Getting to the end of your university life and moving out into the real world brings with it many changes. One such change is that a lot of people stop reading. Now sometimes they never read to begin with, but university does have the ability to make reading seem very appealing. It tells you to force down these boring textbooks in order to “learn”. So for many people, once you are free from the shackles of university they simply never continue the habit of reading.
But for many people you soon discover if you really want to get progressing in life then you will need to pick up the habit of reading again. So how do you get back to reading for fun?
When your last experiences with reading were reading dull textbooks you can think to yourself that books are boring. While this can be true it is definitely judging all books by their covers and I’m pretty sure you would have been taught not to do that in primary school.
So a great starting place is thinking back to a favourite series you might have read as a child. I was a huge fan of the series CHERUB as a kid and having just recently added them to my reading list I have found how enjoyable it is to relive childhood memories of staying up late to just finish the next page and then the next chapter and then suddenly the whole book.
If you are still unsure what you want to read or didn’t have a favourite series from your youth then I recommend spending some time walking around a library or bookstore with the aim of getting 3-4 different books. Just pick up whatever catches your eye. If you get 3-4 this will also give you some back up options should you struggle to enjoy your first pick.
So you’ve selected your first book, now you just need to start reading. Easy right? Well in our days of instant dopamine from social media our brains can actually put up a good fight in our attempts to read. The draw of social media is a strong one, so aim to start with a simple goal of reading for 5 minutes or even just a page. If you decide the time goal seems best then set a timer and stop reading as soon as the timer finishes. Even if you want to keep reading. You want to avoid burning out. Keep this daily for a week and slowly increase the amount of time or pages you aim to read each day.
To really build the habit of reading a good trick is to swap scrolling time for reading.
This has been one of the biggest aids in increasing the amount I read. Gone are the
days of sitting in the breakroom at lunch just scrolling instagram and in are the days of finishing that chapter.
The biggest help in keeping the habit up over a long period of time is to simply put down books you aren’t enjoying. This works best if you own the books because they don’t have to be returned to the library but ideally if a book is feeling like a drag then you should just put it down and read something that you want to at that moment. I have often found the books I put down are much easier to read once I pick them up again when my interest has returned.
One recent tip I learned from Roxine Keeis the practice of reading 4 star reviews for books that are a step up in the intelligence department. I’m a big reader of non-fiction and while I don’t read anything too technical, I do sometimes come across a book that I just struggle to contemplate (often philosophy). So a quick read of some four star reviews and generally I have gained a brief overview of the books guiding themes, helping me to understand what I’m reading.
I’m a big advocate for reading more than one book at a time. While this sometimes can get confusing, it generally just means I have a book ready to be read no matter how I’m feeling. This also helps when reading bigger books (say 500 pages plus), as it reduces that feeling that you haven’t made a dent in a book for a long time.
Finally I would recommend you tell people about the books you have read. This not only helps with improving your retention but it also shares your joy of books with others and might inspire them to pick up a book. Who knows, you might even start a book club. As with almost everything in life, it’s generally more fun when shared, so why not add books to that list.
Hope you enjoyed this post and let me know what you’ve been reading recently or any tips you have for making reading a habit.