Cultivating reading habits is similar to sowing seeds in your garden. As the seeds grow, it becomes beautiful plant that gives us flowers, fruits and fragrance. Similarly, reading habits are essential for personal growth and success in one’s life.
We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
– John Dryden
What are habits?
The habit is something we make by doing an activity regularly and for a long time. Healthy habits are difficult to make and even more challenging to maintain. So, while making habits, you have to be very careful and make habits that will help you in the long run.
Any activity that is done simultaneously and in the same way quickly shapes itself as a habit in our daily lives. 45% of everyday actions are characterized by repeated behaviour or habits such as reading newspapers, morning routine, exercise, etc.
Habits form a very integral and meaningful part of our life. Hence, evil or harmful habits such as laziness, addictions, etc., can destroy your entire life.
Though bad habits can’t be erased, they can be replaced with good ones such as eating a healthy diet, daily exercise, reading habits, etc.
Some benefits of cultivating healthy habits
- Focused mindset
- Boosts the quality of your life
- Helps you achieve success
- Builds meaningful relations
- Makes you happy and healthy
- Achieve your goals and dreams
Reading habits
Reading is one of the most amazing habits you could ever make. Most famous and powerful personalities, whether it is Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, or Bill Gates, have cultivated reading habits.
Reading habits give us pleasure and help increase knowledge, improve the language, and reduce stress.
Some unique and distinct benefits of cultivating reading habits are that it helps us think more analytically. It further helps us feel empathy towards others. And this empathy helps in the emotional development of the child as well as the adult.
Reading can help one escape reality and enter into someone’s life without physically doing so. It helps individuals to live many lives through the books he reads. While a person who doesn’t read can live only once.
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/coffee-book-flowers-setting-2390136/
Books don’t teach you anything new. It just helps you see what is already inside. Personal reflection is the result of deep thinking, which is successfully done by cultivating reading habits.
But if you think do self-improvement books really work? then check out this article to know the faults of why they don’t work along with remedies to make them work.
Now, let’s learn how to develop daily reading habits for children, adults, and students. These techniques, if used daily, can help you make reading a daily necessity.
So, let’s get into it!
- Do the Research
- Know your favorite genre
- Start with Short stories or small books
- Set a schedule for every day
- Reduce screen time
- Maintain a journal
- Relate your reading
- Find a peaceful place
- Give yourself a treat
- Join reader’s club or group
- Do the Research
First things first, you have to do some research to cultivate reading habits. Get to know about all sorts of genres and themes of books available in the market.
Doing research includes reading the summary of the books, getting to know the genre of the book and an idea about the content of the books. You can read the summary articles or view animated video summaries to understand them better.
This will, in turn, help you to choose the perfect first book to read. If, after selecting a book, you feel the book is not interesting enough for you, then ditch it and go for another one.
There are millions of books available for you in the market. But don’t go switching books regularly. Because you won’t complete any book if you switch continuously. Choose a book to your liking so that you would complete reading the entire book.
- Know your favorite genre
Genres are of many types, i.e., science fiction, mystery, action, adventure, romance, classic, historical fiction, suspense, fantasy, non-fiction, biography, autobiography, self-help, business, and many more.
To cultivate a reading habit for a lifetime, it is necessary to know the genre you like. If you are a newbie, then try to find out which genre makes you excited.
Often, your favourite genre in the movie is most probably your favoured genre in the books. But if not, try to read summaries of the book written at the backside of the book.
Whichever book excites you, pick it up, buy it and start reading it. It is often advised to read nourishing books that will improve you and raise the quality of your life.
- Start with Short stories or small books
When people start reading, they often get very excited and pick up lengthy books that are difficult to complete.
Then, they lose their interest and quit reading. So, it is better to start with short stories that can be completed faster than lengthy novels.
Start from short stories and then go on to lengthy ones.
- Set a schedule for every day
Make your everyday schedule in such a way that you set some time aside for reading.
The most suitable time would be at the start of your day. But if not possible, then read at the end of your day or whenever possible.
The key to cultivating reading habits for life is to read at least a page or two every day. Even if you’re very busy making it a point to at least read two pages a day.
- Reduce screen time
Today our mobiles, laptops, tabs, computers, and televisions have made it very difficult for us to take an interest in reading.
A study found that every average toddler who had 10 minutes of increased screen time read fewer books by the age of 3. This screen time gradually increased by 25 minutes per week till the time the toddler became 5.
Screen time takes up so much of your time that you feel there’s no time left for you to read.
Further, screen time increases dopamine in our minds. Dopamine is a feel-good hormone released in anticipation of reward, pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement.
This screen addiction has similar effects to drug addiction which affects the mental and physical health of children and individuals.
It is a known fact that reading takes much more effort than surfing the internet or watching television. So you need to decrease your screen time and increase your reading time.
- Maintain a journal
Try to summarize and jot down whatever you have read into a journal every day. It can be a quote you have read or any other important thing you have understood while reading.
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/notebook-notes-pen-writing-diary-1840276/
This will help you keep an account of what you understood and help you memorize the same. This will improve your focus and concentration as well.
You can also summarize a book to gain concise ideas and understanding of a book. Summarising will help you to gain the satisfaction of reading.
You can also monetize the summary by writing a good summary for publications and websites.
- Relate to your reading
When you are reading, try to relate your readings to yourself or your life. Try to connect certain aspects of the story to your life.
This will help you to make a connection and association.
Association will help you to better connect to the story or the book. It compels you to read more books.
Association could be related to the qualities of the main character in the story, humour, adventure, or any other such thing.
- Find a peaceful place
You can’t read when there is loud music going on, or people are continuously talking loudly.
In such situations, it is challenging to remain focused and concentrate on the book you are reading.
So you need to choose a place where there is limited or no sound. If you can’t find such a place at your home or near the vicinity, it is best to go to a library.
You can also create a reading corner in your house. Reading corners are cozy corners in your house that are peaceful and motivate you to read more.
No need for something extravagant, just a comfortable chair along with a tranquil environment will do wonders.
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/quiet-corner-chair-sun-rays-book-1838300/
- Give yourself a treat
Set yourself a target of completing at least a book monthly or weekly. After completion of the target, give yourself a treat.
It could be your favourite chocolate, cake, watching a movie, a day off at your gym, or any other thing you like.
This will help you complete more books by motivating you to read more. The reward will also help you gain the satisfaction of completing the book and motivate you to start a new one.
Reading one book is not going to help you in the long run. Long-term commitments of reading habits are something that makes one more successful, knowledgeable and influential.
- Join reader’s club or group
Joining the reader’s group will help you stay motivated to read books. It will also help you to know more about other books and recommendations.
There are a lot of such groups on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, etc. Joining such groups will help you to belong to the community and, in turn, motivate you to read more books.
Book clubs and reading clubs are also very beneficial to spreading the love of reading, motivating, and associating with different people.
You can also track your reading in these clubs and groups. And you may also find some reading buddies there.
Conclusion
With these tips, anyone can develop reading habits. Reading will lead to learning, which will eventually lead to success.
What exercise does to your body is something that reading does to your mind. It contributes to both the physical as well as mental development of your body and brain.
Soul potion
With the busy schedule of work and life, we seldom find time to read. The best way to find time is to reduce screen time.
Another tip that can be useful is reading while you travel. Always carry a book in your bag when you are travelling to work. Use the time of transport in the metro or cab to read.
If carrying a book is not feasible, download the e-book format of the book. E-books cost very little and are sometimes free.
Whenever you find some free time pick your phones, open the e-book and start reading.
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