I’ve struggled with this too and agree with all the action steps you mentioned. On books, a few shifts that have made reading easier and more enjoyable for me:
1. Keeping a Kindle by the bedside helps me sneak in more reading time.
2. I’m buying hard copies again for certain books, especially tactical ones, since flipping around on a Kindle can be a hassle. Kindle still wins overall.
3. I’ve stopped feeling like I have to finish every chapter or even every book. That old habit of needing to finish everything was hard to break, but once I gave myself permission to skip chapters, drop books, or even read multiple books at once—like I would with newsletters or blogs—reading started to feel lighter and more fun.
4. If I’m not into a book by 15–20%, I just move on. Most books, even the great ones, boil down to a handful of key ideas, so there’s no point slogging through if it’s not working for me.
5. I still buy books at 3x the pace I can read them. These days, they compete with newsletters, and I skim a lot more. If I even think I may want to read a book, I just immediately buy it on Amazon.
6. One litmus test I use: If I couldn’t tell anyone about what I’m learning, would I still read this? It’s a way to check if I’m reading for myself or just to sound smart.
As Naval puts it, “If you can speed read it, it isn’t worth reading.”
It's so frustrating to me that reading is still such a chore and a combat every single day. I am a reader deep inside, it's been my identity since literally forever, i live in a house full of books, my parents have 100x more than me, and i love reading with all my heart.
And yet somehow i still get distracted by my phone and the endless scrolling... I'll try to re-implement your advice again, for the millionth time lol, and i hope one day i'll manage to truly have a reading habit that can withstand anything and everything that gets in my way!!
These are excellent. I would add, "Prepare to be filled with doubt, anxiety and imposter's syndrome when you successfully reinvent yourself in alignment with your most desired life. Doubts and anxiety are not a sign you're doing something wrong, or on the wrong track, in fact, just the opposite." (It's a note to myself if that's not obvious.)
About six years ago, I also made some changes to increase my reading time, and three of them were key:
- Always have books within reach. I have books spread across different rooms in my house*. and always carry my Kindle with me.
- I accepted that I don't have to read a book from start to finish. Some books aren't worth it, others only have parts that interest me, and there are too many books in the world to waste time on the wrong ones for you.
- Audiobooks for commuting, walking, cleaning, or the gym (at gym I split between audiobooks and music, depending on how much help I need with the workout). I usually reserve non-fiction for audiobooks and fiction/classics for physical books or Kindle.
*Pro Tip: One book on a table at home is clutter; two or three stacked books on a table is decoration! Repeat in various rooms/tables. 🤣
Your audio/text split is so interesting because mine is flipped! I listen to fiction while commuting and read non-fiction because I tend to have more highlights.
Gotta say though, reading up fiction on my kindle last year has kept me up for some pretty late nights (that I don't regret)
I started my nightly reading habit a little over a year ago and I love it. I look forward to getting in bed early to read for thirty minutes (or sometimes only two pages if I'm really tired). It's a nice wind-down. I watched more TV shows before and spent more time on my computer. Now it's like, put the kids to bed then immediately get in bed to read. After a very short time, it became a habit I craved. Just make sure to read books you love and if you don't love them don't read them!
Love that! Two pages is so much better than 0 pages. I discovered that I get sleepy a lot faster too after reading, maybe because I'm just not overly stimulated so it's a perfect wind-down activity.
Great tip on not reading books that I don't love. There's too many good ones to spend time on the ones that aren't engaging!
Books have accompanied me my whole life and I've had dry spells from time to time. So I would say reading is more of a lifestyle. Which is how I've adjusted it to my own way of living like being physically active. I don't need to go the gym every day to feel accomplished but similar to your thinking - being a book worm is part of my identity The best way for me to find one I'm really really excited about it that way I want to finish til the end. Or find a book that I can relate to or want different perspectives on based on what I'm going through currently. Don't worry about ditching the ones that don't catch your interest.
And in recent years I've finally come to terms that there are farrrr to many books to read in my life and now I'm okay with that. So I'd say try out different methods that work for you. Make it fun and you'll find a lot more to enjoy in the process. I'm currently reading Shadow of the Wind.
Eviana, how are you! So delightful to see you here.
That's such a good tip on finding a book that excites you. I feel like I've subconsciously learned to read books that people think are "good" and finish books that don't excite me anymore.
I just looked up Shadow of the Wind and it sounds so epic!
I have to go through the same exercise because I have the same goal! I want to read more fiction, but I have a lot of friction as well. A big one being that similarly I don’t wanna read it on audiobook the way I do for productivity books. So maybe that stubbornness is preventing me from starting.
Audiobooks need a REALLY good narrator for fiction (though I imagine it would be the same for non-fiction). Top recs (not that you're asking) for audiobook is She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan, narrated by Natalie Naudus. For paperback, my fave last year was Babel by RF Kuang.
I also struggle to read books, and it's hard to admit it since I write things and want people to read them. I somehow made my way to 20 books last year, but to be honest, a lot of those were comfort reads. It's a real struggle, partly because my attention span has been shredded by too much time online. Also, I am increasingly finding less and less resonance in most story tropes - they either need to be unique or real to get me to engage. Non-fiction - I have a super high bar to even pick up and tend to dismiss most non-fiction books unless it's history, biography or something so unique.
Unfortunately, both frequency and milestone goals have failed me in reading - the only thing that works is picking something so interesting that I would read it anyway. All the best for your reading goals!
Thank you Tyagarajan! It's good to have a high bar on what to read. One of my closest friends reads the first two chapters of a book before she decides to buy it. She spends a lot of time being selective but as a result, she's made most of her buys to be books that she absolutely loved!
Fiction - all over the place, but my favourite genres are Sci-fi and Humor. But I do keep going back to some of my favourite authors all the time, like Terry Prattchet, Bill Bryson , Tom Wolfe, Lionel Shriver, etc. Scifi - often from the 80, 90s era. Weirdly, some of my top-rated books from last year have been nonfiction: Pure Invention, Catch & Kill and Cinema Speculations.
I’ve struggled with this too and agree with all the action steps you mentioned. On books, a few shifts that have made reading easier and more enjoyable for me:
1. Keeping a Kindle by the bedside helps me sneak in more reading time.
2. I’m buying hard copies again for certain books, especially tactical ones, since flipping around on a Kindle can be a hassle. Kindle still wins overall.
3. I’ve stopped feeling like I have to finish every chapter or even every book. That old habit of needing to finish everything was hard to break, but once I gave myself permission to skip chapters, drop books, or even read multiple books at once—like I would with newsletters or blogs—reading started to feel lighter and more fun.
4. If I’m not into a book by 15–20%, I just move on. Most books, even the great ones, boil down to a handful of key ideas, so there’s no point slogging through if it’s not working for me.
5. I still buy books at 3x the pace I can read them. These days, they compete with newsletters, and I skim a lot more. If I even think I may want to read a book, I just immediately buy it on Amazon.
6. One litmus test I use: If I couldn’t tell anyone about what I’m learning, would I still read this? It’s a way to check if I’m reading for myself or just to sound smart.
As Naval puts it, “If you can speed read it, it isn’t worth reading.”
These are banger tips. I only do #1 at the moment (my Kindle just lives next to my bed) but #3&4 are such good shifts.
figure out the easiest way to do an article. Brilliant
Thanks Karena 💙
"Instead of aiming to read 25 books a year, the goal is to read thirty minutes before bed." this is exactly what I need. great stuff Becky!
yeahh here’s to reading more books in 2025!
It's so frustrating to me that reading is still such a chore and a combat every single day. I am a reader deep inside, it's been my identity since literally forever, i live in a house full of books, my parents have 100x more than me, and i love reading with all my heart.
And yet somehow i still get distracted by my phone and the endless scrolling... I'll try to re-implement your advice again, for the millionth time lol, and i hope one day i'll manage to truly have a reading habit that can withstand anything and everything that gets in my way!!
One day we will be true readers!!! Or maybe we'll just be very seasonal readers that keep trying to get back to it :D
These are excellent. I would add, "Prepare to be filled with doubt, anxiety and imposter's syndrome when you successfully reinvent yourself in alignment with your most desired life. Doubts and anxiety are not a sign you're doing something wrong, or on the wrong track, in fact, just the opposite." (It's a note to myself if that's not obvious.)
Oh no! What is the doubt, anxiety and imposter's syndrome saying?
It’s saying, “Yeah, things are working okay now, but just wait until they discover you’re just making it all up and have no idea what you’re doing.”
Omg NOOO where can I fight these voices?!
That's what I'VE been doing. Now just trying to make friends and have a laugh.
About six years ago, I also made some changes to increase my reading time, and three of them were key:
- Always have books within reach. I have books spread across different rooms in my house*. and always carry my Kindle with me.
- I accepted that I don't have to read a book from start to finish. Some books aren't worth it, others only have parts that interest me, and there are too many books in the world to waste time on the wrong ones for you.
- Audiobooks for commuting, walking, cleaning, or the gym (at gym I split between audiobooks and music, depending on how much help I need with the workout). I usually reserve non-fiction for audiobooks and fiction/classics for physical books or Kindle.
*Pro Tip: One book on a table at home is clutter; two or three stacked books on a table is decoration! Repeat in various rooms/tables. 🤣
Your audio/text split is so interesting because mine is flipped! I listen to fiction while commuting and read non-fiction because I tend to have more highlights.
Gotta say though, reading up fiction on my kindle last year has kept me up for some pretty late nights (that I don't regret)
I started my nightly reading habit a little over a year ago and I love it. I look forward to getting in bed early to read for thirty minutes (or sometimes only two pages if I'm really tired). It's a nice wind-down. I watched more TV shows before and spent more time on my computer. Now it's like, put the kids to bed then immediately get in bed to read. After a very short time, it became a habit I craved. Just make sure to read books you love and if you don't love them don't read them!
Love that! Two pages is so much better than 0 pages. I discovered that I get sleepy a lot faster too after reading, maybe because I'm just not overly stimulated so it's a perfect wind-down activity.
Great tip on not reading books that I don't love. There's too many good ones to spend time on the ones that aren't engaging!
At first I didn’t think I was allowed to not finish a book. Once I let go of that belief it was liberating, and now I only equate reading with joy.
Books have accompanied me my whole life and I've had dry spells from time to time. So I would say reading is more of a lifestyle. Which is how I've adjusted it to my own way of living like being physically active. I don't need to go the gym every day to feel accomplished but similar to your thinking - being a book worm is part of my identity The best way for me to find one I'm really really excited about it that way I want to finish til the end. Or find a book that I can relate to or want different perspectives on based on what I'm going through currently. Don't worry about ditching the ones that don't catch your interest.
And in recent years I've finally come to terms that there are farrrr to many books to read in my life and now I'm okay with that. So I'd say try out different methods that work for you. Make it fun and you'll find a lot more to enjoy in the process. I'm currently reading Shadow of the Wind.
Happy 2025 reading Becky!
Eviana, how are you! So delightful to see you here.
That's such a good tip on finding a book that excites you. I feel like I've subconsciously learned to read books that people think are "good" and finish books that don't excite me anymore.
I just looked up Shadow of the Wind and it sounds so epic!
I have to go through the same exercise because I have the same goal! I want to read more fiction, but I have a lot of friction as well. A big one being that similarly I don’t wanna read it on audiobook the way I do for productivity books. So maybe that stubbornness is preventing me from starting.
Audiobooks need a REALLY good narrator for fiction (though I imagine it would be the same for non-fiction). Top recs (not that you're asking) for audiobook is She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan, narrated by Natalie Naudus. For paperback, my fave last year was Babel by RF Kuang.
For a short story, check out The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu: https://gizmodo.com/read-ken-lius-amazing-story-that-swept-the-hugo-nebula-5958919 or https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5838a24729687f08e0321a15/t/5bf2bdfa562fa782871c6252/1542635003373/The-Paper-Menagerie+by+Ken+Liu.pdf
Arcane is on my list - I want to watch it!
I also struggle to read books, and it's hard to admit it since I write things and want people to read them. I somehow made my way to 20 books last year, but to be honest, a lot of those were comfort reads. It's a real struggle, partly because my attention span has been shredded by too much time online. Also, I am increasingly finding less and less resonance in most story tropes - they either need to be unique or real to get me to engage. Non-fiction - I have a super high bar to even pick up and tend to dismiss most non-fiction books unless it's history, biography or something so unique.
Unfortunately, both frequency and milestone goals have failed me in reading - the only thing that works is picking something so interesting that I would read it anyway. All the best for your reading goals!
Thank you Tyagarajan! It's good to have a high bar on what to read. One of my closest friends reads the first two chapters of a book before she decides to buy it. She spends a lot of time being selective but as a result, she's made most of her buys to be books that she absolutely loved!
What kind of fiction do you read?
Fiction - all over the place, but my favourite genres are Sci-fi and Humor. But I do keep going back to some of my favourite authors all the time, like Terry Prattchet, Bill Bryson , Tom Wolfe, Lionel Shriver, etc. Scifi - often from the 80, 90s era. Weirdly, some of my top-rated books from last year have been nonfiction: Pure Invention, Catch & Kill and Cinema Speculations.
Oh lovely, I love sci-fi too! I haven't read those titles nor those authors! Will add them to my list :)