How To Read More.

Key points

• Spend time thinking about why you want to read more books. The more motivation you have, the more likely you are to succeed. Start out reading books you enjoy, and don’t be afraid to quit books you don’t like.

• Lay the groundwork for your new reading habit by making books salient in the physical and digital environments you encounter every day.

• Set modest goals, at least at first. Aim to read just a little each day.

• Look at your daily routines and your existing habits. Consider where you could build in a new habit of book reading, in effect piggybacking on your existing habits. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to succeed.

• Try as hard as you can to always read whenever you are in that situation, time or place. Eventually, you will form a new effortless reading habit.

• Track your progress by recognising every day that you managed to read, rather than by ticking off completed books. After two weeks, you should start to feel that your new habit is deepening.

• Consider whether your social world supports book reading. You could try joining a book group (see the Links and Books section below) to chat with like-minded readers.

• Cultivate your identity as an avid reader of books. Write a sentence outlining the kind of person you want to be, and think about how book reading will serve that aim.