6 things I did to read 69 books in 2023
A few years ago I began tracking the books I read each year. I averaged around 35ish books per year. This year, I changed some personal habits of mine which led to me doubling the amount of books I read. Interestingly, I did not set out to read so many books this year, and wouldn’t have believed it if you told me. However, it was simply a by-product of other habits I developed earlier this year.
If you’re interested, here the books I read in 2023 with brief reviews on my Goodreads account.
Regardless of the number of books you might read, if you want to read more, here are 6 things I did to drastically improve my reading consumption and would commend to you.
1. Read every day
To read more books you have to spend time reading. But you don’t have to spend a ton of time reading. The thought of reading every day may sound impractical for you, but that is likely because you are equating ready every day with read every day for 30+ mins. The goal is to form a habit you enjoy, not a regimented program that you dread.
For me, here are two practical things I do that help me read at least a little bit every day.
1) I don’t use my phone in the bathroom. Do you remember when smartphones started to become popular and people would talk about how weird/gross it was for people to be on their phones while going to the bathroom? Now, it seems counter-cultural to not do that! Sorry if this is TMI (but this is a practical post after all!), but now I bring a book and read that instead. Don’t waste time scrolling. A few pages each trip adds up.
2) I read for about 30 minutes every night before bed
One of the real secondary reasons for this is he helps me fall asleep faster. As someone who doesn’t sleep well, I made three changes in early 2023 that made dramatic improvements that helped me fall asleep faster.
Going to bed at the same time every weeknight
Reading in my room for 30+ minutes before bed
Turning off my phone at 9:15 PM every night (more on this in the next point)
I read on a chair in my bedroom every night before I go to bed. I also do this with the lights off to help me become sleepy. I use just a reading light if I am reading a physical book. If I am reading an ebook on my iPad, I don’t need a reading light.
This practice ensures I make progress every day. If you want to read more, I wouldn’t recommend setting a goal for a number of books to read in a year, but rather a habit to ensure you are reading.
Books vary in length, and some read faster than others, so setting a book goal isn’t helpful in my opinion.
Start with setting a practice to read 10 minutes a day (everyone has 10+ minutes a day to spare), or 5 pages a day. Something small that you can achieve will encourage you to continue.
2. Turn off your phone before you go to bed
A big reason why many don’t think they have time to read more is because they waste spend so much time on their phone. I am not against phones or using them to relax. I just found that I often didn’t feel any better after staring at my screen for so long.
Turning it off at night eliminates massive amounts of wasted time of unplanned scrolling on my phone which delays getting ready for and going to bed. Yes, I can still access whatever I want on my computer, but I find I am more apt at getting off my computer than my phone.
Personally, I found turning my phone off 45-60 minutes before I start my bedtime routine to be a good practice. A typical night for me has me turning my phone off by 9:15, and heading up around 10 PM to start reading before I go to sleep.
Reading is a great way to wind down and calm your mind before bed, while your phone is the opposite. While my original reasoning for turning off my phone at night had nothing to do with reading, it quickly became a very positive by-product of the decision.
3. Keep a running list of books you want to read next
Whether from podcasts, social media, conversations, or different things I see online, I keep a running list of books I would be interested in reading. If you don’t know what to read, it’s hard to read more books. Additionally, having a list of books I am interested in reading next encourages me to keep reading and finish the book I am currently on.
This is even more helpful when my current book turns out not to be all that great. I know I’ve got a couple of books I am interested in coming up, so it motivates me to finish so I can move on to the next one.
4. Turn off all notifications on your phone
Because of our hyper-distracted modern environment, reading is harder than ever to do. Reading well requires focus, and a vibrating or pinging phone is seemingly impossible to ignore. I recommend doing this in general, but it also has the very positive side effect of being one less thing to distract you.
Again, I did not start doing this to help me read more, but it has. Messages, emails, social media, and apps; urge you to ignore the important things (what is right in front of you) for things they want you to think are urgent. To go a step further, I even recommend you remove your email app completely off your phone (click here to see how I check my email less than most yet have total control over it).
We are all already trained to check our phones enough as is. If you want to read more, don’t give yourself a reason to put down the book every 30 seconds.
5. Make use of your library
Perhaps some of you already know/do this, but this was a game changer for me. In the past, every time I tried to reserve an ebook through my county’s library database, there were always multiple people in line ahead of me so it could take weeks before I was able to rent the ebook version.
I learned this year that our county will deliver the physical copies of any book they have to the local library closest to you. I found that the physical copy of a book I wanted (if our library had that book) was almost always immediately available. It typically only takes about 2-3 days for them to deliver to the library closest to me.
While they don’t have every book I want to read, they do have a good number of them. Because I keep a running list of books, I’ll reserve a few books at a time so by the time I am done with my current book, I already have other books in my possession waiting to be read.
So skip the ebook version which often has a wait, you might find your local network of libraries has the physical copy available right away.
6. Read books you think you are going to enjoy
You will read more if you enjoy what you are reading. Whatever genre or type of book you like, if you have a list (point #3) of books you want to read, you’ll keep yourself more engaged in reading. Not only are you more apt to pick up and continue reading a book you like, you will better focus while reading because you enjoy it.
For me, I add books to my list primarily from what I hear on podcasts and things I see people posting about and recommending online. Again, if I have at least 2-3 books on my list that I know I am interested in, it helps me keep working my way through what I am currently on.
The quickest way to kill a reading habit is to force yourself to read something because someone told you or you have told yourself it would be good for you to read. It may very well be good for you to read! But if you don’t want to read it, you won’t read.
Read books you enjoy and you’ll read more books.
Thanks so much for reading. If you found this helpful, you’ll love my Best Minute Newsletter. Every Tuesday I help people just like you build better habits, become more productive, and grow in their life and leadership. All in under 60 seconds per week.
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