Reading books might well give your career a boost; the habit has been shown to reduce stress, boost brain functioning and even improve empathy. That’s not to mention the obvious benefits of all the information trapped in their pages. So here’s your guide to the proven upsides of reading books – and how to join the exclusive club of people who do it for at least an hour every single day.
Set realistic goals
Setting realistic reading goals is the first step to getting into the habit of reading and changing your mindset from a non-reader to a reader.
The first step to setting goals is to think about your reading abilities, your daily routine, and availability. Based on this information, you can set yourself a realistic number of books to read within a certain timeframe.
Your goals should take into account the length and complexity of the books you choose, as well as any other commitments in your schedule or things you have planned coming up.
Schedule reading time
If your goals are more book/chapter based, then be sure to allocate reading time in your schedule.
Knowing how much time you have in your life to read is essential to maintain consistency and achieve your reading goals.
When thinking about scheduling a reading time, you need to consider when you have available without interruptions, such as the early morning after breakfast, or before bed.
Once you have a set time, allocate an appropriate duration for reading, start small, and gradually increase to avoid burnout.
Find a less distracting place to read
Choose comfortable reading spots like a cozy couch, a reading nook, your bed, your local library, or your favorite coffee shop.
If you make space to read that’s comfortable, then you are more likely to want to visit that place.
When creating this space, remember to identify distractions like mobile phones, televisions, and laptops and remove them from this place.
Distractions hinder reading progress, so it’s crucial to eliminate them.
Join a book club
If you’re someone who used to read a lot, but have fallen out of a reading habit, a great way to get back in is to join a book club. With a book club, you often meet once a month or once a fortnite, which means you need to be strict with yourself and stick to your schedule to make sure you finish the book before the book club.
Start with short reads
If you’re not a confident reader, then don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. The best books to start a reading habit are the short and sweet books that are easy to read.
As well as short books, you could choose books with short chapters.
This means you can allocate short amounts of reading time, or read between doing other things such as waiting at the doctors surgery or reading on the bus to work.
Put down your phone!
If you really want to get into the habit of reading, you have to eliminate distractions on your mobile such as social media, mobile phone games and Netflix.
As well as this, you should turn off any loud music so you can focus on what you’re reading.
Find a reading friend
If you struggle to keep yourself motivated, and a book club sounds too daunting, find a friend to be your reading buddy.
Meet up once every couple of weeks to see how far you’ve come with your book and to share what you’ve learned from them.
This is also a great way to get recommendations for what to read next.