How to Read Books When You’re Busy

You want to read books, but your new job doesn’t let you. Or you’ve been trying super hard to keep all the balls in the air with your school and your internship, and can’t squeeze time out for reading? Whatever the case, you are always busy and you often wonder how some people are able to read even when they’re more occupied than you. Guess what? I have the answer.

Make reading your priority

This is the first step. You just need to decide to read every day and consider reading as important as, say, bathing. I think it helps when you think of reading as something you need to do.

Challenge yourself or join some online reading challenge

Goals help people read more. They personally don’t work for me, but I think they work for a lot of people. You can challenge yourself and decide that you wanna read X number of books in 2020, and try to read the books during the year. I really like Goodreads because it lets you join the reading challenge.

Listen to audiobooks

Audiobooks are my favorite. I love listening to them. They’re so much fun and you can multitask while “reading a book” and finish it quicker.

Always keep a book with you

This is another amazing advice. I never leave my house without a book. I either have a physical copy of a book I’m reading, or I have my e-reader. I try to do most of my reading while traveling. I think audiobooks and reading on your e-reader are super helpful when you’re outside.

Read e-books

I read more e-books than physical books even though I love physical books. And that is only because I am able to read faster when I’m reading on my e-reader. Also, if you read books in English or any other language that is not your native language, it’s always easy to look up the words on the device instead of pulling out your phone or rummaging through your shelves to find a dictionary every time to look up a new word. Also, you cannot carry a lot of books in your backpack, but you can carry them on your phone, your tablet and your e-reader. You can sync them to all of these devices so that you’re ready to grab any chance you find to read.

Decide when you want to read and make time for reading

I read before sleeping and while traveling. You can fix a time to read books. That’s an amazing idea, isn’t it? You can also read during breakfast or lunch or dinner if you eat alone (I don’t prefer that, personally). You can also take your book with you when you go to the toilet and get some reading done.

Set reminders

It’s better to set a reminder to read than remember all of a sudden that you missed your post-dinner date with Stephen King’s It fifty weeks ago.

Don’t read the newspaper and other articles online

I mean, if you NEED to read them, it’s alright. I do understand we all need to know what happens around the world. But let’s admit that we all squander too much time scrolling up and down various useless pages of these news sites. Also, newspapers are way too ginormous. You could use that time to finish the sequel of that weird fantasy novel you’ve been reading for six years.

Don’t watch TV or spend time on social media

I spend too much time reading people’s blogs, going through my Twitter and Instagram feed, and watching YouTube videos. I know I don’t need that to survive, but I do need to read to survive. If you spend too much of your time online just like me, you can cut it back and use it to finish the fantasy novel we just talked about.

Read short books if you only care about quantity

If you just want to say that you read a hundred books a year, just start reading tiny books. I mean, shorter books.

Only read the books that interest you

I read faster when I read the books that interest me. And when I don’t like the book, I feel like putting it down after ten pages. So, choose your books wisely, dudes and dudettes.

Read books with your friends

The best way to make sure that you’ll read is by reading with your friends. If your friends are into reading, you can ask them to buddy-read a book with you. If they aren’t, you can find some groups where you will be able to share your progress with people. Or maybe just change your friends lmao.

Read easy books

You can read some easy books instead of reading the ones that constantly keep you on your toes. I find most contemporary romances easy to read because they don’t want me to be super alert when I read them. Figure out the genre and category you like and that doesn’t require too much mental energy and dive in. Whatcha waitin’ for?

These are a few tips I could think of. Do you have anything to add? Tell me in the comments below.

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