7 Ways to Ditch the Excuses and Make Time for Reading
You know that ticking sound a clock makes? It almost sounds unfamiliar because we are all so busy to notice. It’s the sound of time ticking away!
It seems like we are fighting against time every day. Whatever happened to just sitting down and reading a book? Nowadays, we have the convenience of listening and carrying hundreds of books on a device to travel with yet we are still struggling to find the moment to enjoy it all? I think there’s a much bigger issue we need to address because we all have the same time.
Do we need to ask ourselves how we are managing our time? Are we willing to change some things to do the things we love to do without compromising other areas of our lives?
Here are 7 ways to ditch the excuses and make time for reading.
CARRY A BOOK WITH YOU
Gals, you can carry a book in your handbag. There’s the time while you’re waiting to check out at the grocery store or waiting at an appointment. You know all the extracurricular activities you are driving your kids to, and you have to wait around for them. Stop scrolling through your phones and social media, please. Disconnect and grab that book at the bottom of your bag. It’s a great way to escape the rat race just for a little.
Guys, you may not mind carrying a book around with you. If you don’t enjoy carrying a book around with you, then you can read on your phone. Which, I’ll get to later in this post. I have to say; I think a guy who likes to read and carry a book is darn sexy!
READ BEFORE BEDTIME
When I can’t sleep, I usually turn on the television but it keeps me up. So, I go for my Kindle and read for 20 to 30 minutes. I love that I can flip my Kindle cover over and fall asleep without losing my page. Convenient perks of an e-reader!
(This post may contain affiliate links from Amazon. Please note that I only recommend tools that I personally use and love and I always have my readers’ best interest at heart.)
READ IN INCREMENTS
For those of us who have kids know what the 20 minute increment reading time is all about. When kids start reading, their comprehension and attention span is good for about 20 minutes. As they get older and with the love of reading, this will increase. It makes perfect sense even for the busy adult! Read 20 minutes at a time and not feel you don’t have the time to read.
DIVIDE IT UP
This is one of my favorite ways to read. It can help kids see reading differently when there is a project involved. For an adult, it can be a breeze! Divide it up! Simple math + reading increment = productive reading time.
What does this mean? Okay, let’s say you have a book you want to read and have a busy week or two ahead of you. You give yourself a time frame to read the entire book. You are giving yourself two weeks, that is 14 days to read this book. The book has 325 pages. That means you will have to read an average of 24 pages per day to complete the entire book in two weeks. That is doable! Can you read 24 pages per day? I can even on the busiest days. Now, if you give yourself three weeks, then it will be fewer pages per day. I think you get the idea.
READ MORE THAN ONE BOOK
Yes, you can read over one book at a time. Now, you may not finish them all but that’s okay. Based on my mood, I will start reading one book, and then a week later enjoy reading a whole different genre. Whatever mood you’re in maybe a way for you to challenge yourself to read more books. If you don’t have any time constraints, then it will work for you. It’ll most likely take you longer to finish, but think of all the great stories and information you’ll gain.
GO MOBILE
Yes, please! I love my Kindle and love the fact that I can take it with me on my phone and not have to bring my e-reader with me. Unless I need to read on a bigger screen. It goes back to the book in your bag. Now with any e-reader, you can bring hundreds of books with you anywhere you go. If you don’t have an e-reader, it may be the time you go mobile and snag one soon! There’s an e-reader for every budget.
LISTEN UP
Remember when audiobooks were on a CD? I believe you can still get them on a CD, but now you can download and listen to a book on your phone or sync it to any wireless device you have. You can listen to a book while you’re driving, riding the bus, riding the train, on a plane, working out, going for a walk or run. Seriously, you don’t have time to listen to someone else read to you? I listen to one of my books while I’m cooking. I can pause it when I have to and resume. It’s awesome! I also love that if one book I’m reading on my Kindle offers the audible version, I can listen to it. It’s a win-win for me in finding the extra time I need to do what I love!
You can keep saying you don’t have time to read, or you can make the time by adjusting your time to do the things you love to do. We live in a time of convenience; I don’t think most of us are taking advantage of it.
