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I love going to bookstores and buying stacks of books. My goal is to eventually have a large personal library. The ones with the ladders that roll down the bookcases so you can reach the books 10-15 feet up in the air. However, it’s one thing to have lots of books; it’s another entirely to read said books. With that in mind, here are a couple of pointers for creating a reading habit and a couple of common misconceptions to avoid.

Steps to Creating a Reading Habit

Set Aside Time

The first step to creating a reading habit is to set aside the time. Like most things in life, if you don’t plan for it, it won’t happen. The best thing to do would be to add it to an existing routine. Reading can also be squeezed into small sections throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be a long time. If your reading speed is average, you could read roughly 4 books a year in only 5 minutes a day. That’s 4 more than you would read if you didn’t read at all. A book a month then would only take 15 minutes a day.

Personally, I have a few different times that I have allotted for reading. My designated reading time is after the kids go to bed and before I go to bed. It’s part of my bedtime routine. It helps that reading is a scientifically proven method of getting ready for sleep. Additionally, certain exercises, like walking on a treadmill or using a stair climber, allow for reading (at least on an e-reader; I haven’t tried it with an actual book). Also, solo car rides make for a good opportunity to listen to an audiobook.

Be Consistent

After you’ve set aside time, the next step is to be consistent. Building a habit is going to be difficult if you’re not consistent. I use an app called Bookly that keeps track of my reading progress and allows me to see how many days I’ve read in a row. It motivates me to read. Having consistently read every day for over 5 years now, I don’t often have an “Oh shoot, I forgot to read today” moment. But for those just starting out, it also has a reminder feature that will notify you in your set aside time for reading.

There have been times when I’ve only read a couple of pages a day for a couple of weeks at a time. Before I aimed to be consistent, I would have periods of a month or more where I didn’t read at all.

Common Myths About Reading Habits

Read What Interests You

Now for a couple lies that could creep in when building a reading habit. The first is that you have to read certain books. Or, to put it another way, if you enjoy it, it doesn’t count. Read whatever you want! Do you like history? Read history books. Do you like Sci-fi? Read Sci-fi books. Do you like reading to your kids? Read to your kids. When it’s your habit, you get to choose what to read.

Relax What Counts

The next lie is that only certain books count. As I mentioned earlier, I read in a few different formats: Physical books, e-books, and audiobooks. There’s nothing that says they don’t count for you. You get to choose what works best for you. Personally, audiobooks are my least favorite. I’ve had a few books that I’ve started listening to and decided that I would get more out of it if I read the physical book. But I’ve listened to a lot of audiobooks. Also, reading doesn’t have to be limited to just books. Other options could include magazines, newspapers, or even podcasts. I don’t count those for my reading streak, but I do use them on a somewhat regular basis.

Conclusion

The goal of reading is to expand our horizons. To “see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own”¹ as C S Lewis puts it. It can be challenging to find the time and to be consistent, but in the end, it is worth it, and you will be a better person for it. Additionally, don’t let the false guilt of “not reading the right things” or “that’s not reading” keep you from experiencing the world from other perspectives, whether it’s from books or podcasts.

Since this is a reading blog and I like giving book recommendations, a good book on building habits is Atomic Habits by James Clear. He’s got a lot of helpful information about how to build good habits.

What’s one small way you can fit five minutes of reading into your day this week?

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1. Lewis, C S. 2012. An Experiment In Criticism. Cambridge University Press. ↩︎