How to Improve Your Reading Habit

Reading is a very good habit to adopt but takes constant persistence to maintain. We all love reading books but other daily tasks of our lives like housework, careers, family spending time, etc., do not allow us to spare much time for our books. For reading, we have to make an effort to make some time every day to read books. But, once this habit is developed, then it cannot be broken at any cost. All of this starts right from childhood.

A child must be willing and eager to read books from an early age. If not, then he/she will never appreciate the value of reading and books at any stage of their lives. Homes and schools must always keep a reading hour for children and allow them to read their favourite books. But, they should also be taught to respect this hour, stick solely to reading, and not get distracted at any point. This will help to raise good readers for life.

But when we become adults, we somehow let go of this hard-formed habit and become focused on other things that matter to us much more. We now start thinking of making money, having a stable career, getting married, having children etc. So, all of these other goals somehow put reading in the backseat which is not good at all.

And even if we get time for reading, it is only on weekends. Nowadays, even our weekends remained occupied because of various social events happening all the time. And some of these events are hard to say no to. So, we must not let our inner bookworms die at any point in our lives because it is important to read books. Because we don’t know when our life will come to an end and then we will regret in our afterlife that we couldn’t read many books.

In this blog, we will be exploring some ideas as to how we can improve our reading habits if we have somehow let go of them recently. We hope that this blog will help many of our patrons to redevelop their habit of reading and they will be tempted to go back to their favourite books.

Ways to Develop our Reading Habits

So, let’s have a deeper look into ways in which we can develop our reading habits for better outcomes in life-

1. When you want to start your reading journey, you must keep all electronic things as far away as possible. When these things are out of your sight, you will tend to focus more on your reading and make fruitful use of your time. Use these devices only when you need to look up some difficult words. But, it's easier said than done. But, still, if you start doing it daily, no sooner you will find yourself getting detached from your electronic devices.

2. Try to mix up your reading. Read a variety of books at the same time. This will help you gain more knowledge of different subjects and you will enjoy your reading. Reading different books at the same time will also help you to break the monotony as well. Usually, when an individual reads only a single book, he/she may feel bored. A single book can be read throughout if it has gripped your interest. Thus, try to have a variety of books by your bedside.

3. You can even try out different formats of books. If you feel bored of paperbacks or hardbacks, then opt to read e-books or listen to audiobooks. Most people these days find audiobooks the best way to read books. They get to listen and read at the same time. Audiobooks can also be used while we go about our daily activities. Usually, the first book is free to read, after that, you need to subscribe to a monthly or yearly plan in which you will have access to a thousand books.

4. If you feel that a book is not able to hold your interest, then stop immediately. Rather than dragging yourself to read that whole boring book, it is easier if you could just shut the book and put it on the bookshelf. Instead, take out a book that is truly inspiring and interesting. If you feel that you want to read that boring book because it altered your worldview somehow, then you are free to do so.

5. Try to be very patient with yourself. It is because you have restarted the activity after a very long time. So, you may have to go slow and reread some words as well. Don’t worry or fret if this is happening. As soon as you get used to a daily routine, you will be able to read faster and be able to finish more books.

6. Creating a reading list will help you better at finishing more and more books. After you finish a book, you can review this list and see how many books were you able to finish in a month. If you see more ticks, then you will feel satisfied with yourself.

7. Also, keep a set goal in mind when you sit down to read. It may be that you want to finish a certain number of pages by the end of the day or you want to finish a certain number of books by the end of the month. These goals will help you remain motivated to read books.

8. Taking out time for reading can be a big struggle for many of us. But, we have to keep book reading on our priority list. A well-planned reading schedule will help us stick to reading for long hours.

9. When you are reading, you must have a suitable space for doing so. It can be your bedroom, your favourite couch in your living room or a cosy corner. Having the right environment will help us to read longer.

10. Lastly, be an active reader, not a passive one. Think about what you are reading, highlight important passages which you feel are important and useful in your daily life, and write important notes or comments either on the book’s margins or keep a separate notebook for this activity. These things can also be done on e-readers and smartphones.

So, this is how we massively improve our reading habits and enjoy reading our books for longer. We hope that you liked these ideas and will surely adopt some of them in your daily life. Until next time, keep reading.