THREE TIPS ON HOW TO READ MORE REGULARLY, IF YOU’RE NOT A READER ALREADY
I remember New Year’s Day 2018 when I picked up a book that I let sit for a year and a half with the bookmark still in it at the 30-page mark. It wasn’t that it was a bad book. In fact, it was a classic that I’ve been wanting to read for ages: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. I just let it sit on my bookshelf, not thinking about it as I watched South Park and binged YouTube videos in my apartment.
I eventually finished Dorian Gray in just a couple of days. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up another book after it, and I went back to my business for a while of not reading.
There was always this nagging feeling about not reading. It’s not like the feeling you get when you don’t watch television, where you may feel apathetic about it other than a potential gnawing inside of you that you’re missing the zeitgeist of Bridgerton.
Reading is regarded to have a host of benefits, which include everything from reducing stress to improving brain function. It’s also considered to be an intellectual activity, with some of the greatest minds of our history from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Gates being avid readers. For me, I had a little extra guilt for not being a prolific reader because it’s often listed as a must for being a better writer.
Still, just “wanting” to read is not enough to read more.
Now, I read nearly a book a week, not just a book a year. None of this came from a passive desire of “well, I guess I’ll read more, that would be really awesome, and I really should…oh, another episode won’t hurt…”
Here’s what I did:
I Make A List Of Books I Want To Read
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve finished a book series that I’ve thought about tackling since college, A Song of Ice and Fire. Daunting, considering the books’ tome-like scale (the shortest book is 694 pages).
A massive reason why I’m getting down to reading books I meant to get to for a while is because I have a list of books I want to read on my phone. If I find something that looks interesting, I type it down. Whenever I peruse the bookstore and catch something that I’d like to hold off until my next trip, I note it in my list.
It’s more motivating to keep reading when I have a whole list to refer to when I want to read. I put one book down, and I have another book I pick up. Which leads to my next point:
I Consider My Interests And Build From There
The reason why a list works is because it’s filled with books that I want to read. I put no judgement on the books on the list — if I want to read it, that’s the end of it.
If you’re wondering “what books would I even want to read? I don’t even care enough about books to even list them out.”
Frankly, a lot of the books on my list stem from interests. I base my book choices on things that I want to learn more about — like climate change or quantum mechanics — books that I hear about in passing, and books that I come across while I’m reading an article on the web.
This is important to distinguish. You don’t want to read just to read. Being an avid reader means you’re reading because you want to read. Just like almost any activity in life, be it going for a run or playing the piano, the motivation to do it stems best from a place of, “I enjoy doing it,” not, “I want to be it.” You want to go for a run because of the tree-lined paths you take and the music you listen to, not because you want to “be a runner.”
Still, just having books you want to read is not enough.
I Make Reading A Habit
I began a reading list in college. Written on a piece of notebook paper, I taped it over my bed and looked at it every day. Still, I didn’t read. Read every day, read every day…come on, why am I not reading?! I didn’t read today! Gah, look at all of these awesome books…oh, another episode won’t hurt…
Now, why am I reading now? Why is my reading list working now?
A couple factors are necessary: I read every day, but I don’t make it a “have to”. Again, refer to my point above — I’m reading because I make it a want, not a need.
When you do something you want to do, your brain releases a chemical called dopamine. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear writes that scientists have discovered that “dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it.” If you do something that consistently gives you dopamine, you’re going to want to keep doing it even before you receive the pleasure from that activity. This is integral to why watching TV and eating junk food become habits.
I read everyday not just for the sake of it. It’s to create a consistent dopamine surge. When I think back to my reading list in college, it wasn’t working because I wasn’t forming a pleasure habit out of it. Starting something is hard — just look at Newton’s first law. A body at rest stays at rest.
However, it’s easier to get out of a state of rest when I choose to do something that I know is going to give me a dopamine boost.
Last Thoughts
It’s important to realize that reading should not be approached as a thing that you have to do. You should want to do it.
There will be resistance to want to do it, because at first, you don’t have the drive or desire. Like anything, it’s a desire that has to be built over time. However, if you re-examine why you choose to read more, find books that you want to read, and read often, becoming a frequent reader will become effortless.
