How to Read a Whole Damn Book Every Week

Most people keep their reading on their nightstand. If you read at night, you probably only get through a few pages before you get sleepy. Instead, I recommend reading in the morning. Even if you’re not an early riser, use the time you spend checking Instagram in bed to read a couple chapters. (I promise not much has happened since you opened the app at midnight.) Make coffee and ease your way into the day.

If you take the subway or bus to work, skip the podcasts and read. A half-hour commute can easily turn into five hours of dedicated reading time every week—enough for most people to read an entire book. You can try out using ebooks. But remember to read at your own pace. It's not necessary for you to skip podcasts completely. You can keep listening to them as and when you like. 

You don’t have to commit to a book that drags. In fact, it’s more likely to make you quit your reading habit. Sure, you might feel obligated to finish a book you spent $15 on. If you feel uninterested, put it down and move on to a different one. You can always come back later to pick up where you left. Enjoying the activity facilitates the process. 

The library is an amazing institution that understands one universal principle: free shit rules. On top of easing any financial pressure to follow through on a book you’re not enjoying, there’s also the added incentive of finishing something before its due date. Also, almost every library now supports some kind of ebook borrowing program. So once you’re set up, you might not even have to leave your home to get library books.

Watching live TV? Just sneak in a little reading. This works especially well while watching sports (especially football or baseball) at home. Just mute the TV and read in five-minute intervals. Fun fact: you could’ve read a thousand books in the amount of time you’ve spent subjected to ads. That's just one place. There are various other places you can sneak in a little bit of those pages. 

This is a bit of FitBit-style gaming. Keeping a list of what you’ve read will give you a sense of accomplishment. You can use GoodReads, but honestly, it’s just easier to jot books down in your phone’s Notes app. Also good: get into the habit of keeping a list of books you want to read next.