13 Ways to Cultivate a Lifetime Reading Habit

“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:
1:
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.
2:
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.
3:
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.
4
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.
5
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.
6
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.
7
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.
8
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.
9
Have a library day . Even cheaper
than a used book shop is a library, of
course. Make it a weekly trip.
10:
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.
11
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.
12:
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.
13
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.
Have any tips for creating the reading
habit? Or any favorite books or
authors to share?
source: lifehack