How I doubled the number of books I read

Posted on by J.J. Hamilton

When I was younger, I hated reading.

Hated it.

I loved writing stories, always have. I remember creating fan fiction, before I knew that it had a name, about my favourite games and TV shows. I’d draw pictures to go alongside my stories and staple them all together as a book. I loved it.

But I hated reading.

Fast forward to my 19th birthday, and I’d been studying English and History as a Joint Honours degree at University of Birmingham. Add another couple of years, and I’d graduated with a 2:1 from one of the best Universities in the UK.

That required a lot of reading. How did I make this possible?

Probably due to my general attitudes towards reading when I was younger, I guess I just never had enough time to practice it. Like anything, reading is a skill. It’s an important skill to have, in both your personal and professional lives, since you’ll be expected to read something for professional development or for processing data. In your personal life, it’s important because you need to have basic reading skills just to get by – but also because some of the best stories known to humankind belong between the covers of a paperback.

So, like any skill, I wanted to try and develop it.

In the past, I’d simply set my goals on GoodReads and figured that that was that. I’d try to stick to my goals but often missed the target. The goals were totally arbitrarily set – 25 books feels like a good number, so I’ll pick that. I had no rhyme or reason for picking 30 books as my magic number.

Nevertheless, setting 25 as a goal was great for focusing my efforts, encouraging me to read more, and therefore working on my speed-reading abilities. If I could read faster – maybe even as quickly as I can listen to audiobooks, which I think are best absorbed on 2x speed – then I’d be able to encounter more, exciting, stories. And that could only be a good thing, right?

So: I needed systems in place to increase how much reading I was getting done. Here are the six systems that doubled my reading output:

System 1: The 50-page rule

Some books are not good. Or at least they’re not good for you. However, with the average book nearing 300 words or more, how can you get a true flavour for what you’re reading?

Set a rule for how many pages you’d like to read before making a decision on whether it’s for you. For me, that’s around 50 pages. For you, that might be a wildly different number.

You could also change this based on the length of the book – say, always read 20% of a book before putting it down. As a result, you’ll overcome the initial hurdle of a book feeling too slow, preventing you from putting something down before having given it a chance.

System 2: The Pomodoro Technique

Pomodoro is like this epic, sacred technique that centres itself all around productivity. It helps you to get more things done because it keeps you focused for a short burst of time: focus for 25 minutes and then take a break for 5 minutes. Move away from your screen or your work or your workspace and do something else. That’ll help you to refocus and re-centre for a recuperated effort later on.

If it works for productivity, it’ll work for reading.

So, sit down for 25 minutes, without your phone or any other distractions, and read. Then, take 5 minutes away – before locking in for another 25. Rinse and repeat as many times as you can, or double up to 50 minute intervals, if you can sit for that long, and take a well-earned 10 minute break.

System 3: Dead Time Audiobooks

I’ve got really into podcasts in the past few years. Whacked up to 2x speed, I love listening to my favourite speakers chat in a room, or on Zoom, about all things video games, History and Politics.

So, really, listening to an audiobook is just an extension of that pre-existing habit. If you already listen to podcasts, you should find the swap pretty easy to add to your pre-existing routines. You don’t need to stop listening to podcasts, but you could mix it up and try listening to something different instead. Click here to find out the benefits that I experienced whilst listening on to 2x speed.

But what’s Dead Time?

Dead Time is that period of time where you’re doing other, probably boring, stuff. You might be commuting, or doing chores, or maybe something more interesting, like exercising. Either way, it’s time where you’re already doing something anyway, so why not add something else to your routine? Audiobooks can be listened to while doing other things, so put some headphones in and start listening without adding another responsibility to your schedule.

Beach + book = pure vibes

System 4: The Book-Switching System

I have a grand total of one paperback on my bedside table. However, my Kindle also lives there. Oh, and I’ve got an audiobook on the go on Spotify, Libby or Audible. I like to switch up the genres or formats that I’m reading based on where the mood takes me, and might throw in the odd educational book here and there, like Susan Scott’s Fierce Conversations*, which I read earlier this month.

Some people go absolutely nuts with this one, but I’d find it too confusing to have multiple fiction books on-the-go. For me, it’s: Kindle for the free books if I’m in the mood; physical for the paperbacks or informational, and audio for non-fic. Experiment and find a system that works for you.

System 5: The One-In, One-Out Rule

Okay, so, it’s time to immediately contradict system 4 with this rule. If you fancy yourself as a bit of a book collector, then your shelves are probably heaving with paperbacks and hardbacks. Everytime you go into a book shop, you find yourself coming out with bags upon bags of new stories.

Only to leave them to rot on the shelf above your bed.

The One-In, One-Out Rule is great for people who struggle with reading a book and sticking to it. It means that, to start a new book, you must finish the book that you’re currently reading. It’ll help you to focus on what you already own, prevent reading slumps, and keep you engaged without letting the distractions of shiny new material get in the way.

System 6: The Reading Sprint Method

We bring it back to my original reading method: goal-setting. Come up with a lofty, ambitious goal for a short period and employ the previous 5 systems to reach it. For me, I’m opting for 25 books this year. Setting such ambitious goals can be a motivator, especially right at the start of the challenge, since you’re creating an idealised version of yourself in your head. Check back in at the end of the year to see if I make it.

What are you reading at the moment? I’m always keen for suggestions, so sound off in the comments below.

*Anything marked with an asterisk is an affiliate link, and may generate a small kickback to me at no extra cost to you

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