How to Read More Books (5 Must-Do Tips)
Use these tactics to increase your physical and mental library and read more books this year.
Lean in.
I’m going to whisper the secret to reading a lot of books.
Are you ready?
You need to spend more time reading.
How can you find this time?
#1 Schedule time for reading
You can’t in fact find time for reading; you’ve got to make time for it.
And the best way to make time for something is to put it on your daily schedule.
You don’t need to set aside an hour straight for reading.
If you’re just starting off with making reading a priority, you probably don’t yet have the attention span for it, and trying to read that long in one sitting will likely set you up for frustration.
Instead, block off 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night for reading.
Heck, make those 20-minute blocks if a half-hour still seems too long.
Instead of doing your typical time-wasting smartphone scan at those times, you’ll read
You’ll be amazed at how many books you can knock off in a month by reading an hour a day.
#2 Use spare moments for reading
Even though your daily schedule may seem packed, there are invariably small pockets of time hidden in its interstices that you typically waste.
A few minutes of downtime between activities or appointments may seem trivial, but they soon add up to hours, and to entire books read.
Standing in line at the post office? Read a book.
Cooling your heels at the dentist? Read a book.
Waiting to pick up your kid from school? Read.
The easiest way to be ready to read when you find yourself with a little slice of time is to download the Kindle app on your phone.
You almost always have your phone with you, and will thus almost always have a library at your fingertips.
#3 Take advantage of travel time
If you commute by subway or bus, use that travel time to read.
Next time you’re traveling by plane, instead of loading your phone with apps and movies, stock it with books.
Better yet, bring a physical book or two in your carry-on.
#4 Listen to audiobooks
If you’re on the road a lot, your drive can be a golden opportunity to consume a big ol’ library of books.
For example, you can listen to Atomic Habits on a short road trip.
Pro-tip: speed up the narration to 1.5x or 2x. You can still understand everything, but it will allow you to get through a book much faster.
#5 Speed read strategically
Certain kinds of books lend themselves well to speed reading.
Specifically, business books and “pop-y” self-development books — the kind of books you’d grab at the front of an airport bookstore.
These genres of books are typically formatted for easy scanning. They make extensive use of headings, bolded first sentences, and bulleted lists.
You can read and scan through these books pretty quickly and still get what they’re about.
However, I don’t speed read stuff that requires concentration and attention to understand fully, like works of philosophy, history, or science.
I also don’t speed-read fiction.
So yes, speed read — but only occasionally and strategically.
Well, there you go. How I get so much reading done.
There’s really no secret — you simply need to make it a priority!