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Habit + Routines Masterclass

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Episode 76, how to become a person who reads a lot. Okay. So I've always been somebody who has loved to read. And I noticed that my happiest years are the ones that I'm reading the most, and I'm a voracious reader. And I read a little bit of everything. Or so I think I'm thinking like you don't really read science fiction and you don't really read horror and you don't really read fantasy.

Okay. It's true. I don't. However, I read a lot of other things, so. I wanted to give some tips to you on how you could become someone who reads a lot. And the reason I'm doing this is because so many people are like, Hey, how do you read so much? And B how can I read more? So I thought I would make an episode.

So here we are. Okay. So I have some things that I want you to. Think about, so number one is rethink how you read many people feel like you have to read with your eyes in order for it to count. Not true reading with your ears totally counts. And for some of us, it's an even better way to take an information number to rethink what you read.

Friends. We're no longer in school, unless you are in that case, you know? Go forth. But if you are a grownup who is able to choose what you want to read, you get to have the freedom of choice. That means if you want to read women's contemporary fiction, read it. You want to read romance, read it. Mysteries are your jam.

You love a series. Books you loved as a teenager classics, young adult fiction kids let it all counts. Number three, rethink when you read. This is my plea for everyone to stop waiting until bedtime. When you're super exhausted and you read three pages and fall asleep, don't save it. Why not start your day with a cup of coffee in a murder mystery.

Why not eat your lunch with that non-fiction book that makes you think too much. And it messes with your sleep. Why not listen to a celebrity memoir while walking in your backyard or lifting weights? One of the things I love to do is listen to books at one and a half speed while I cook and clean and exercise, the faster pace helps me keep my attention.

And I've gotten really into audio books the last couple of years. And I think podcasts were a great way for me to get started. Being somebody who uses their ears a lot more to take it information so that. Quicker speed helps my brain go. Oh, right. We're already doing something. So my mind doesn't wander as much.

So if you think you're somebody who doesn't like audio books, give it a try. Number four, rethink where you read so many people only read in bed in order to turn their brains off to sleep. I do this every night. However, I also read in the bathtub at lunchtime. One of the great benefits of working from home.

I read in the kitchen while I'm waiting for dinner to finish in the oven. I read in the back seat of the car, otherwise known as the isolation pod, while I'm hiding from my family. I read in the laundry room when the clothes are drying. I read while I wait in line. I used to wait in line places. I don't do that anymore, but maybe you're waiting in line at the grocery store.

So. One of the benefits of keeping a book app on your phone is that you can just, instead of cruising through Instagram stories again, not that I'm bagging on Instagram stories. I'm just saying if you're somebody that wants to read more, put a reading app on your phone, and every time you are waiting somewhere, Go ahead and take that app and open up your book and get started.

All right. Rethink number five is rethink who you read. So I try to read authors of different races classes, genders, so that I can see the world in new ways. I read books about subjects. I'm interested in learning more about like anti-racism work. I read books that helped me see the world. So. In a way that it like helps me create that picture in my mind of what it could be.

So reading takes me to other places. It takes me into the lives of other people. It shows me that there's different experiences and it creates an awareness and empathy that I haven't found anywhere else. It also takes me to places I've never been, which is really helpful during COVID times because I'm not going anywhere.

And it helps me not feel alone. And it makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself. So reading for me is it's nothing short of life-changing. So if you haven't yet found your reading group, I hope you'll keep coming back to give it a try. Okay. Number six, rethink why you read? So this can help you decide which books to invest your time in and help you create a sense of urgency and adding this new habit.

So, one of the reasons why I read is I feel like I need to have new information, new exercises, new theories, new. Information when I'm working with clients. I also read because I want to escape the news, or I want to understand how other people work in the world. So if you explore your, why you read, you might be like, Oh yes, this is something I actually want to do.

Something else to rethink number seven, rethink your all or nothing, beliefs around rating. This is another example of what you do consistently adds up. So if you read for just 10 minutes a day, you'll read for an hour by the end of the week. If you read for an hour a day, that's seven hours of reading a week.

You can cruise through a lot of books in seven hours a week. I mean, you get it. The more you read, even the little pockets of time, the more you read, we just got to make it into our schedule in places that make sense, but it doesn't have to be like, I'm going to spend the afternoon reading or I have 30 minutes.

I'm going to do this, do it in 10 minutes, spurts. All right. Number eight, rethink who your dollars support and for the love of all things, stop giving Amazon your book money. I make every effort to buy books from independent booksellers. I prefer black and female owned bookstores. And if you don't have one in your area, there's also a website called bookshop.org, where you sign up.

To buy your books through them, then the independent bookseller that you love in your town, that's across the world, whatever they get 75% of the profits. So go to bookshop door.org, to get more information on that. So once you decide your, how your, who, you're, what your, where you're, when your wive reading, then it's time to actually make it happen.

So these are some tips that I have used over the years. And by over the years, I mean like every day to make sure that I have tons of things that I want to read. All right. Number one, get a library card. Your tax dollars are paying for the books in the city or County library. So let's use it plus.

Increasing circulation for books helps library, branches justify their very existence. So seriously use the library. Now, if you haven't been at a library in a while, I have to say it's different. You can order in most places, you go on their library website, you get your library card, and then you can order books to have them delivered to your home branch and you pick it up.

It's like online shopping, or you can do curbside pickup or number two, you can get the Libby app, L I B B Y app, and hook up your library card. And you immediately have access to all the audio books and Kindle books your library has. If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle app on your phone and read your free library book from your phone.

There's another app that at least my library uses and I'm sure many other library systems use. And that's the hooplah app, H O O P L a. And if you hook up your hooplah app with your library card, you immediately have access to this whole other world of books, music, and movies from the library. I'm not sure why they have two apps, but they do.

And they have audio books and they, they usually have slightly different things in the Libby app then the hooplah app. So the idea is that I'm just trying to give you a lots of free opportunities here. Okay. Next thing I do is make a, to red pile. So how I do this is go shop your house. If you're anything like me, you have books that you've been meaning to read sitting on a shelf or behind a plant or on the, on your bed.

They're everywhere. Right? So go on the great book hunt and get all the books that you really want to read into a pile. Then collect the books you aren't ever going to read. That somebody gifted you, that you bought that one time. Cause everyone's reading it, but you never got around to it and donate them.

Get them out of your house. There's no prize for having a book for years at your house, you were never going to read, go find a free little library in your neighborhood. Donate it, donate it to your library or to the charity shop, or even put it in your neighborhood free group. Go ahead and get rid of the books that you are never going to read and then put all the books.

Do you actually want to read in a pile in your house somewhere where you'll see it? All right. So now you have some things to read. What if you're like, but I really want to make. A new, a new pile of books. So make a to be read list. You can do it on paper, on Pinterest and app, like good reads. So how do you know what you want to read?

Ask your friends, look at the bestsellers list. Go see what books your favorite authors have written lately. Check out the front tables at your favorite indie bookshop. See what's popular at your library, but. Whatever you do make some sort of centralized list somewhere. So that the next time you're like, I am almost at the end of my book.

What shall I read next? You'll already have an idea. You can also check out hashtags on social media. Readers of IgG is a good one. Bookworms of IgE. All the, all the socials you can do reading hashtags to find out what people are reading. Okay. Another tip make a list of things that you want to learn.

The library is a great place to start. One of my pro tips is get a children's version of the topic you're interested in. So that you get a lay of the land before you go in for the adults book. And then you're also like you have a little foundation of knowledge before you go digging around in the adult section.

And sometimes you can get like the very basics of something. And you're like, I don't, I no longer have that information quest in me. I don't care about that thing anymore. Or you're like, cool. Now I know a little bit, and I'm gonna follow that rabbit hole down somewhere else. Okay. Another tip. Once you get your list of books that you want to read or topics that you're curious about, and you've got your library card, go ahead and reserve the books from the library.

Okay. So our County library system lets us check out physical copies of books, even during the pandemic, because they have curbside model as well as electronic copies versus the apps I mentioned earlier, I love using the library because they have the freedom to read anything and everything that I am remotely interested in because it's free.

It's already paid for. And if I don't like a book. I can simply return it. And if I decide I really love a book, then I can add it to my personal library later. I love that try before you buy. Okay. You've got your things ready to go. You've started your list. You started your pile, prep, your space for reading.

Do you have somewhere comfortable to sit? Do you have a good light? Do you have a cozy blanket and Ottoman good headphones and a duster for those times you want to do audio books? And then remind yourself frequently that you actually want to read more. So here's some ways that I, when I was first, like I was out of the out of practice of reading a lot, these are some of the things that I did.

So I'll share them with you. One of the things I did was I put a pile of books in front of my TV, and then I put a pile of books in front of the remote. So when I would go to turn on a screen, I'd be like, aha. I remember, I want to read these books. Another thing that we have done with varying degrees of success, I will admit, which is have a family reading time where everybody drops, what they're doing.

Like we did an elementary school. Remember dear reading, drop everything and read for 15 minutes. Same time every day. Listen to books while you take a bath or give your kid a bath. What a great way to share, like one of your favorite books from childhood, but have a really talented voice actor. Narrate your favorite story, get it on audio, played in the bathroom while you guys were in there taking a bath.

Put a reminder on your calendar, set an alert on your phone. Set a reading goal, join a reading challenge, host a book club with just one other person so that the logistics of it don't get in your way. Create an accountability partnership about reading with one friend. All right. That's what I have for you right now.

Hope these tips are helpful for you getting started on reading. I would love to connect with you over on social. Come over to Instagram. Follow me at Tami Hackbarth. And tell me what you're reading these days, or if you're thinking that you are going to increase your reading in 2021 reminder, head on over to my website at.

Tami hackbarth.com/podcast for all the show notes. And until next time, remember that you matter too.