📚️ How to read more books...

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Hey friends,

Growing up I thought I hated reading.

I never read beyond what I was assigned in school. They assigned so much reading and it always took me forever. I had no desire to read any further in my free time. The thought of enjoying reading always sounded like a joke to me.

In college, an English professor assigned me the book Stiff by Mary Roach. It was funny, creepy, educational, and I found it really easy to read. I loved the book. I was entertained. After 15 years of reading, I finally experienced a page turner and reading excited me for the first time.

I rushed to the bookstore and bought “creative non-fiction” books and a few books my peers recommended. I had a stack of Mary Roach, Bill Bryson, and self-help books. My stack of books only grew, and I wasn’t reading them… I was struggling with finding time to read. I couldn’t get excited about reading. The books just sat.

What I didn’t realize was all my life I built a reading habit. A habit to avoid reading. I subconsciously structured my life to dodge reading, and that needed to change.

It took me a while, but here are five tips that helped me build my reading habit:

1. I have a personal rule: Read one page from a book every single day. The rule is so easy to accomplish that I had no excuse but to do it. I focused on developing the habit, knowing that I’ll read far more over a lifetime than I could in one sitting. Create a rule for yourself. Make it clear and easy to accomplish.

2. Set books around your house like bear traps. I put a book on my tv remote, bedroom pillow, computer keyboard, coffee table, entry hall table, and so on. When I have to move the book out of the way, I’m forced to think about reading. If I decide to read, the book is in my hand, ready to go.

3. If you aren’t feeling it, stop reading it. I don’t force myself to read books I’m not enjoying. I’d rather be turned off by a book than turned off reading. Read what you want. This isn’t grade school.

4. Read multiple books at once. I love history and biographies, but after a tough day I just want to be distracted and entertained. So I read multiple books at once and vary genres. I’m typically reading 3 or more books at once. Right now I’m reading Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck, Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish, and Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to his son by G. Ng.

5. Seek book recommendations and put them in your Amazon cart. When I come across a book recommendation, I whip out my phone and put that book in my Amazon shopping cart. I don’t have to buy the book now, but I don’t have to remember it later. The next time I’m shopping on Amazon, I’m forced to review my shopping cart full of books. The ones I don’t want to order, I’ll move to my “Save for later.” My “Save for later” becomes my reading list.

Thank you so much for your time. Hopefully I brought you some value.

Talk soon,

Kevin

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