If you are hoping to read more often, you are not alone. Whether it’s a new habit for the New Year or a commitment to learning more about the world, starting positive reading habits is a big item on people’s to-do lists. According to YouGov, 11% of Americans hope to read more in the year 2023. That’s approximately 36 million people!
However, it can be difficult to set aside time and find a quiet place to open a good book, web article, or magazine. Between busy schedules and the allure of binge-watching, starting a reading habit might feel impossible. Luckily, there are simple steps we can take to make reading habits a part of our life.
Why Start Reading Habits?
Benefits of Positive Habits
Positive habits can be a great way to bring more joy and hope into your day-to-day life. They can be done on a monthly, weekly, or even a daily basis, depending on how you include them in your schedule. Positive habits should affect your life in a way that improves it—whether that’s making you happier, healthier, more hopeful, connecting you with others or giving you a sense of purpose. For many people, reading is a way to do this. But how?
Benefits of Reading
There are various benefits to regularly reading. According to Healthline, reading books can reduce stress, help with sleep, improve brain connectivity, and increase vocabulary and comprehension.
Taking the time to read is a good way to slow down in a busy world. It gives us the chance to sit down in a quiet space and take a break from the screen. It lets us feel our emotions and look inwardly to see how we truly feel and react to different stories.
Reading can also take you on journeys to interesting worlds, all without leaving your living room. It can put you in someone else’s shoes, show you different perspectives, and increase your sense of empathy towards others. It can also be a source of comfort. Reading a story that we relate to can help us feel more seen and connected to the world around us.
How to Start Good Reading Habits
1. Put Your Reading Habits on Your Calendar
Finding the time to read is one of the major obstacles people face when they commit to reading more. After a stressful day at work or running errands, you might want to plop in front of the TV or open your phone. Make reading a part of your schedule by adding it into your calendar. Find a time during the day when you have downtime—in the morning while you drink your coffee, during your lunch break, or at night before going to bed. Adding it to your calendar, whether your daily planner or on your phone with an alarm, will remind you to slow down, sit comfortably, and crack open a book.
2. Start Small
If you are committing to reading more with reading habits, there’s no need to jump into an epic novel or a lengthy nonfiction book. Let yourself start small. Pick an easy read, like a short novel, a collection of short stories, or a magazine with short articles. Also start small with the amount of time you spend reading. If you don’t have the time to read for hours, set aside fifteen minutes. If you want to do it for longer to really dive into your book, increase the time as you go. Soon, you’ll be so pulled into a story, you’ll spend more time reading than you imagined possible with your busy schedule.
3. Go Chapter by Chapter
Another way to stick with a reading habit when you don’t have much time is to take your book chapter by chapter. Commit to reading one chapter a day, or even one chapter a week if you are especially busy. Set a schedule that makes sense for you. Don’t overdo it, or you run the risk of burning yourself out or stopping altogether. Remember that reading is not a race. The joy and knowledge you get from it is for you to have at whatever pace works for you. Habits stick when you focus less on doing them quickly and more on doing them consistently.
4. Make a Reading Spot
Who doesn’t love a reading nook—a quiet, cozy space where you can snuggle up and enjoy a good book. Make a reading spot for yourself in your home. It can be in your living room, a corner of your bedroom, in the kitchen, or outside on your porch. Here are a few characteristics that make for a great reading spot:
- Make sure the spot is filled with light so you can read easily
- Add pillows and blankets to make it more comfortable
- Personalize the spot with your favorite scented candle, flowers, artwork, shelves of books, etc.
Do whatever you want to the spot that brings you joy so you are excited to return and continue your reading habit.
5. Use a Reading Habits Tracker
A reading habit tracker is a tool that helps you keep track of the books you’ve read, plan to read, and are currently reading. It’s a great way to figure out your reading goals and catalogue your accomplishments. If your goal is to read a certain number of books, add them to the habit tracker and mark them complete as you go. There are various digital habit trackers you can use, such as websites like Libib and BookSloth, or apps like Goodreads and Bookly. You can also make your own reading habit tracker in a spreadsheet or a journal.
6. Have Multiple Reading Options
Don’t be afraid to read more than one thing at a time. The same book might not capture your interest every day, and that’s okay. Include a different kind of book or magazine in your mix, so you have something else to grab during your reading time. Just like bibliophile Rory Gilmore, from the show Gilmore Girls. As she said in one episode: “Sometimes when I’m on the bus, I’ll pull out a biography and think to myself, ‘Well, I don’t really feel like reading about a person’s life right now.’ Then I’ll switch to the novel. And then sometimes when I’m not into the novel, I’ll switch back.”
7. Use Your Local Library
One of the drawbacks of taking up a reading habit is how expensive it can get. Multiple trips to the bookstore or online shops can get pricey. Sometimes you need to read the first few chapters of a story to see if it’s something you want to continue, which is hard to do in a bookstore aisle or online. Luckily, libraries are filled with books, eBooks, audiobooks and magazines you can check out for free. Now you can sample books to your heart’s content until you find one you want to commit to. You can even use the app Libby to check out eBooks and audiobooks and track them as you read. All you need is a library card!
8. Mix Things Up with a New Genre
If you are used to reading one kind of book, pick out a book in a genre you don’t usually read. For example, if you are a lover of fiction and novels, think about what your favorites have in common. A particular time in history, region of the world or type of character may emerge as a theme. That can send you down a glorious rabbit hole of non-fiction books that will illuminate your understanding of times, places and people who already live in your imagination.
9. Add a Treat to Your Reading Habits
If you are having trouble motivating yourself to stick to your reading habits, try doing something to treat yourself during your reading time. Many people enjoy a relaxing cup of tea as they read. Some like to pop a bag of popcorn and munch as they read, just like at the movies. Maybe you have a sweet tooth and want to nibble on some chocolate as you turn the pages. Just be sure to keep your hands clean so you can avoid smudges.
10. Try Habit Stacking
Habit stacking is adding a new habit onto an already existing habit, such as making a daily to-do list while you drink your coffee or doing slow breathing exercises while getting ready for bed. If you are having trouble adding reading habits into your routine, make them a part of your current habits. Think about something you do on a daily or weekly basis that you could also read during. Some examples include:
- Listen to an audiobook during your morning commute
- Read a magazine while you wait for your laundry to dry
- Listen to an audio book while you wait for dinner to finish cooking
- When you lay in bed before going to sleep, put down your phone and curl up with a good book
11. Give Old Favorites a Re-Read
There is a particular kind of pleasure that comes with easing open a well-worn book, flipping through pages you have thumbed before, maybe multiple times. Re-reading favorite books can do more than bring you back into beloved worlds and stories—it can bring you back to the time in your life when you last met those characters. You’re left with a rich reflection on who you were, who you are and where you turn for meaning and inspiration. Re-reading a favorite a great way to keep yourself committed to your reading habits when you aren’t feeling up for anything new.
12. Let Your Finished Book Help Choose the Next Book
If you finish a book, don’t lose the momentum in your reading habits. After you’ve digested what you’ve read, be sure to pick out something new to read soon. You can use your previous book to pick the next book on your list. If the book is in a series, go to the next one. If you liked the author you read, look up what else they’ve written. If there was a subject in the previous book that intrigued you, research a good book to read about it. You can also make a list of books you hope to read beforehand, so you always know what to pick up next.
13. Join a Book Club
Book clubs are positive on so many levels, not least of which is that they open your mind to books you might not otherwise consider. Many neighborhoods, towns and cities have book clubs you can find online and join. Even if you don’t belong to one, try to think about your reading choices in a communal way. Ask friends what they are reading and go with any recommendations that intrigue you. Maybe even consider starting your own book club with them.
14. Share Your Reading Habits Journey
Nothing can make you commit to a habit more than announcing you are going to do it. Wanting your friends and family to see you successfully complete a goal can be great motivation. Tell people in your life that you are starting a reading habit. You can do this in person or on social media. Keep people updated on how your habit is going by talking about the books you’ve read, asking for recommendations, or making posts about how your reading habits are progressing.
15. Give Yourself Permission to Move On
Sometimes you just can’t get through a book—and that’s okay. Just like living positively means acknowledging when it’s time to let go of something that isn’t serving you well, reading positively means giving yourself permission to close a book that isn’t keeping you interested or inspired. There are infinite choices to turn to instead, after all. The positive pleasure of reading is indeed un-ending.
Inspiring Quotes About Reading Habits
Find inspiration by reading these quotes about reading habits, some of them from great writers and novelists. Write a favorite at the time of your reading list to keep you motivated. Put one on a sticky note in your reading spot so you always remember the joy that you can find in reading.
- “The habit of reading is the only one I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade.” —Anthony Trollope, novelist
- “Read every day and learn from what you read.” —Octavia Butler, writer
- “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all of the miseries of life.” —W. Somerset Maugham, writer
- “A fondness for reading, properly directed, must be an education in itself.” —Jane Austen, novelist
- “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his needs, is good for him.” —Maya Angelou, memoirist
- “That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive — all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.” —Mary Ann Shaffer, writer and librarian
- “I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” —C.S. Lewis, writer
- “The greatest luxury I know is sitting up reading in bed.” —Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady and diplomat
- “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” —James Baldwin, writer
- “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” —Emilie Buchwald, editor and teacher
- “My favorite books are the ones that make me smile for hours after reading them.” —Sarah Addison Allen, author
- “It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.” —S.I. Hayakawa, former U.S. Senator and professor
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