How to read more this year – tips by my husband, Dion :)

When I was putting together last week’s post, I happened to ask Dion what he would say and he rattled off such a lot that I thought it deserved its own blog post.

I hope you enjoy Dion’s 5 tips to read a lot of books every year.

Set a comfortable stretch goal

Dion sets a goal of about 50 books every year and he is very happy with that goal.

Break up your goal into quarters

If you break up your goal into quarters (instead of months like I do), there is more flexibility if you have an awful month of not a lot of reading, and you don’t feel like a failure.

Build momentum

Use all holidays and long weekends to build momentum and get ahead of your goal so you don’t feel pressure. If your goal is 48 books, that’s 12 a quarter but if you read well during your January holidays, you’ll be ahead for the rest of the year.

Stop reading boring books

Dion has a 100-page cut-off for bad books. Stop reading things you’re not interested in. There are no shoulds with reading.

Make a list of books you really, really, really want to read

and start reading those books at the beginning of the year. Dion does this and because he’s reading favourite authors that he knows and loves, the reading experience is pleasurable and it also helps him gain momentum with his reading goal.

Again, don’t read books just because you feel you should read them or other people are talking about them. Read what you want to read.

This also reminds me of something Laura Vanderkam said on the What should I read next podcast… – I’m paraphrasing but basically we’re not at university or school so there are no shoulds – we can all read simply for our own pleasure.

and last but not least…

Make time for 5 and 10-minute reading sessions

Dion is really good at this one. He takes a book to work to read while he’s having lunch, I often find him reading for 10 minutes while waiting for the rest of us to leave and he takes time to read for a few minutes every evening after he unpacks his work stuff.

That’s it.

Is there anything here that could help you read more this year?

Also, how do you think your tendency factors into your reading life?

 

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Comments

  1. I’m going to use that 100 page cutoff tip. I struggle letting books go. Also short stories/novellas are a great way to get your reading groove back. Novellas are the reason why I’m already at 56 books for the year. Well that, and things only picking up now :p

    • He is quite ruthless with that 100-page (self-imposed) rule. I abandoned 5 books last year which is excellent for me but it gradually got easier. Give it a try! 👍🏼

  2. Kirstin says

    Great tips! I also do not find it that easy to abandon books even if I dont like them. I always feel they may get better. I like the idea of writing down all the books I really want to read – I often forget the titles again.

    • Marcia Francois says

      Kirstin, I was the worst at abandoning books – I think I only started about two years ago. And it’s true, some do get better, but some you know are not going to be for you. Those are the ones I need to also get better at abandoning sooner.

      I’ve made a collection in my kindle app with books to read in Feb. I hope to keep this up because it’s so nice seeing them all waiting for me on my virtual bookshelf!

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