Have you wanted to increase the amount you read but struggled to live out your intentions? This post will explore how to read more books by making the most of the time you have and planning a proper reading schedule. Don’t miss your free reading schedule planner at the end of this article.
How many words do you think you read everyday? Let’s say we read about 300 words per minute and spend about an hour scrolling on social media or other websites every day. That’s 18,000 words!
If we’re being honest, many of us spend way more than an hour scrolling through something-or-other throughout the day. How much of this stuff benefits us? I think it would be stretch to say even a quarter of the things an average person reads in a day is valuable.
How long does an average book take to read? Well, if we’re going with 300 words per minute, roughly 450 words per page, 300 page book would take 7.5 hours to read.
Some books would have more pages and some with more words, of course, but lets say it takes around 8 hours to read a medium-sized book. Can we spare 8 hours a day to read a book? Unlikely. 8 hours a week? Much more likely. 8 hours every two week? For sure.
Starting a reading schedule allows us to use the time we’re already spending reading to do something that truly benefits us, whether that’s learning something new, building a deeper understanding about something or exercising our imagination.
How do we start a reading schedule AND stick to it? Well, it’s starts by knowing your reasons about being realistic about your time which we’ll cover below. Don’t miss your free reading schedule at the end of this article.
First things first: Why are you going to read?
Knowing why you’re reading should come before deciding what you’re reading. Do you want to learn something new? What about?
Do you want to deepen your understanding about a person or event or in some other area of study?
Do you want to read to ‘escape’ in a good non-fiction book? What kind of theme helps you do this?
Now you can decide: What are you going to read?
Research the authors of the books you’re thinking about getting. Consider the size of books too, sometimes you can be more likely to finish smaller or medium-sized books.
Make a potential reading list of all the books and authors that interest you.
If you’re buying physical books, don’t buy them at this stage- you’ll see why later.
Next decide: How are you going to read?
By this I mean, in what format will you read your books? Do you prefer having a physical copy of the book in your hands? I’d suggest giving ebooks a try if you haven’t already.
Why should you read ebooks? They’re often cheaper than physical books, and sometimes you’ll find bestsellers on offer for next to nothing. Reading ebooks means you don’t need to bring a book with you if you’re reading on-the-go and it’ll always be accessible through your phone. And who doesn’t always have their phone with them?
You might just prefer holding a physical book in your hand, and that’s OK too. This way, you can lend the book or give it as a gift when you’ve completed it.
Finally, figure out: When are you going to read?
Now to the critical part. How to decide when to read!
I’d suggest pencilling in 20 minutes, 3 times a day to start with. That’s 1 hour in total, and even if you only stick to 1 or 2 sessions of 20 minutes valuable reading time a day, that’s still more than usual!
You’re reading sessions will probably best placed in the morning (which may mean getting up earlier, or just using that waking-up social media check time to read an ebook instead), on the commute to work, at lunch time, on the commute home, and/or sometime in the evening.
You’re reading time will naturally increase as you get more into your books and more used to putting the time aside to read. Instead of spending the time doing other tasks (that probably require reading!), you’ll WANT to read more.
Get started NOW with your free reading schedule planner from our Resources section to help you determine why, what, how and when you’re going to read and stick to it!
You can also browse our Bookshelf for recommended books.
