How much do you read these days? How much did you use to read? If you read a lot more in the past and you’re not reading all that much now, it could be because you’re busy and just don’t have the time for your books anymore, no matter how much you love them.
Have Some Goals
Goals are important in life if you want to get ahead and feel motivated, and a lot of people have goals that relate to their work and careers, family life, or hobbies, for example. So why not make some reading goals? After all, if making goals helps people to get stuff done and work towards something, why shouldn’t reading more be the thing they’re working towards?
Start by working out why you want to find more time for reading. For some, reading is about pleasure and relaxation, for others it’s about personal development and learning more about themselves, and others like it because it boosts their vocabulary or teaches them things about the world. Once you know why you want to read, you’ll be able to make goals much more easily because you’ll know what you’re heading towards. Those goals could be about learning a certain number of new words, reading a specific number of books, or becoming an expert in a certain topic, for example.
Carry A Book Everywhere
You never know when you’re going to get a few spare extra minutes to yourself, which is why it’s a good idea to carry a book with you everywhere you go. Perhaps you’re waiting in line for coffee, and the queue is really long, or maybe your train is delayed, or it could be that you had a meeting that was cancelled, or plenty of other things just like that.
Without a book, you might be tempted to play on your phone and scroll through social media or watch a video, but with a book to hand, you can make the most of the time you’ve been given and get more reading done - you’ll feel good afterwards, and you can add a few more minutes to your reading journal to look back on for motivation too.
Make A Reading Journal
If you’re not sure what we mean by a reading journal as we mentioned above, we’ll explain it now because it can be an excellent way to help you read more and, importantly, find the time for reading in the first place.
A reading journal can be any notebook or even a computer document where you note down your thoughts and feelings after you’re done reading. You can add favourite quotes, for example, or character studies, or anything else you want to include, which could even be how many pages you read (or how many minutes you read for). This can all deepen your connection with the books you’re reading, and it’s great to look back and see how much you’ve read, inspiring you to keep going.
Create A Reading Nook
Having a dedicated, comfortable, inviting space that’s used solely for reading is another excellent way to make more time for reading. Think about it like this; you’re going to be more tempted to shut off the TV and read instead if you can go from a cosy couch to a comfortable reading nook and still be just as relaxed and at ease.
The great thing about this idea is that you can make the nook (just a corner of a room that’s closed off from everything else is fine - although you can have a whole room if you happen to have one spare) exactly how you want it, even if it’s completely different to the rest of your home. You could have industrial bench legs on your coffee table, and you could paint the walls bright pink - or do anything else that works for you. This is your space, and as long as you’re comfortable in it, you’ll want to go there and find the time to read.
