How To Build A Reading Habit
Check out my YouTube Short about the 4 easy steps to build a reading habit!
It’s no secret that reading extensively is going to help you in your career.
Being able to access and implement the accumulated knowledge of the authors’ experience can save you tons of time and plenty of frustration.
The sad reality is that most people are exhausted by the end of the day and struggle to read consistently.
If you ask them about it, most would tell you that they’d like to read more but just can’t find the time. It’s not just that. There’s likely so much going on in your life that you just might forget that you want to read.
Well, in the video above, I showed you a very simplified way to start a reading habit, but let’s drill down into that a bit more. Let’s assume we already did “step one”, and we got a book. So now, I’ll go into a bit more detail with 3 ways to integrate more reading into your life and build a reading habit.
Three different approaches
Approach 1 – Reading Before Bed
This is the simplest and most effective way to go.
All you need to do is pick a book, put it on your pillow and commit to reading for 1 minute each night.
I can hear your objections already.
What’s the point of reading for only one minute?
Won’t it take me longer to get back into the flow of it?
That is sort of true, but there are 2 things which make this a highly effective way of reading more.
So, yes, you’re only reading for 1 minute per night.
How many minutes a night would you be reading otherwise? Hmmmm?
One minute is still more than you were reading before. For most people, it’s not a question of going from reading an hour a day to reading 1 minute before bed.
If you’re already reading an hour a day, you don’t really need my help to build a reading habit. You’re already there!!!
If, however, you’re struggling to build a reading habit, committing to reading just one minute a day and cueing yourself by putting the book on your pillow will effectively enable you to do that.
The second reason this is a worthwhile approach is the simple reality that you’ll very rarely only read for one minute. More often, you end up reading for longer, and those minutes will start to add up.
The purpose of this is to get you to start reading each day. This approach solves the 2 main problems you have with reading more. It addresses
- remembering to read and
- finding time to read
In the real world, you are going to be totally wiped some days. No worries – on those days, all you have to do is read for 1 minute, which is doable, no matter how tired you are. On other days you may choose to read a lot more because you have a little more energy or maybe have a little more time.
Seriously, if you’re having trouble reading regularly implement this. You’ll be shocked at the results.
Approach 2 – Audiobooks
Audiobooks are such an effective way to increase your reading consumption.
What’s great about them is that you can have them going in the background while you’re doing something else. I like listening to audiobooks when I’m driving, working out, doing tasks around the house or taking the dog out for a walk.
The biggest objection I hear to this is that it’s difficult to retain the information if you’re listening to it on audiobook…and there’s some truth to this.
It may be that you only retain 90% of what you’d have retained from reading the book. It may also be the case that there will be sections you have to rewind and listen to again.
You may get sick of hearing me say this, but even if you only retain 90% and have to rewind to re-listen to certain parts, that is significantly more than you would have retained if you weren’t listening to audiobooks in the first place.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
If that objection resonated with you and you’re one of the people who would say that you simply don’t retain enough information from listening to audiobooks, my next suggestion will really blow your mind.
One of the most powerful life hacks I’ve discovered over the past few years is listening to audiobooks at a higher speed. Depending on the book, I may listen to it at 2x the normal speed.
People are often baffled by this.
They talk about the loss of retention.
My answer is this. If my purpose in reading is to gain knowledge, acquire the experience of the author and develop professionally, then this is the only way to roll. The math is simple.
Let’s accept for a moment that I can retain roughly 90% of what I’m listening to with an audiobook. By listening to audiobooks at 2X speed, my retention rate may fall to 80%. I don’t actually believe that. But even if it’s true, the choice is still obvious.
That means I can listen to twice as many books and accrue 160% of the information I would have otherwise.
If you are still sceptical, here is a challenge for you. Increase the speed on your audiobook from 1 to 1.1X.
I promise you won’t notice the difference and should experience 0 loss of retention. It may not feel like much, but you just increased your consumption by 10%.
Over time, that adds up, big time.
Hopefully, now that you agree that 1.1 X is not noticeable keep increasing the speed until you feel the slightest bit of discomfort. For most people, especially those who start out skeptical, this is likely in the 1.4X—1 .7X range.
At this point, the retention loss is likely to be tiny and you are zooming through meaningfully more books.
You can find Audiobooks at Audible.com, which is owned by Amazon or, in many cases, at your local library. The prices on Audible are pretty reasonable, and on an annual plan, you can end up paying less than US$10 per book.
From there, throw on your headphones while on the bus or working at home and take advantage of this great medium.
Approach 3 – Podcasts
It may seem strange that I’m suggesting podcasts in a newsletter where reading more is today’s topic.
However, one of the coolest new discoveries I’ve made is that authors go on podcasts to promote their books. Who knows, maybe everyone knew that except me.
Anyway, if the interviewer is good, they’ll help the author discuss the most important aspects of the book.
You’re essentially getting a guided tour of the book’s most important parts, viewed through the author’s eyes.
So, pick your favourite podcast app and search for the author. Especially for recent books, you’re likely to find multiple interviews with the author. Go ahead and listen to these either before or after reading or listening to the book.
You may even discover that it conveyed the main elements of the book, and you got enough out of it to skip the book entirely.
I’ve also found that sometimes my understanding of the book deepened after listening to a discussion with the author.
What to read?
Once upon a time, I asked a bunch of friends and people I know who like to read for their recommendations. They gave me some great tips. Check them out! I add to this list as I come across new, valuable, and interesting books.
If you have some top picks, let me know. I’ll check them out and maybe add them to the list!
