5 Reading Tips | How to be a Good Reader.

If you’re anything like me you like the idea of reading but when it actually comes time to buckle down sit on a chair pick up a book and read you have a hard time focusing let alone really enjoying it. And maybe you’ve thought to yourself “Well, I guess I’m just not a reader. I’m more of an action-based learner, you know, I learn by doing.” But deep down you know that by not reading books you’re missing out on some of the important, in-depth, and profound insights ever recorded. Here are 5 Reading tips to help you to fall in love with reading.

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Reading Tip 1: If you want to start reading, don’t overachieve.

It’s very easy to say “yeah I’m going to read a book a week from now on.” But your past is telling. You’re not going to. So in order to break into the habit of reading, you need to set your standards almost comically low. I’m talking one page a day. Reading one page only takes about 60 seconds if you’re an average-speed reader, and, well, it’s an extremely easy task. But remember: It’s just as easy not to do, so make sure you do it. Don’t make not doing it an option. And if you want to keep reading after you’ve read your daily page – go for it, but the important thing is to get that one page in.Now lets go to the Tip 2 to improve your reading.

Reading Tip 2: Read before going on the internet.

You don’t need me to tell you that the internet is an ADHD inducing place full of cheap dopamine highs and shallow thinking. Checking your Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Reddit before reading a good book is like binge eating Skittles before tasting a fine-wine. The wine will taste way worse and you’ll feel too sick to drink it anyways. Point being – Reading books before your brain is zapped by the internet. A great way to do this, obviously, is to read first thing in the morning. Which brings me right to my next tips.

Reading Tip 3: Bunch your habits for Studying.

Habit bunching is when you pair an already existing habit that you enjoy doing with a habit that you’re trying to work on. If it’s a habit for you to drink a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning, then pair that habit with reading. An easy way to do this is to put the book you want to read next to your coffee maker in the morning so when you get up and make yourself a cup of coffee you’ll see the book and you’ll grab it and go. By bunching an already existing habit with the one you’re trying to work on, not only will it be easier to work on that new habit but the enjoyability of the first habit may even rub off on the second one.

Tip 4: Try audio-books.

Listening to audio-books is a great way to soak in the information of a book while still being able to multitask. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to the book while I’m working out. If you enjoy working out like I do this count as habit bunching. My camera just overheated. Where was I. Audible is a personal favorite place to get audio-books and while the subscription isn’t free? Oh yeah! So if you find yourself at about a book-a-month pace then audible’s free book system pays for itself. I think that math checks out.

Tip 5 : Change your attitude towards Reading & studying.

And this tip, while it may seem not very practical or hands-on, it’s probably the most important. Because if you self-identify as someone who hates reading, you’re building up unnecessary mental resistance towards something you’re trying to do more of. That’s dumb. So if you start identifying as someone who enjoys reading, you’ll break down mental barriers, and you’ll find the previous four tips a lot easier to do. So there you go.

Hopefully, you find these tips as useful as I currently do. I used to be someone who didn’t like reading… Reading is not a hard activity in and of itself because you’re just kind of looking and understanding paper. But in this day and age with so many distractions, especially because of the
internet – it definitely is a lot more difficult to eliminate those distractions and just focus on doing something a little slower-paced for a while. And while I’m definitely not a book worm right now,

These tips definitely helped me get to a point where I’m regularly reading good books and making myself smarter and I feel a lot better because of it. I hope these Reading tips will help you.

I have never seen a leader without a library. Most successful and happy people are voracious readers. Bill gates read almost 52 books a year Mark Zuckerberg loves reading about cultures, people and how they interact. Warren Buffet reads almost 4–6 hrs daily, Oprah Winfrey had started a book club in 1996.

If world’s richest self-made millionaires and leaders have time to immerse themselves in a book, perhaps this is a habit worth copying.
What book are you going to read next?!