how to read more | 365daysofmarriage

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originally posted 2/25/15
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I hate excuses. I hate when my tendency is to make them. Starting an email to someone saying “I’m sorry this took so long” kills me. I hate when people whine and complain and don’t DO anything about it. Seriously, if you hate your job, do something else or be thankful for what you have.

Ok, ahem, let me step down from my soap box and give you some practical tips I’ve used over the last week or so.

A list of tips for everyone who thinks they don’t have time to read:

– Take Facebook, Twitter, whatever off your phone and install/use your ebook reader. When you have the two minutes to kill in line somewhere, pull up the ebook reader and READ.

– Turn off the TV at the end of the day and READ. Want mindless entertainment? There are a ton of books that fit that bill. (But I’ll be nice and not give suggestions.) 😀

– Waiting for someone? Pull out the book in your purse, laptop bag or satchel and READ.

– Fun fact – the average person reads between 40-100 pages per hour. Even if you’re SUPPPPPPER slow and read 10 pages per hour, if you cut out that hour TV show each night, you’ll read a 200 page book in under 3 weeks. If you read your 10 pages every night for an hour, you’ll read about 17 200 page books in a year. If you can read 50 pages an hour, that’s one 200 page book every 4 days…..averaging that, you’re looking at about 90 books in a year.

– Accountability/tracking app – Goodreads. You can find your friends and share books with them, add books you want to read and find books you didn’t know about through suggestions.

– Listen to them! Books on tape are a great way to rack up the numbers. The last two weeks, I’ve gone down to a friend’s house in DC, which is about an hour from Bret’s school. So I’ve been listening to How To Win Friends And Influence People In The Digital Age. It also helps to pass the time of a long drive. This particular book helped me figure out a problem I was facing almost immediately. Great read!

– Read to your kids, spouse, dog, cat, invisible friend.

What’s your excuse? I’ll talk you out of it. 🙂

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I have a current personal goal of reading 300 books this year. Before you think that’s crazy, I’m thinking the majority of the books, probably about 200-250 will be children’s books. I’ve read 64 books this year and only 11 have been “grown up” books. I love to read and I love to encourage others to read. So, I wanted to give you some of my habits to read more.

My Top 5 Habits Every Aspiring Reader Should Develop

1 – Have a Goodreads account and app on your phone. This amazing website and app has helped me find new books, track what I’ve read, what I want to read, and get an idea if a book I’m thinking of reading will be something I would enjoy.
2 – Have a “To Be Read List” – I use Goodreads for this. Using the app, I can scan a book and quickly add it to my to be read list. I also took my account a step further and added two shelves – to be read fiction and to be read non-fiction. This way, if I’m at the library, I can quickly look through my current 390 books on either list.
3 – Have a set time that you read. Maybe it’s 15 minutes before bed. Maybe it’s while you drink your cup of coffee. Whenever it is, keep that date.
4 – Have a location where you love to read. This is especially helpful if the location is really comfortable. I’ve mentioned before my favorite spot is curled up under the heating vent.
5 – Read books that you love. Don’t read books you think you HAVE to read because everyone says you have to read them. Also, don’t feel like you HAVE to finish the book. As hard as it is to give up another check mark on my goal of books, there are times when I’m not feeling a book and I stop reading.
5a – Do a reading challenge. This year I’ve already read some books I never would have thought to read if I wasn’t participating in a reading challenge.

What do you think of my list? What ways do you cultivate a reading habit?