I have always been a keen reader, but I haven’t always read consistently. We tell ourselves we are going to smash through our books, that all our spare time is going to go towards reading so we can show everyone just how bookish we are… And then tomorrow comes along and nothing gets read. Which is fine, it’s only one day missed… And then another day. And another. Until the end of the week arrives and your book remains on the shelf gathering dust. Sound familiar?
It’s not surprising that many of us fail to make time for the things we enjoy doing. After all, life is busy at the best of times. And not only that, but modern life has become incredibly distracting. I’m sure we’ve all had moments where we’ve scrolled on our phones for 10 minutes, only to find that, actually, over an hour has flown by – Time that we could have used for reading! It’s important not to be too hard on ourselves when this happens, especially when you consider that this is literally what a lot of technology is designed to do. The fact you got distracted doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, but rather that the technology is working exactly as it should.
Now, I’m not going to go into the science of how technology gets us hooked, or whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. But, I will be discussing some of the ways that I, despite this, have developed a consistent reading habit which I hope will help others do the same.
1. Set my environment
I think this is probably one of the simplest, but also the most overlooked, technique. Many of us will have at least one book (or four, or five…) on our bedside table, which is a good start. But, how often do you actually pay attention to what is on your bedside table? Do you notice which books are on there, or has your mind become blind to the fact that they are even there? If your brain doesn’t clock the books on your bedside table, chances are you won’t even think about reading… Until you’re in bed about to fall asleep, at which point it is too late.
To combat this, before I get into bed, I take a book from my bedside table and place it on the duvet next to where I lie down. This means that when I get into or lie on top of my bed, the book is there as a reminder – I don’t need to think about reading because the book is already there. There is an ironic question following this, being “How do you remember to put the book on your bed in the first place?”. Well, the answer is a combination of points 2 and 3 below.
2. Have a Prompt
The biggest mistake many of us make is to rely on our brains to remind ourselves to do something. “Oh, I don’t need to put a reminder in my phone, I’m sure I’ll remember it”. And usually, we do remember it… At the least convenient moment. We’ll remember we need to take the bins out when we’re out of the house. We’ll remember that we needed to make lunch when we’re already on the way to work. We’ll remember that we need to read when we’re already drifting off to sleep.
This isn’t always a pure coincidence, but rather in the way our brains work and the activity that goes on while we’re resting or doing something that requires less focus. Again, I’m not going to get into the science of it (If you are interested, many far more knowledgeable people have written books on this), but it is important to consider because it shows us exactly why prompts are so vital. Without prompts, we will likely forget and another day goes by where we completely forgot to read.
I don’t have any prescribed rules for prompts, other than that they should be clear and should catch your attention so you know what the prompt is for and that you actually notice it when it happens. An example can be as simple as putting a reminder in your phone to go off at a specific time. Or you can combine points 1 and 2 by (provided you don’t share your kitchen) leaving a book near the kettle/coffee machine so that when you go to make your morning tea/coffee, your book is there to be read while you wait for your drink to be done. Or it could be anything else – Whatever works for you, so feel free to experiment until you find a prompt that works for you.
3. Habit-stacking
If you have read any books or watched any videos on habit-building, you will almost certainly have come across habit-stacking (or some alternative name). The first time I came across it was in James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’, which it seems most people have now read, and now this idea seems to be everywhere you look. And it’s not surprising – The concept is simple, easy to implement, and very effective.
Until you stop to think about it, you probably won’t realise how many habits (whether good or bad) you already have. Perhaps you turn your alarm off, scroll on your phone for a while, get dressed, brush your teeth, make breakfast and a coffee. All of this is done before your brain has properly woken up and without having to plan where you will fit in each of these habits. That’s because all of these habits are stacked on top of each other, acting as a built-in prompt. Getting dressed is your brain’s prompt that it is time to brush your teeth, which is a prompt to make breakfast and a coffee, and so forth, and this is all done automatically.
With this in mind, you may want to consider what habits you already have and whether any of them provide the perfect opportunity to stack a reading habit (either before or after the existing habit). As an example, on a usual day, I go for an early-morning walk shortly after I wake up. When I get back, this is when I make my morning coffee and some cereal before reading my book. Since starting this habit, I barely even think about needing to read in the morning – it has become an automatic habit.
4. Tiny Habits
This is a personal favourite of mine, and I’m sure those close to me will have long become sick of me talking about ‘tiny habits’. It’s a slightly different approach to what I have traditionally seen, but it is what works best for me.
I first came across the concept of ‘Tiny Habits’ through the work of Dr BJ Fogg (first on a podcast, and then through his book ‘Tiny Habits’) and since then it has made a big difference. There are a few different elements to this technique but, as you have probably guessed already, one of the main points is to keep the habits small enough that you will definitely carry out the habit every day. This doesn’t stop you from doing more than the minimum amount – Only that the minimum amount is initially low.
An example Dr BJ Fogg gives is that he struggled to keep a consistent habit of flossing his teeth. Using the tiny habits technique, he set a simple goal – to floss just one tooth every single day. Some days he would do more than this, but if he ever had a bad day where he didn’t feel like flossing his teeth, all he had to do was floss just one tooth. This built the foundation for his flossing habit, and over time he was able to build it up until he had a routine of flossing all his teeth.
Having used this technique myself, I have found it to be much more effective than I had anticipated – Surprisingly so. After all, I remember being taught at school that if you want to achieve something, the best way to do it is to set your expectations as high as possible so you stretch yourself further. I have seen many others setting their expectations very (but not unreasonably) high, only to crash and burn within a week, and I have experienced this many times myself. Of course, some people seem capable of constantly setting their expectations high and exceeding them – But it, like me, you have tried and failed to establish new habits in the past, I would highly recommend this technique.
So, how low does the initial target need to be? The answer is that it should be as low as it needs to be for you to be able to do it consistently. If you feel able to read 20 pages every day consistently, great! If 10 pages every day feels more realistic, then that’s also great! If you need to set it at 2 or 3 pages every day to make sure you read consistently, then guess what… That’s great! It might not seem like much, to begin with, but the results really do build up over time, especially if you are able to gradually build on the habit.
5. Enjoy the process
This one seems blindingly obvious, but many of us, including myself, have probably fallen into a trap and forgotten this one many a time. We get so caught up in maintaining the habit or exceeding our targets that we forget to actually enjoy what we are doing. And what’s the point of trying to read as much as possible, if in doing so you lose your love for reading?
In these moments, I often stop to remind myself why I am reading in the first place. If it’s a fiction book, then I am probably reading for enjoyment and so this is what takes precedence. If it is non-fiction, then I am probably reading either for enjoyment (in which case, the above applies) or to learn something, in which case, trying to read as much as possible as quickly as possible will likely only reduce my comprehension and retention of the book. This serves as a reminder to take it easy and enjoy the process.
This is also why I have no problems with DNF’ing (DNF = Did Not Finish) a book. I read because I enjoy it, so I don’t want to have to slog all the way through a book that I’m not enjoying. People often react with horror when hearing that I sometimes DNF books, but personally I don’t see what you would get out of reading a book that you’re not enjoying, especially when I consider my reasons for reading as above (Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply when it comes to things like University textbooks…). So yes, it is ok to stop reading a book when you are part way through. Life is short, and you should spend it reading books you do enjoy!
Outro
Thank you for reading another of my bookish posts – I hope you found it useful, and best of luck if you do choose to implement any of the techniques set out in this post. If you have any other tips/advice, or if you have any comments on the points set out above, then feel free to leave a comment below. 🙂
TBT
Theodore's Bookish Thoughts (TBT) 