Are you struggling to develop a reading habit? Do you find it difficult?
Or are you unable to be consistent with reading once you start it?
Then this post can help you develop a reading habit and be consistent with it, even if you have never read before (if you are a complete beginner) or tried but failed. That too without feeling sleepy or losing your interest in reading.
Reading is one such habit that can help you tremendously to succeed in your life irrespective of your work domain.
Many great personalities like Sudha Murthy, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet read for at least one hour daily and encourage others to do so. They all agreed that for their success & growth, significant credit goes to their daily reading habit.
However, despite the countless benefits of reading, most people struggle to develop a reading habit or fail to be consistent with it if they can do it.
Please understand any new habit takes time, persistence, and patience, to be part of our daily lives. Reading is no exception. One must be more attentive to it to make it a part of his/her daily life.
This post will help you develop a daily reading habit (non-academic one) and also help you be consistent with it.
Let’s get started with the steps to develop a reading habit:
Set a Strong Mindset to Develop A Reading Habit
You will not be able to set any new habit unless you want to do it from the bottom of your heart or have a true desire to do it.
Don’t develop a reading habit because I (or any other person) is telling you to do so, or because all people around you are reading but you are the one who is left out.
But do it because YOU WANT TO DO IT and HAVE TRUE DESIRE TO DO IT. Then only you will be able to be consistent with it. Otherwise, you will start it but give up easily after a few days due to small challenges here & there.
Find out, How will you Benefit from Your Daily Reading Habit!
We don’t do anything without a strong purpose or strong WHY attached to it.
List down the reasons (on paper) how a reading habit will help you in your life.
- Do you want to read such books that can help you in managing people at home, want to improve your interpersonal relationships with a child, spouse, or any other family members?
- Or do you want to read such books that can help you understand others’ behavior, help you understand yourself better or help you understand your thought process better?
- Want to improve on you finance and investment?
Find out what is your purpose(WHY) for reading.
[Note: This will help you choose books based on your purpose. However, while we are still developing a habit, we will start with other types of books that I will reveal in the next point.]
Don’t Start With a Known, & Lengthy Best-Seller Books
As we are just starting to develop a reading habit, we will not start with any hefty bestseller book.
However, we will start with a small book that has less number of pages (maybe around 100) and that is written in a story narrative format.
- Due to the story narration format of the book, you will be motivated enough to read daily and not get bored.
- With fewer pages, you could finish a book faster, and you will gain the confidence to start the next book.
A few such books are: (Below are my affiliate links)
The Present: The Secret to Enjoying Your Work And Life, Now!
Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Something Happened on the Way to Heaven: 20 Inspiring Real-Life Stories [Paperback] Sudha Murty
Set a Reading Routine To Develop A Reading Habit
Decide to fix a time or fix an event for reading daily. When you set one activity with any event or fixed timeline its probability of being done increases.
For example:
- I will read for 10 minutes after I wake up. (Event-based)
- I will read for 15 minutes after dinner/lunch. (Event-based)
- I will read while having my tea/coffee. (Event-based)
- I will read for 15 minutes before I start roaming on social media. (Event-based & reward-based as you are rewarding yourself for reading)
- I will read at 9:30 pm daily. (Time-based)
Once a routine is built up for the reading for a specific time/event, you will be on autopilot mode to do it. And your friction to not do it will reduce by almost 98%.
But till the time routine is built, you have to be consistent with the habit forcefully.
Assign A Dedicated Place For Reading
Assign a fixed place to read. This way when you sit there for reading it will send a signal to your mind that it is time to read and help you focus better on reading.
Do not read while lying on bed, or in low light as it will make you feel sleepy. Please understand reading itself is a calming activity for the mind. It is kind of a meditation as your focus is fully on one place. If you combine it with sleeping posture, you will tempted to sleep or go into deep sleep within a few minutes of reading. So avoid reading in bed while lying down.
Keep a Book Visible to You in Your Surrounding
Keep your book such that it is visible to you, so it can remind you about your new habit.
You have to make your surroundings reading-friendly. Like, keep a book on your dining table, side table, coffee table, or at work desk. In whichever area you spend most of your time, keep a book visible in that area. This will keep reminding you about your reading.
You can also purchase the Kindle version of a book so that the book is accessible to you on your phone.
[Note: While you read a book on your phone or tablet, don’t forget to keep your device on Do Not Disturb mode so you won’t get distracted by other notifications.]
Track Your Reading Progress Everyday
Every day write down in your notebook, how many pages you read for how much duration you could read, and at what time you read.
You can also track your reading progress on some apps like Notion or Notes.
This way you can look back on your reading journey and feel good about it for further motivation.
These track records can also help you understand your reading pattern, like which time of the day you could read better and why.
Carry A Book Wherever You Go
This is the best and most important thing you will do. There are many benefits to carrying a book along when you go out. This way you get to utilize your dead waiting time (like on a bus, train, or metro. or waiting in queue) for reading.
You can also use Kindle on your phone to read a book but do not forget to put your phone on DO NOT DISTURB mode while you read on it.
Join A Book Reading Club & Surround Yourself With Readers
Our surroundings and the people we surround ourselves with impact our thought processes and mindsets very much. Readers love to discuss what book they are reading and what is the essence of the book. This behavior of readers positively impacts us and helps us to keep our reading consistent. This can influence and inspire you to read. This will keep your motivation level to read very high.
Be Patient With It – Good Things Take Time
Follow This New Reading Routine for At Least 66 Days.
James Clear the author of the best-selling book – Atomic Habits, says – “On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally’s study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit”.
Do this for at least 66 days and never miss a day doing so, since we are developing a new habit. If you think it is too much then tell yourself the benefit you will get for reading is for life changing and life long. Ans to see you reading, your kids will be inspired to read too, which can be counted as an added advantage.
If you do this with consistency for 66 days, your habit is set, and then after you don’t have to work hard to get yourself to read daily you will be automatic. After those 66 days, as and when the pre-decided time for reading comes, you automatically get to read.
Once your habit is set, then you can further add one more toughness to your reading routine like reading at least 20 pages in a day or 50 pages a day.
Reading Tips: How To Read Fast, and Better in 2024 – Develop A Reading Habit
Conclusion: How To Develop A Reading Habit
To develop a reading habit, you need to:
- Set a strong mindset.
- Find your purpose for reading.
- Don’t start reading best-seller books.
- Set a daily reading routine.
- Assign a dedicated place for reading.
- Keep a book visible.
- Track your reading progress.
- Carry a book wherever you go.
- Join a book reading club & surround yourself with readers.
- Be patient with it.
I hope this post is helpful to you in developing a reading habit. Consider subscribing to this blog for more such tips on reading. If you have more to share on this topic (your own experience) then please leave your reply in the comment section. I love to read that.
helpful post