How to Actually Read More

Practical tips for people who have "read more books" on their resolution list every year.

If you asked me what my biggest joy and hobby in life is, I would say reading, without hesitation. Ask me how much time I actually spend reading each week? Well, that’s a completely different question.

I have loved reading since I was six years old. I was so good at it, in fact, that it got me into several “gifted” programs in my K-12 education career. We don’t need to get into all that, but needless to say, loving books was my main personality trait until I went to college.

The pressure of reading books for classes, the sudden abundance of freedom, and the always-on high-speed wifi (still a novelty back then!) absolutely destroyed my reading goals. I’ve been looking for ways to tear my attention away from my phone screen and get back to reading ever since (and it’s been longer than I care to admit).

Nearly one in five people cite “read more books” as one of their main New Year’s resolutions, and since you’re here reading my Substack, I’m going to assume you, like me, fall into that contingent. So I decided to round up some easy swaps to make reading easy and effortless with the help of my wonderful Substack community!

Stop reading books you don’t like.

This is permission: you don’t have to finish every book you start.

Life is too short. Your TBR pile is too long. If you’re 50 pages in and dreading picking it up, you’re not going to read more – you’re going to avoid reading entirely because reading feels like homework. DNF it. Put it down. Stick it in a little free library. Move on to something you actually want to read.

I used to force myself through books I hated because I felt like I “should” finish them. I’d spend weeks avoiding reading because I didn’t want to face the boring book on my nightstand. Now? I quit liberally. And I read so much more because reading feels like pleasure, not obligation.

The only books that count are the ones you actually read. An abandoned book is better than a book that makes you avoid reading altogether.

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Read books you’re genuinely excited about.

In the same vein: stop building a TBR pile based on what you think you “should” read.

You don’t need to read the classics unless you actually want to. You don’t need to read the Booker Prize winners or the New York Times Notable Books or whatever your book club is doing. You don’t need to read serious literary fiction if you’d rather read romance or mystery or science fiction.

Read what you want to read. Read what sounds fun. Read what you’re genuinely curious about. Read books because you’re excited to pick them up, not because you think they’ll make you sound smart at dinner parties.

Build a habit, not a goal.

“Read 50 books this year” is a terrible goal (I’m guilty of it too). It puts all the focus on quantity over quality. It makes you rush through books. It turns reading into a performance metric instead of a pleasure. And if you fall behind, it makes you feel like a failure and quit entirely.

Better goal: “Read for 15 minutes before bed every night.” Or: “Always have a book in my bag.” Or: “DNF any book I’m not excited to pick up.”

These are habit-based goals, not number-based goals. They focus on the practice of reading, not the output. And habits are sustainable in a way that ambitious numbers aren’t.

Design your environment for reading.

If your environment is designed for scrolling – phone always nearby, notifications on, apps on your home screen, TV remote on the coffee table – you’re going to scroll and watch TV. If your environment is designed for reading – books visible, phone far away, cozy reading corner with good lighting – you’re going to read.

You will always do what’s easiest. So make reading easy.

Pencil it into your calendar.

If you live and die by your calendar, then block off time each day to read and treat it like an important meeting – no skipping, no scheduling over it. Turn on “do not disturb” mode, light a candle, get your favorite beverage, and sit your butt down to read for an hour or however long you have scheduled.

Grab a book instead of your phone.

Next time you’re standing in line at the coffee shop, waiting for the bus, or sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, grab a book or your Kindle instead of your phone. These little moments throughout the day can add up to a significant chunk of reading time, provided you have a good enough attention span to not mind being interrupted often while reading.

Keep multiple books in rotation.

Insert that scene from Gilmore Girls where Rory is explaining why she needs four books in her backpack – a bus book, another bus book in case she gets bored of that one, a lunch book, and short stories.

I used to do this a lot more when I was younger, but now I tend to just blaze through a book and immediately pick up another one. But if you, like me (and Rory) are a mood reader, then having a few different books of different tones or genres in rotation can help cut down on the feeling of boredom or repetition, especially if one of your current reads is a long one.

Make it a social activity.

Some people really thrive in book clubs or communities. Unfortunately I am not one of those people. For some reason, the second I know I have to read a book in a certain timeframe, even if it’s a book I desperately want to read, my ADHD brain immediately says “nope, not doing it.”

However, if you are one of those people, joining a read-along group online or a virtual or in-person book club is a great way to stay motivated to keep reading, with the added bonus of maybe making a new friend.

Try a new format.

Audiobooks can be a great swap when you’re out for a walk or run, doing chores, or doing something with your hands. I want to get into them more this year so I can still “read” while I’m working on knitting projects.

Similarly, I can’t state enough how much I love the versatility and portability of the Kindle. I have the smallest one anyways, so it can fit in most of my purses, but even if I’m somewhere without it, I can pull up the Kindle app (I know, we’re trying to get away from the phones) and it’ll be automatically synced to the last page I read on my actual Kindle. I like to do this on my lunch break at work too, as it gives me an extra hour of reading time and provides a brain break from my workday.

Vary your book lengths & topics.

I find myself getting burnt out if I read tooooo many dense, dark mysteries or horror novels in a row. Sometimes I need to switch back and forth between heavy books and ones that are a bit lighter, like a romcom.

Or like Kitty says, try switching between actual book lengths too. The human brain loves to feel accomplished, so if you can breeze through a shorter book in a couple days, you’ll feel confident and empowered to keep trucking through your next 600-page-tome.

The bottom line.

You don’t need to read 100 books. You don’t need to read only prestigious literary fiction. You don’t need to finish every book you start. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone.

You just need to read more than you currently do, in a way that feels good, in a way that fits your actual life. Because you want to, not because you feel like you “have” to in order to compete with some idealized version of yourself.

And the way to do that isn’t through willpower or ambitious goals. It’s through tiny systems that remove friction and make reading the easiest, most inviting option available.

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