How to Use the Bill Gates Method to Power Up Your Reading Habit

His approach to reading will help you remember more of what you read

Reading is one of Bill Gate’s greatest passions. He looks at reading as a way towards self-improvement and growth. He even created his Book Blog where he writes reviews and shares his reading experiences with others.

As an avid reader, he reads one book per week. As he reads each book, he takes an active approach and reflects on what he reads. Every book he reads helps him learn something new or view things from a different perspective.

He told Time,

“You don’t really start getting old until you stop learning”

Here’s how to utilize his reading technique to power up your reading habit.

Set aside an hour of uninterrupted reading time

First off, if you want to take reading seriously, he recommends that you commit at least one hour of your time to it. He says: “This is not the kind of thing you can do five minutes here, 10 minutes there. Magazine articles or short YouTube videos fit into those little slots.”

When you block out a full hour devoted to reading, it will allow you to focus on the material more and think through what you’re reading.

You need to take the time to absorb the information and think about how it applies to your life or the life of others. When you focus on just beyond reading the words and go beyond, you’ll get much more value from reading.

Also, when you put in the effort to engage in reading, you stretch your mental capabilities and develop the ability not only to read but also to think.

When you’re ready to read, make sure you sit in a quiet area for reading and eliminate any kind of distractions that may interfere with your reading time.

Make notes as you read

Bill Gates has a habit of taking notes as he reads. Doing so helps him focus more on his reading and check in with his understanding of the material.

He says: “Particularly if it’s a nonfiction book, are you taking in new knowledge and sort of attaching [it] to the knowledge you have? For me, taking notes helps make sure that I’m really thinking hard about what’s in there.”

Taking notes also helps you to understand the author’s perspective and highlight the essential elements within the text. If the book is not up your alley, you should still take notes, Gates says. Usually, he ends up with more margin notes when he reads a book he doesn’t like or doesn’t agree with its content.

Read the book to the end

Make sure you finish reading whatever book you pick up through to the end. If you read it partially, you may run a risk of missing out on some information and thus create a gap in your understanding.

You’ll also grasp the book better if you get a full scope of it rather than partially reading it. Even if you don’t like the book or disagree with its content, he said you should still finish it to the end.

He told Time, “I refuse to stop reading a book in the middle, even if I don’t like it. And the more I dislike a book, the more time I take to write margin notes. That means I sometimes spend more time reading a book that I can’t stand than a book that I love.

The bottom line

Reading is one of the great ways to increase your knowledge and understanding of the world. If you’re a better reader you’ll be armed with more knowledge to help you make informed choices and better decisions in life. An active approach to reading will help you achieve that. Follow Bill Gates’s method to power up your reading habit and help you remember more of what you read.