How to read more books, and why you should

Photo by Gülfer ERGİN on Unsplash

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When I was a child and a teenager, I was an avid reader. I was interested in a lot of things and I devoured novels, poetry, anything I could put my hands on that had words printed on it.

Things started changing when I started university. I wasn't very passionate about what I was learning, and I started associating reading with a chore.

Then life happened: work, marriage, kids. I was curious and I liked learning, but I simply didn't have the time to sit down and read a book, so I satisfied my curiosity with Ted talks and Youtube videos (too many, let's be real.) The only moments where I would read a book from cover to cover in a short amount of time were during our three-week family vacation in August.

Fast-forward to Summer 2017. I was approaching my 39th birthday, and I wasn't feeling fulfilled in my career. I needed a change. So instead of a novel, I downloaded The Miracle Morning on my phone. This is how it all started.

Since then, I've read 30 books a year on average. Reading had become a part of my daily routine and I can't spend more than two days without a book or an audiobook. This simple habit has been life-changing. Reading every day has helped me become a better thinker, a more motivated and creative person, and a more successful entrepreneur.

How can you integrate a reading habit into your life? Here are 7 simple steps to get started.

1. Set your reading goal

If you really want to start a reading habit, wishing is not enough, you need to set a goal and commit to it.
As Michael Hyatt explains in his book Your Best year Ever, there are two types of goals: achievement goals and habit goals. An achievement goal is a one-time achievement, whereas a habit goal is an ongoing activity. However, achievement goals and habit goals usually work together.
For example:
your achievement goal would be something like: I want to read XX books in one year. A the end of the year, you will know whether the goal has been reached or not. But in order to achieve this goal, you need to set a habit goal which could sound like: I commit to reading X pages every day. The more precise your goal is, the better. In my case, my reading habit is part of my morning routine: I read for 30 minutes every weekday between 6:30 and 7:00 a:m, and I listen to an audiobook for at least 30 minutes during my morning walk between 8:00 and 9:00 a:m.
This way, I know that no matter how busy my day gets, I've read two different books in the morning.

2. Schedule your reading time

Once your goals are set, you need to schedule your reading time in your calendar. This way, you'll make sure to see it constantly until it becomes engrained in your brain. It's particularly important at the beginning because even if you are sincerely willing to follow through, it is very easy to get distracted.

3. Track your reading

There is nothing more satisfying than being able to visualize your progress. You can use apps like Goodreads or Storygraph (if you're looking for a non-Amazon affiliated alternative) to track your progress, write notes, get book recommendations, and more.

4. Start with the classics

At the beginning of my reading journey, I found it difficult to choose from so many options. I adopted a simple philosophy: I would browse the Internet to find posts such as "10 books you should read if you're starting a business" or "10 personal development books you should have in your library", and see which ones were constantly recommended. Usually, you can't go wrong with the classics.

5. Trust your friends and Mentors

Ideally, you should choose to spend time with like-minded people who lift you up and share your values. These people (whether they're close friends friends, members of a community you belong to, or online mentors) will be happy to share their best reads. This can be a good start in your reading journey.

6. Keep an ongoing reading list

There is a Japanese concept called Tsundoku: it refers to books piling up on your bookshelf, ready for reading later (or sometimes, never). You can apply this concept to your reading list: always make it much longer than what you can actually read, so you never run out of ideas for your next reading adventure.

7. Consume your books in different formats.

As much as I like reading books the traditional way, paper books are not always very practical, especially if you move and travel a lot. A few years ago my husband offered me a Kobo e-reader, and I just love it. It's small, light, and I carry it with me everywhere. You can highlight your favorite passages, write notes, look up a word in the dictionary that is integrated.
Audiobooks are also a great way to "read" books. (I know, technically you're not reading, but you're getting the content, and that's what matters.) Moreover, listening to audiobooks have several advantages:
- it teaches you how to focus and listen.
- it engages all your senses. When you listen to an audiobook, you associate it with the place you're in, the things you're doing, and how you feel in this moment.
- books read by their author are the best: get a deeper understanding of the author's intention. Listening to Seth Godin's The practice in the morning always gives me a boost of motivation. Listening to Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to strangers was a whole new experience that I couldn't have had with the paper version.

8. Keep a reading journal

Reading a lot of books is great, but you'll quickly find out that you won't retain much if you have a system to record the insights you get from them. You can take notes manually, digitally, or a mix of both. I usually start by taking notes in my reading journal, then I will transfer these notes in Obsidian so I can use them for future blog posts. There are plenty of apps you can choose from to organize your note-taking, such as Roam, Evernote, or Notion.

To get started with your reading journey, you can browse my personal book selection here. These are all the books I've read and liked in the last five years.

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