Let me begin with the fact that I have been a reader in the past and then I was just busy like all of us and then I renewed by friendship with books again. On a serious note, I am aware how habit of book reading adds perspective and meaning to our lives but I also have an experience to share, which I am sure will help you in developing habit of book reading for all great reasons like self development, career growth, career switch and even the young parents can read and seek help for positive parenting and develop habit of book reading in the kids.
During my MBA I had read 114 books, apart from my subject books! Those included self-help, business management and non fictional. I met with an accident on 4th April’03 and I was in coma for some time. I spent more than a year recovering from the accident. A lot of things changed due to accident and I missed two which were very close to me. First, driving, and the other, book reading. I recovered gradually and started my life as a normal person and started my career with Indian Express and also started driving. I was happy as my life was back on track and I was doing well in my career. But still I missed reading and my favorite seat at my B- School library. Though I was reading a lot on my mobile, laptop etc. but I was not reading books the way I was used to.
I asked two of my friends, Mohit Pawar and Jimmy Jain, who themselves are voracious readers, to help me get back to the reading habit and they helped me with some simple but very effective tips which I found are of great help if anyone wants to develop this habit. I am back to the rhythm and my own small library is flourishing again.
This blog is for my friends who want to develop book reading habit.
Quick tips to develop habit of book reading:
1. Always carry a book:
As they say out of sight is out of mind. Always carry a book and whenever you get time try and read during the day. You can read while traveling or waiting for someone in a restaurant or a cab, a train station – wherever you have free time. A lot many people listen to audio books while driving but I don’t recommend that as when you are driving you should focus on driving and listening audio book needs concentration and then you will not be able to concentrate on driving.
2. Make a reading list:
Keep your hobbies/ interests in mind while deciding what kind of books you enjoy reading and make a list of the books. And if you come to know about a good book you can add the book to your list. I keep my reading list on my email and I email myself if someone recommends me a good book which is not there in my reading list.
3. Go to a used bookstore:
In the beginning one may find books he wants to read to be expensive. The used bookstore can be of great help as it will help you save a lot of money and you will be able to buy more books and read more.
4. Minimize TV Time and Social Media Time:
TV and Social Media consume a lot of our productive time and as per some medical reports they have a bad effect on our brain and health. Reducing our TV and Social Media time will be little challenging at first but once you make concentrated efforts you will be amazed how much free time you have for book reading.
5. Go to library:
You can find those expensive and rare books, which are not there in used bookstore, in library. The memberships are quite affordable and helpful for the starters.
6. Set a Goal:
To start with set a goal of reading at least 25 pages or two chapters of a book in a day and once you have finished a book now set another goal on how many books you will read in a year.
7. Have a reading time:
Assign a time for book reading in your daily schedule and unless you will not schedule it you will not find time in your busy schedule. Assign even if you have 15 minutes in entire day and stick to it no matter what happens.
8. Buy Books don’t Borrow:
I prefer to buy book and not to borrow as I can re read it after some time and I do it quite often. Though there are some expensive and rare books which are difficult to purchase. For all such books use library and make notes after reading which can be helpful for future references.
9. Know when to give up:
To start with find books which are fun and compelling and keep you going. If you are reading a book and you find the first 50 pages as boring then give up. The idea here is to cultivate a habit. Once you have cultivated reading habit you can always pick up the same book and read.
10. Reward yourself:
Make your reading time pleasurable. Have some tea/coffee when you read. And treat yourself with pizza/chocolate/ice cream after finishing the book.
I hope this helps you and if you are trying and still find it difficult to develop habit of book reading, let us connect and I might help you with some recommendations and preferences. You can write to me on rjdhir@gmail.com
Happy reading 🙂