How To Read More: A Story From A Man Who Hates Book.
When a new year is coming, I always make a list of new year resolutions, and ‘reading more books’ always makes its way to the list every year. However, all I read that year was a Facebook feed.
Why reading is so hard. Whenever I want to read a book, it feels like climbing on Everest. The pages are the height of the mountain, and the boredom is the altitude sickness. Sometimes I was just “meh” and threw the book in the drawer, and it never came out again.
But This year alone, I read 10+ books and still counting on. What changes my mind. How I overcome the fear of height, Let’s find out.
- It doesn’t matter what you read, just read.
You don’t have to read a book to become a bookworm. Internet is also a library for you. There is a lot of content out there that you can read for free! Sometimes I love reading YouTube comment section, which is entertaining as much as a video itself.
It sounds boring, but trust me it works. This is how I start my reading journey. If I can, so do YOU!
2. Set your goal
After you get hooked on reading, the next thing I recommend is to set your reading goal each day. If you are not a person who can sit under a warm blanket and read all day, you should try this method.
When I start to read more, I always get a feeling of “not being in the mood almost every day” So I set a goal which I have to read at least an hour a day. After a month of reading as a chore, I realized I finished a book faster and I read more than expected. An hour a day may sound little, but when you keep doing it constantly, It becomes a great deal.
3. Your free time is a great opportunity to read.
Your free time is precious. If you manage it well, you will feel like you have a superpower. For example, if you have to commute by public transport every day, you can read. When you’re waiting for your Starbucks, you can read. You can read anytime. There are many gaps in a day that you can fill with your favorite books.
4. It’s so good to be offline
You have to believe me, being offline is so amazing. There is nothing feeling better than when you offline from the internet to do your thing. Just try once and thank me later.
I disappeared from social media for more than a year. I was addicted. I couldn’t stop myself from scrolling a feed whenever my hand was empty.
So, I talked to myself like Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. But it was not “You talkin’ to me” It was “You have to stop”
So, I deleted every application on my phone, That was the time when my phone was just a brick. I didn’t look at my phone when I was talking with my friend. I didn’t look at my phone when I was waiting. So, What did I do? Well, Sometimes I read. That was my golden period of reading. I bought books more than I could imagine, and I read more than I thought I could. Unfortunately, I have to back online because of work, but this time I know when to get off the internet.
That’s the story of how I fell in love with reading, and I hope you do too. You don’t have to do what I said. Find your own pace, do what you think is comfortable. You don’t have to force yourself to read, just let your mind guide you. Thanks for reading (There you go). See you.
