Creative and realistic ways to incorporate reading into your daily life.
Readers are leaders and leaders are readers. Reading is one of my favorite activities. In such a fast-paced society, reading can be a difficult skill to incorporate. We are so consumed by our digital devices that we forget the basics: reading.
Many find excuses when it comes to reading... a common one being " I don't have time."
Reading is not just a hobby, but it is also a way to unwind and escape reality. When you read, you are fully present and detached from the world.
Reading makes you more knowledgeable, smarter, and wiser. Reading helps you to be more creative and imaginative.
In today's article, I will share with you five ways to incorporate the reading habit into your daily routine.
1. Reading while commuting
If you are someone who has long commutes of travel to go to work every day, then pick a book and start reading a few pages for as long as you are doing the ride.
Instead of being on your smartphone scrolling mindlessly on your social media, reading during the morning can be really awakening and set a positive tone for the day.
Being a morning person myself, I love reading in the morning because that's when I am most awake and prefer reading early in the morning rather than at 5 p.m. when I am exhausted from the day.
2. Lunch & Learn
Another moment of the day is to read while you are having lunch. As full-time employees, you are entitled to have 1 hour lunchtime. It may take you 20-30 minutes to eat and then you have a solid 30 minutes to read. You don't need to take the whole 30 minutes, you can just simply read for 10 minutes; that's all you need to build a habit.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go"
– Dr. Seuss
3. Unwind your day with a book
We come back home exhausted from the day, and all we want to do is throw ourselves on the sofa and binge-watch a Netflix show. On the contrary, I think there is nothing more relaxing than sitting on your sofa, grabbing a book with a cup of coffee, and enjoying a nice fiction story.
Whether you watch a Netflix TV show or read a fiction story, it is still fiction. I actually think reading fiction is much more amusing than watching it.
4. Audiobooks are as good as paper books
Although I may be an old-style lady, I think audiobooks are also a great way of reading. For people who walk or drive, instead of listening to music, you can also enjoy your ride to your workplace or any destination through an audiobook. Audiobooks allow you to kill two birds with one stone.
5. Create a realistic reading S.M.A.R.T goal
If you are someone who just started to read and would like to read more, don't start with books that are huge or difficult to comprehend. My advice is to start with smaller books that are of your area of interest; this way you can ease yourself into a habit. As you get used to it, you can transition easily to heavier and longer books.
You can also set up some realistic goals where you tell yourself how many books you want to read per month or per quarter so that you are accountable for the decisions you have made.
"Books are a uniquely portable magic."
-Stephen King
