learn more, and you'll generate ideas and motivation for making other changes.
Reading books means you're getting more concentra...
Put the book down
The real cause of reading too few books is that you don't enjoy it enough.
Don't feel compelled to finish a book that has become boring, predictable or unhelpful. Start a new one. You can have many books through various states of completion. Some won't be finished, and that's okay. Reading less is worse than having a few go unfinished.
Build an online library
An obstacle to your reading habit is not having enough interesting books waiting to be read.
Create a list of potentially good books. If you have a Kindle or eReader, get samples of any book you might want to read — Source your wishlist from suggestions from other writers and authors. When someone recommends a book on a blog or tweet, add it to your wishlist.