How do you find the time to read?

[james452]

I'll preface this by saying that I'm interested in having some discussion and to find out what techniques people use to set time aside to read. The more detailed you go into your answers, the better.

 

For me, there's been two main ways I've set time aside for reading:

• Reading on the train to work,
• Reading for half an hour first thing in the morning, and half an hour right before bed.

 

The first I did because I didn't want to sit there and play games on my phone for 40 minutes, twice a day, 5 days a week. And I had just purchased 5 books so I needed an excuse to read them. I read the entirety of 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and Name of the Wind on trains. Unfortunately I changed jobs so I no longer read on the way to work (but I do listen to podcasts).

 

The second method I've been following for about 2 years now and is how I do the bulk of my reading. The morning reading is very ritualistic for me. I wake up, make a cup of coffee, sit down on the couch, my cat then jumps on my lap and naps for 30-120 minutes, and whilst she's sleeping, I'll read a book. To be honest, the thing that makes me happiest about that is the cat sleeping on me. 

 

As for night time reading, it's a very good way for me to wind down. I usually will read comics on my tablet, and I'll read until I'm sleepy (sometimes falling asleep during the comic). 

 

A little bonus, I'm currently reading the following 3 books

• Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko
• Dragon Ball Super Volume 1 by Akira Toriyama (the Japanese print so I can practice reading Japanese)

 

What do you do to set time aside for reading? 

[RisenPhoenix]

When I dropped my morning workouts, I replaced them partially with an hour of coffee and reading time.  It was a nice, slow, boot-up time ritual that let me read a bunch more.  I try to read at night, but I tend to get distracted and do other things (once I prep for the next morning, make dinner, and sit down I'm about an hour or two away from bed, and I just don't want very active entertainment - so I'm sticking to TV and podcasts usually.)

[Nomad Jay]

Techniques that work for me:

• Lunchtime. 20 minutes is enough for me to get a few pages in.
• Before bed. I find that focusing on a book helps me quiet my mind before sleep
• "Fasting" from electronics. Every now and then I'll do a weekend "fast" from electronics: no television, no cellphone except for known numbers calling me (I occasionally get work-related calls on the weekend), and computer time limited 20 minutes a day on the Internet to check personal e-mail. These weekends are either incredibly productive (CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!!, that project I've been meaning to get to, 10-mile hike, etc) or I spend most of the weekend in my chair with coffee, knocking out a couple-hundred pages or an entire book.

FWIW, I too listen to podcasts on my commute.

[AceVixen]

I read on the train, on my commute, in bed, while eating my breakfast or during my lunch break or in the evening when I basically just want to read, because reading is awesome. 

 

My number one tip for reading more is to give up if you aren't enjoying a book. Life is too short for bad books, and if you like what you're reading, you won't want to put it down! 

[elmerh]

I read on train and before bed.

[Pavowski]

On 2/18/2018 at 4:13 AM, AceVixen said:

I read on the train, on my commute, in bed, while eating my breakfast or during my lunch break or in the evening when I basically just want to read, because reading is awesome. 

 

My number one tip for reading more is to give up if you aren't enjoying a book. Life is too short for bad books, and if you like what you're reading, you won't want to put it down! 

 

Totally agree with ditching bad books. We're grown now; we don't have to sink time into reading books we don't enjoy!

[Raincloak]

I don't make time to read.  If a book is laying around and there's no imminent distractions, I will more than likely pick it up.

 

One way to make sure you have enough "time" to read is to curtail screen time, eg recreational use of smartphone, tablet, TV, computer.  Amazing how much more time for reading one has when those things aren't available.  I don't have home internet or a television, and I go through a couple books a week.

[TheDitz]

I have started reading Kindle books on my phone. Since I always have my phone on I’m me I’m able to read where ever and whenever. It has singlehandedly allowed me to finish several books including Level Up Your Life! Plus they tend to be less expensive. Don’t get me wrong I would prefer to read actual paperback books but I have difficulty setting aside the time. I’ll take the wins where I can get them.

[Radost]

Listening to audiobooks is a different kind of reading, but I’ve been pretty successful adding that to times when I’m doing housework or gardening. I read print and ebooks too, but most weeks audiobooks get the most hours. 

 

One of the ideas that helped me get back into reading was to acknowledge that I will never be caught up on everything - I’ll never read all the books, and (more importantly in my life) I’ll never watch all the good tv/movies, especially since I keep re-watching Supernatural, The Ultimate Versus, and Labyrinth. So I had a good hard look at the series I was trying to keep up with and let a bunch of them go. Am I missing out on some water cooler conversation? Yes. But being intentional about my media consumption has meant I enjoy what I do watch and read so much more. 

[rachel_ftw]

audio books forever. 

 

Reading is one of the most luxurious activities you can do. It takes over your whole body, I can't move, think, speak - my whole mind and body have to be dedicated to the leisure of reading. Sometimes, I have time for that. Most of the time I don't. I read constantly, but it's all audiobooks while commuting, cooking, chores, gardening... whenever I have a second.

[GeekWingChun]

It might sound corny, or to be more appropriate it might sound NERDY, but then again I know I have no fear of judgment here if it does...

 

Wait, where was I?

 

Oh yeah, how do I find time to read?

 

I set a goal of reading a certain amount of pages each day. I read only on weekdays because on the weekends I have my kids. So if I read 20 pages per day, and there are 5 days in a work week, then I have read 100 pages throughout the week.

[squeakyvalkyrie]

I read on my lunch break at work. I was just playing on my phone anyway. I do have to set a time though, or I will go way over time.