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Cultivating Reading Habits

Habit, as defined by Charles Dihigg in his book “The power of Habit” is “the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often every day”.

Just like any other things we do on daily basis that has become part of our daily life, reading can also be inculcated into our daily activities. Some activities that we do automatically such as; Sleeping, eating, going to work, watching TV, spending time on social media etc. Reading can also be done in such way without much hassle.

By reading one hour a day, regardless of your perceived level of knowledge, you can become a world leading expert in any subject in 7 years. If you begin now, you could become a world leading expert in your chosen field in less than 10% of your lifetime.

You will start seeing new ideas assisting you throughout your life. Through reading you will notice you’ve began quoting obscure texts and your friends pick up on it.


“Motivation is to get you started, Habit is to keep you going” – Jim Rohn

Knowing fully well the benefits of reading, then it’s worth making it an everyday chore to fully enjoy those benefits. This write-up will help you discover a lifelong reading habit techniques and make it an easy task for you to do every day.

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.  W. Somerset Maugham

Take note of the following ways of cultivating a good reading habit.
1. Discover what subject area you need to read on:

We find time to do the things we love. Stick with it. There will be something that interest you. And there are people similar to you who have made it big in life. They would have written about it. You need to read these books to get a whole new insight in your life. Your area of interest may be Spiritual, Business, Leadership, Management, Relationship, Marriage or other areas, you can always find books on them. You won’t be committed if you don’t like what you’re reading, so first discover your genre.

2. Search for books on your subject areas

After discovering your area of interest, the next thing is to search for relevant books in such area either by visiting a bookstore around you or searching for it online. Goodreads.com is one of the online platform where you can get books on a particular genre.

3. Start small:

Starting with your first book may not be smooth enough for you to cover a voluminous book, so it’s advisable to start with a book not more than 100 – 200 pages. With that you begin to grow little by little till you can demand for a 1000 pages book without worries.

4. Make it a routine

No matter the volume of the book you want to read, even if it is 10 pages, you won’t be committed to it if you don’t make it an everyday habit, something you do every day. So you must add it to your to-do list every day. Put it in your reminder, write it anywhere you can easily see it and be reminded of it.

“We become what we repeatedly do”– Sean Covey

5. Read at least 10-20 pages/day

Make it a commitment that no matter how hectic your day was, you will read at least 10-20 pages each day.

6. Discipline yourself (Avoid Procrastination)

Cultivating reading habit is all about discipline, if you are not disciplined enough you will always find an excuse for not reading every day. You must discipline yourself not to let other things distract you from your routine act. Soap opera, Movies and social media are some of the things that take a whole lot of your time, you must be disciplined enough not to be distracted.

Make it a commitment never to let a day pass without reading at least a chapter of a book.

7. Get book recommendations from Friend.

In order to keep you moving, get books recommendation form friends around you, ask them to give you little review about the book they have read, from there you may derive interest in it. Remember you are not just reading, you are reading to grow and to learn.

8. Set goal for each month.

Determine for yourself the number of books you should read per week or per month.  You have to write down your goal of reading in detail, how many books you want to read by which day. Clarity will lead you to power. But after that you need to read your goal everyday too to let your subconscious mind remember it.

NOTE: Don’t set too rigid or unrealistic goals. Don’t force yourself to finish a book in a rush, you’ll only miss out what it has to offer. Let your goal be according to your schedule.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” 

Aristotle

9. Get a compatible format of the book you want to read.
Photo credit: Difference Wiki

Most books always come in different format. It may be hardcopy or softcopy. You can always get hardcopy books from bookstore around you. While softcopy books are mostly been sold online, they come in different forms such as Pdf, Mobi, Epob, Text and Kindle. Softcopies are meant for mobile phone and Pc.

Some people finds it easy reading hardcopy while some people prefer softcopies. Know the one that best suits you, and get it.

10. Get tools that encourage reading
Photo credit: Latter Day

There are lots of tools that enables you to read even while you are busy doing other things. Such as:

  • Audio books
  • Mobile phone
  • Mobile eBook reader applications

(Adobe, Epub reader, universal book reader etc.)

  • Ear piece
  • Mobile applications that read out text to your ear.

(Voice aloud reader, eReader etc.)

They encourages reading habit and allow you to cover lots of books in a shortest time.

11. Do your reading everywhere
Photo credit: Inspirerr

Reading can be done almost anywhere you found yourself, instead of wasting your time doing nothing in some places, reading will prevent you from being bored. It can be done in places like;

  • In the toilet
  • In the reception or waiting room
  • Inside train or cab
  • On a long queue
  • Also while waiting for a meeting to start
Photo credit: We heart it

Make sure you always go along with books anywhere you are going (hard copy or soft copy on your phone), So with these you are making reading a part of your daily activities. You can play it aloud on your phone or make use of ear piece.

12. Get a reading partner or join a Reading club
Photo credit: Huffpost

You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”  – Jim Rohn

The best way to stay committed to reading habit is to find someone who also have passion for reading, or join a reading club. Your partners will motivate and inspire you to read more. You will feel challenged especially when task are given to you to make presentation on a particular book or when a deadline is set to return a book you borrowed from the club.

Click Here to join IMPACT NETWORK READER’S CLUB. 

“Successful people have libraries. The rest have big screen TVs” – Jim Rohn

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