Did you use to read two to three books a week in high school, and then life hit you and you just stopped?

We feel you, and so do one-third of adults in the US that want to read more and just can’t seem to find the time. That’s why we put together this list of tips to help you build a more consistent reading habit. 

Reading improves focus, concentration, and memory while you learn new things along the way. Reading is essentially the best habit to keep nurturing into your adult years, so let’s dive into how you can reconcile your everyday life with your favorite hobby.

Get A Reading App

When you take reading from a hobby you reward yourself with to a part of your scheduled tasks, you take away your need for willpower to give yourself some leisure time. It’s in your schedule, it must be ticked off just like everything else. 

A way to keep up with your reading is using a dedicated app to schedule it within your free time, such as Bookly which lets you track your reading progress and gives you really nice insights like your reading speed and how long you’ve read for. Try scheduling reading times on the spot whenever you have a few free minutes, they’ll add up eventually.

Another habit-building app we recommend is Serial Reader which lets you read books by dividing one into several issues. You can finish an issue in 20 minutes tops, and the process of reading is slowed down which lets you understand the literature more critically than before.

Read With A Pen

Some of us have been swept up with the need to be overstimulated all the time because of our tech devices. In comparison, reading is a lot less engaging, so we find a way to make it more interesting.

Start annotating your books and reading with a pen in hand. It might feel odd at first since our instincts are to preserve the physical books we have, but it’ll quickly become second nature. 

The Center for Professional ​Education of Teachers at Columbia suggests that annotating gives way to a conversation with a text, thus letting you ask questions, exclaim your emotions on the page, and make sense of what is actually happening in the book. And if the book isn’t engaging at that point, we might suggest you drop it. There’s not enough time to try and read books we don’t like. 

TIP: Stick to a consistent marking system: highlight important parts, put a Q next to a nice quote, mark things you don’t understand in the margins, maybe even use sticky notes for questions you want to revisit later. 

Try To Read in Bursts

If reading for a few hours daunts you and your busy schedule, try reading in bursts of 10 to 15 pages per day. Maybe aim for 50 pages on the weekend and overlook the rest of the week, whichever works with your schedule.

In addition, if you feel like reading as an activity doesn’t have a place in your day-to-day life but would still like to enjoy beautiful bouts of literature, try going for audiobooks. They’re easy to find, you can listen at your own pace (or maybe at 1.3x speed), and perhaps this habit will transfer to paper later on. 

Have Book Buddy

By having someone hold you accountable for the reading you want to do, you make a public commitment and are more likely to get some reading in during your day. Pick someone who’s an avid reader, someone you know you can count on, and holds books very close to their hearts. 

Your reading buddy doesn’t even need to have the same taste in books, just someone that can lend you some motivation when you need it. If you’re interested in the same kinds of books, maybe take a few recommendations from them. That way, you’ll have someone to discuss your book with, which will make it more exciting to read every day.

Understand Why You Like Reading

An essential technique Nick Wignall explains in his tips on building a reading habit is understanding why you want to read more. 

What is the value of books to you? 

Why do you want to be a reader?

What motivates you to read? 

This might be the hardest step but it’ll stick with you for the remainder of the time you’ll spend as a reader. So think hard and write it down in a journal or on a dry-erasing board you have lying around. Look at it every time you try and prioritize other things before reading.

Reading can be quite fun, however, sometimes other things and people stand in our way. So let’s build a healthy reading habit that’ll last us a lifetime, and enjoy books we’ll remember fondly.