Brittany
Reading is one of the most common pastimes for people. Some prefer reading actual books and find their comfort in the touch of paper. Others cannot be bothered to purchase books and fill up space in their rooms and garages, attics, even. The more practical enhance their knowledge and artistic sense by reading ebooks. Ebooks are great because they are endlessly portable and weigh about as much as the device you are reading them on.
Everybody has a way of reading more, even when they are not feeling like it. But for the uninitiated and those who are not avid readers, they might be wondering how they could read more?
Here are a couple of tips.
Find A Favorite Writer
Nothing can move somebody to read, glue their eyes to the book until countless hours pass and they no longer see anything but the text and feel anything but the characters and story, like work from their favorite writer.
Finding one can be tough if you already have lots of experience with reading, but by that time, you will already have had some writer who moves your very soul. For the new readers, try new novels, short stories, from writers who are not as popular as the lists might imply. Often, the best works for you might not be on the top 5 lists of best writers.
Start Practicing Focus
Reading is about keeping your mind focused on one thing, the text. This does not mean frowning and looking at the text with decisiveness, but rather letting the text swallow you, flowing with it, just like you are when you are breathing or moving. You don’t think about breathing and walking, for example, unless challenged by ice and a short breath, for example.
Similarly, reading should be a focus in practice, the text and you flowing in the same direction. Focus can be practiced, especially with texts which are interesting to you.
Stop Sabotaging Your Attention
Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter for people who spend most of their time in an advertisement-filled world. People binge-watching memes and minute-long videos are far more likely to lose their focus than those who spend an hour watching a single video.
Start practicing longer videos. Find a topic you are interested in and watch a video, a 20 minute one. Then, find more about the topic in text and read about it, in detail, not just a digested article which regurgitates some points. This way, your attention span should increase, allowing you to spend more time focused, reading a book.
Reduce Time Wasted on “Leisure”
Some people spend a lot of time on “leisure” activities such as social media and YouTube. That time is often spent in scrolling and spam-watching videos which are often not connected and fail to help the individual develop anything but a dopamine addiction.
Reducing these activities will help with time, firstly, and secondly, with focus, both of which are essential to reading, especially long-term reading.
Reading a book takes time, effort or if you are enjoying it, simply time.