How To Read Books On A Busy Schedule: 6 Tips

Quote of the day: 
You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are. 
- Joss Whedon


Challenging yourself is one of the greatest ways of sustaining personal growth and advancement. There is good reason to derive happiness from a book. Asides the obvious -mental nourishment, there is that calming factor, the escapism from one world into another, transported by words like migrating birds, one becomes as the stars looking down upon star-gazers.

Out of busy schedules -which we all have, it becomes harder to make time for reading. For me whenever an opportunity presents itself, I embrace it with arms wide open. And in this post I've outlined what you need to do to create more reading time. So this post is for you -the busy individual caught up with everyday life, and less and less time to read.

1. Identify why you want to read more. 
For me its all about escaping as I mentioned earlier, and reading is a great way to do so. It is calming, and helps with concentration. Plus I get to improve my vocabulary while doing something I enjoy. Its like working in an ice-cream shop because you know...you just love ice-cream.

2. Have a set time for reading. 
From making little effort to read a chapter or more in the morning to getting lost in a book during the daily commute, there are many ways one can squeeze out time to read. Truth is, all that time spent on social media, or playing angry birds (okay maybe not), can be reduced to create space for reading. And to think there's an account dedicated to people reading on trains.

3. Read more than a book at a time.
Its certainly okay to juggle two or more books during a period of time -especially when starting with a new book. I use this technique when I find that my attention is reducing, or when I just need a new distraction. Reading more than one book at a time not only helps to pick where your interest lies, but also creates the longing to finish a book, and get started with another one.

4. Read while on your break
Lunch breaks shouldn't always be about food. How about a lunch/book break? You can either finish your meal first before reading, or combine both. You can get ahead with a few chapters doing this. Or you could try audio books as an alternative.

5. Get friends involved.
Most people complain about not knowing what to read. Becoming an avid reader may be hard initially, so why not get your friends who love reading involved -trade books and reading lists, download a book app, join a local library, and of course the list is endless.

6. Pick genres you would enjoy
There are no limits to the number of books and genres out there. Whatever scenario or story you'd like to read-has most likely been written already. A good website to try out is Goodreads -which is like a social network for readers and books lovers, tracking and rating books to give you an idea about what's good and what's not. You don't want to waste your time on books that hold little value.

The key element is to have a book with you during the day, this way when the world becomes boring, you can fly to another one, literally. So start reading today.

I'd like to hear about how you schedule your time for reading. Do share!


Be more, do more*


Current Listen: Kings of Leon -Sex on Fire