Revamp Your Reading Routine

As we enter a new year, many of us are looking for ways to improve our habits and live a more sustainable, happy, and healthy lifestyle. One area that often gets overlooked is our reading habits. However, there are many ways to make our reading routine greener, happier, and healthier. "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested," the English philosopher Francis Bacon once wrote. So, let's turn the page on traditional reading methods and explore the possibilities that de ve lop ers have created for greener, happier, and healthier reading journeys.

Make a Reading Schedule for Yourself

If you want to increase the number of books you read, schedule your reading time in the same way that you would schedule a meeting or a coffee date with friends. It's not going to work if you wait until you're in the mood to read before picking up a book. There are times when all it takes to get in the mood is to get started. Up to 300 words per minute is the maximum that the typical adult is able to read. Therefore, if you read for thirty minutes each day, you will finish a book of average size in one week's time.

Finish a Book Before You go to Sleep

Instead of scrolling through your Twitter feed late at night, try doing something more traditional. Read a story to yourself before bed to help you drift off to sleep. If you are consistent enough with this behavior, it may eventually become a regular part of your evening routine. "I hear a lot from people that say they're too tired before they go to bed to read, and I always ask them, 'What do you do before you tuck in?'" says Sarah Gelman, who is the editorial director of Amazon Books.

Keep a Book Close at Hand at all Times

Reading is something that will always be available to you. During your commute in the morning, you will read (well, iBook if you are driving). There is time to kill while waiting at the doctor's office, before a meeting or conference call, or while wasting a couple of minutes before either. When I bring a book with me to the grocery store, I find that I am able to better endure the wait in line while the person at the checkout looks for his card. Instead of allowing this time to pass without you doing anything productive with it, pick up a book and start reading.

Move any Potential Sources of Distraction to a Different Room

There are some interruptions, for example, that can't be ignored because they have mouths, whereas your smartphone can be ignored because it has a screen. Not all interruptions can be dealt with in advance, however. When you sit down to read, however, you should try to avoid interruptions and distractions whenever it is possible by moving potentially disruptive activities to another room. Because of this, you are able to comprehend a book better because your attention is not being divided among as many different things.

Read Multiple Books at once and Abandon them without Feeling Guilty

When I was younger, I always believed that reading multiple books at the same time would lead to confusion; however, as long as the books are very different from one another, I've found that this is not the case. It is not easy to get the storylines of a feminist memoir and a crime thriller mixed up with each other! Because I always have a few different books on the go, I can choose to read whichever one strikes my fancy at any given time, which keeps me looking forward to the next opportunity I have to relax with a good book.

Conclusion

In conclusion, reading is a timeless activity that can bring immense joy, knowledge, and growth to our lives. By making some simple adjustments to our reading routine, we can turn this activity into a sustainable, fulfilling, and enjoyable experience. From setting reading goals to creating a comfortable reading nook, there are many ways to revamp your reading habits for the new year. So, let's make the most of the new year and commit to reading more, learning more, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.