To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge
from almost all the miseries of life.” — W. Somerset Maugham
Somewhere after “lose weight”, “stop procrastinating”, and “fall in
love”, “read more” is one of the top goals that many people set for
themselves. And rightly so: A good book can be hugely satisfying, can
teach you about things beyond your daily horizons, and can create
characters so vivid you feel as if you really know them.
If reading is a habit you’d like to get into, there are a number of ways to cultivate it.
First, realize that reading is highly enjoyable, if you have a good
book. If you have a lousy book (or an extremely difficult one) and you
are forcing yourself through it, it will seem like a chore. If this
happens for several days in a row, consider abandoning the book and
finding one that you’ll really love.
Other than that, try these tips to cultivate a lifetime reading habit:
- Set times. You should have a few set times during
every day when you’ll read for at least 5-10 minutes. These are times
that you will read no matter what — triggers that happen each day. For
example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch (and even
dinner if you eat alone). And if you also read every time you’re sitting
on the can, and when you go to bed, you now have four times a day when
you read for 10 minutes each — or 40 minutes a day. That’s a great
start, and by itself would be an excellent daily reading habit. But
there’s more you can do.
- Always carry a book. Wherever you go, take a book
with you. When I leave the house, I always make sure to have my drivers
license, my keys and my book, at a minimum. The book stays with me in
the car, and I take it into the office and to appointments and pretty
much everywhere I go, unless I know I definitely won’t be reading (like
at a movie). If there is a time when you have to wait (like at a
doctor’s office or at the DMV), whip out your book and read. Great way
to pass the time.
- Make a list. Keep a list of all the great books you
want to read. You can keep this in your journal, in a pocket notebook,
on your personal home page, on your personal wiki, wherever. Be sure to
add to it whenever you hear about a good book, online or in person. Keep
a running list, and cross out the ones you read.
- Tech trick:
create a Gmail account for your book list, and email the address every
time you hear about a good book. Now your inbox will be your reading
list. When you’ve read a book, file it under “Done”. If you want, you
can even reply to the message (to the same address) with notes about the
book, and those will be in the same conversation thread, so now your
Gmail account is your reading log too.
- Find a quiet place. Find a place in your home where
you can sit in a comfortable chair (don’t lay down unless you’re going
to sleep) and curl up with a good book without interruptions. There
should be no television or computer near the chair to minimize
distractions, and no music or noisy family members/roommates. If you
don’t have a place like this, create one.
- Reduce television/Internet. If you really want to
read more, try cutting back on TV or Internet consumption. This may be
difficult for many people. Still, every minute you reduce of
Internet/TV, you could use for reading. This could create hours of book
reading time.
- Read to your kid. If you have children, you must,
must read to them. Creating the reading habit in your kids is the best
way to ensure they’ll be readers when they grow up … and it will help
them to be successful in life as well. Find some great children’s books,
and read to them. At the same time, you’re developing the reading habit
in yourself … and spending some quality time with your child as well.
- Keep a log. Similar to the reading list, this log
should have not only the title and author of the books you read, but the
dates you start and finish them if possible. Even better, put a note
next to each with your thoughts about the book. It is extremely
satisfying to go back over the log after a couple of months to see all
the great books you’ve read.
- Go to used book shops. My favorite place to go is a
discount book store where I drop off all my old books (I usually take a
couple of boxes of books) and get a big discount on used books I find
in the store. I typically spend only a couple of dollars for a dozen or
more books, so although I read a lot, books aren’t a major expense. And
it is very fun to browse through the new books people have donated. Make your trip to a used book store a regular thing.
- Have a library day. Even cheaper than a used book shop is a library, of course. Make it a weekly trip.
- Read fun and compelling books. Find books that
really grip you and keep you going. Even if they aren’t literary
masterpieces, they make you want to read — and that’s the goal here.
After you have cultivated the reading habit, you can move on to more
difficult stuff, but for now, go for the fun, gripping stuff. Stephen
King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Nora Roberts, Sue
Grafton, Dan Brown … all those popular authors are popular for a reason —
they tell great stories. Other stuff you might like: Vonnegut, William
Gibson, Douglas Adams, Nick Hornby, Trevanian, Ann Patchett, Terry
Pratchett, Terry McMillan, F. Scott Fitzgerald. All excellent
storytellers.
- Make it pleasurable. Make your reading time your
favorite time of day. Have some good tea or coffee while you read, or
another kind of treat. Get into a comfortable chair with a good blanket.
Read during sunrise or sunset, or at the beach.
- Blog it. One of the best ways to form a habit is to
put it on your blog. If you don’t have one, create one. It’s free. Have
your family go there and give you book suggestions and comment on the
ones you’re reading. It keeps you accountable for your goals.
- Set a high goal. Tell yourself that you want to
read 50 books this year (or some other number like that). Then set about
trying to accomplish it. Just be sure you’re still enjoying the reading
though — don’t make it a rushed chore.
- Have a reading hour or reading day. If you turn off
the TV or Internet in the evening, you could have a set hour (perhaps
just after dinner) when you and maybe all the members of your family
read each night. Or you could do a reading day, when you (and again,
your other family members if you can get them to join you) read for
practically the whole day. It’s super fun.
