Set aside 30 minutes before sleep for reading. This habit helps to relax you for better rest. You will also have read a lot of books by the end of the year.If you read 25 pages a night, you can finish more than 30 books a year with this time alone.

30 minutes before sleep

Turn your habit of continually checking for social media updates into something useful. Apps on the phone are attention-grabbing. If the apps are removed or limited to only certain times in a day, you can reduce the need to check your phone.

Replacing social media

Change begins with a system. The key to reading more books is to modify your environment to support these habits now.<ul><li>Take steps to limit your social media.</li><li>Talk to your family about starting a reading habit 30 minutes before bed.</li></ul>Take action now, and you'll read far more in the year ahead.

Creating systems

A project that spans multiple books is helpful to really explore a topic in-depth.What’s a topic that fascinates you? What would you like to know much more about? The science of persuasion? The history of espionage? Pick a topic and make a cluster of books to add to your list.

A deeper learning project

Audiobooks tend to increase your overall quantity since listening is possible in situations when reading is not.Since voice conveys more information through tone and pacing, audiobooks can be great where you want an emotional resonance with the ideas.

Listen to more books

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.

Build an online library

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.

Put the book down

Reading takes more effort and attention than mindless scrolling. Don't allow attention-grabbing media to compete with your reading time. Limit your media use to specific times in the day.When you are weaned from the habit of continually checking in, you'll find it a lot easier to sit and read a book without getting restless.

Don't do easy

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 concentrated thinking on a topic. It's also harder and requires patience and attention than reading an article for example.

A habit of compounding growth

As a new year approaches, it's a good time to think about what new habits you'd like to make. An obvious one is to read more books. Reading is a habit of compounding growth. Learn more and you'll generate ideas and enthusiasm for making other changes.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

habits

Habits

writing

Reading & Writing

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Seven Easy Habits to Read More Books Next Year

Knowing that what you do cannot change who you are promotes freedom in how you want to live, freedom not just from others, but also from <a href="https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-lowering-our-expectations-helps-us-do-what-we-really-want-to-do/">expectations </a>and doubt. Knowing you always have worth allows yourself to connect with the people around you more deeply, empathize with them, and support their journeys through life. It is with this knowledge you can find and share true joy.

Believe In Yourself To Believe Your Worth And Be Happy.

One has to look inside more to explore one's talent and skills.

Our worth isn't based on what we accomplish or what anyone else thinks of us, and we have nothing to prove to anyone.

communication

Communication

Why I Stopped Measuring My Self-Worth and Trying to Prove Myself - Tiny Buddha

The Japanese have a secret that embodies the idea of happiness in living, and it is called Ikigai.Essentially, Ikigai, loosely translated to life value, or life worth, is a concept of living that the Japanese culture imbibes for decades.

Life Value

Ikigai is illustrated in four overlapping circles, as in a Venn Diagram which talks about a synthesis of:<ul><li>What you love to do.</li><li>What you are good at.</li><li>What the world needs.</li><li>What you can be paid for.</li></ul>

Ikigai: The Reason for Being

The concept of Ikigai aligns with everyday life, as opposed to a lifetime. It makes us appreciate our daily life, celebrating it, and experiencing the small joys of living.Ikigai is the reason you wake up in the morning for, that thing you live for, daily.

Everyday Life and a Lifetime

Make three small lists:<ul><li>Your values</li><li>Things you like to do</li><li>Things you are good at</li></ul>The cross-section or overlap of these three lists, is your Ikigai, something you should do for the rest of your life.

Make Your Ikigai

According to psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya, the concept of Ikigai is similar to happiness, but with a difference.Ikigai looks at the larger picture of life, allowing you to be ok with a miserable situation, as the grand vision of life, and the future is still positive.

Ikigai and Happiness

Ikigai is not a theoretical concept to be understood and left aside, and can only work in daily action and constant practice.Your work should make a difference in people's lives, and not necessarily would be just working hard.

Purpose of Action

Japanese have a large number of senior citizens, including many centenarians, with the average lifetime being 87 years for women and 81 years for men.Ikigai has been a major reason for the long life of the Japanese, along with special kinds of diets.

Ikigai and Longevity

Japannesse know something we in the West we ignore

For Japanese workers in big cities, a typical work day begins with a state called sushi-zum e, a term which likens commuters squeezed into a crowded train car to tightly packed grains of rice in sushi. The stress doesn't stop there.

health

Health

longevity

Longevity

Ikigai: A Japanese concept to improve work and life

1. Check out a mental health podcast. Mental health podcasts can provide self-care in multiple ways: You might learn something new about how to deal, feel less alone. 2. Take on a small, doable, uplifting home project. Giving your space a little upgrade can create a nice, comforting sense of control—especially helpful when you’re feeling anxious or uncertain. 3. Or...color! Art can be healing in many ways. You can use your creations to zone out from the world. Basically, coloring is always a good idea. Download coloring book apps on your phone <a href="https://www.self.com/story/coloring-book-apps">here </a>, adult coloring books we recommend <a href="https://www.self.com/gallery/adult-coloring-books">here</a>.

Activities to Try When You Feel Down

4. Jump around! Move in a way that makes you feel happy, even if it’s just for a few minutes. 5. Take a bath. It might actually help...a little. It’s common relaxation advice—and it won’t fix every problem, but it can actually help a bit.6. Turn off your social media notifications. This can help you interact with your apps more mindfully—checking them when you feel like it, and not because you’re hungry for judgment from others.7. Change your sheets. Why? It will help you feel productive, it’s good for your hygiene, and it will make getting into bed that much more pleasant.

Here are 50 of SELF magazine's all-time best mental health tips to help you feel a little bit better. Pick a tip, any tip!

mentalhealth

Mental Health

50 of Our All-Time Best Mental Health Tips to Help You Feel a Little Bit Better

A great leader will understand that it’s not enough to build a culture, it needs to be protected and maintained. A great leader also needs to make difficult decisions and hold everyone, including themselves, accountable.

Leadership

“Becoming is better than being.”

<ul><li>Strategic analysis helps to identify complex problems by providing a top-level view into the interconnected web of what can often seem like isolated issues.</li><li>Analytical thinking enables people to suspend emotional decision making and instead look logically at evidence-based research and tests.</li></ul>

Strategic Analysis and Analytical Thinking

<ul><li>Listening: Ask questions in with the goal to understand.</li><li>Appreciation: Show sincere appreciation and celebration of others’ contributions.</li><li>Self-Awareness: Part of feeling what others feel is also about understanding your own biases and limiting beliefs.</li><li>Judgment: When people seek advice or share a problem, they are not looking for your criticism. </li><li>Presence: Time is one of our most valuable assets, so be there fully. </li></ul>

Empathy Mindset

Being aware of how your behavior affects others is at the heart of emotional intelligence.This means building self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Emotional Intelligence

Among the most effective skills to learn in order to resolve conflict are mastering deep listening, mediation and facilitation. Giving people the benefit of the doubt and leading with curiosity are also powerful tools.

Conflict Resolution

They are not required just for the sales team. You need to be clear about what you want and what you’re willing to let go of to get it.

Negotiation and Persuasion

Consider the following principles:<ul><li>Intention: Know what you want to say and be clear about your objective. </li><li>Organization: Take the time to organize your thoughts and deliver them in a straightforward way.</li><li>Framing: “I think, I feel” is much more effective than starting with “you,” which puts people on the defensive.</li><li>Affirmation:  Asking if the information makes sense may reveal a potential problem. </li></ul>

Effective Communication

<ul><li>Curiosity is a natural part of any creative cycle. It paves the way for “possibility thinking,” rather than business as usual. </li><li>Instigation is an invitation to challenge quick fixes, lackluster solutions and mediocrity. </li></ul>

Curiosity + Instigation

In order to get into problem-solving mode, you need to understand the true problem at hand, identify challenges in the way, resist simple solutions, identify constraints and pathways to feasibility, and, above all, make sure you’re open to experimentation.

Complex Problem Solving

We've all heard how we must practice being more human to avoid turning into robots. But how about practicing humanity to make sure we don't become monsters?

Seven Easy Habits to Read More Books Next Year

Why I Stopped Measuring My Self-Worth and Trying to Prove Myself - Tiny Buddha

Ikigai: A Japanese concept to improve work and life

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

50 of Our All-Time Best Mental Health Tips to Help You Feel a Little Bit Better

CURATED BY

Seven Easy Habits to Read More Books Next Year

Why I Stopped Measuring My Self-Worth and Trying to Prove Myself - Tiny Buddha

Ikigai: A Japanese concept to improve work and life

It's time to Read like a Pro.

50 of Our All-Time Best Mental Health Tips to Help You Feel a Little Bit Better

CURATED BY

It's time to
Read like a Pro.