The hack that makes me read more books

For several years I didn’t read any books. But I managed to turn it around following these basic principles together with a completely unique hack! Now I keep my reading momentum — I learn, I’m entertained and it is all enjoyable.

I’ll share the hack at the end, but keep reading from the beginning to set yourself up for success.

Here’s my key principles to keep on reading!

Be realistic

Everyone’s life is different. Decide what is reasonable for you to commit to in terms of how much you want to read, and adopt your routines to reality. Start low and feel you succeed, then increase your ambition step by step if you want to. It should be a positive experience! If you are motivated by goals — set a goal. But make it realistic. An unrealistic goal may soon feel unattainable, making you feel that it doesn’t matter anyway.

It’s not a competition

It doesn’t matter if someone else read 50 books during a year. Find the reason you want to read. It is not a competition. Think about and articulate your intrinsic motivation to read.

Think about what it is about reading you enjoy — is it because it is entertaining? You learn something? Personal growth? You challenge what you know with new information?

You are much more likely to keep reading if you figure out what makes you tick (this is your intrinsic motivation). Doing it because of perceived social pressure will not do you any good.

Prioritize

If you want to read — make reading a priority. It won’t happen by itself! You are the one that makes it happen by choosing to read instead of doing something else.

How much do you watch Netflix? Don’t start that new serie that just launched —dedicate that time to reading instead! 30 minutes of Netflix feels like nothing, but it is quite a lot of reading.

Do you tend to get stuck scrolling social media? Great — now you are aware and can decide to set that time aside for reading.

What did help me was when I realized that whenever I picked up the phone without a clear reason, it resulted in me doing never ending scrolling.

It was a sign that my brain gave in to get an immediate dopamine kick, of being rewarded with something, by scrolling (like a video of cat…).

Being aware of that sign, I now manage to put the phone down immediately when I reach for it out of habit.

I’m now able to instead deliberately do something that I find fulling — like reading. This definitely creates are more lasting, positive impact on my well-being.

Create routines for reading

Knowing your priorities will make it easier to create routines. Think about how a typical day looks like, or your typical week. Are there recurring situations where you imagine it would be enjoyable to read? Are there habits you could exchange for reading?

Instead of zoning out with the phone while commuting, I now use my e-reader. My bed time routine typically involves 20–30 minutes of reading before I switch off the light. If I’m in the car alone, or on the bike trainer, I always resume playing my current audiobook. What routines work for you?

Read what interests you

Read about things you are passionate about. Reading books that excite you will make it way more easier to stay motivated.

Don’t read to impress others. Don’t read to post on social media. It will not last and it won’t be fun. Think about your intrinsic motivation again — what is it that really engage and excite you?

When I struggle to pick up reading after a longer break, I sometimes find it easier to get started again by reading a “lighter”, more easily digestible book. Once my reading habits are back again, it is easier to conquer more challenging books.

Also, remember that it is totally ok to stop reading a book if it turns out to be boring. There’s nothing to win by forcing yourself through the misery of completing a book that you don’t like.

Make it easy

Make it easy to stick to your routines and achieve what you want! Make it a habit to always bring your book or e-reader with you. When you get home, put your book next to your bed (if that is where you usually read).

We always tend to go for the path of least resistance — prepare to make sure that path is the path you actually want to take.

Read multiple books at the same time

This may not be for everyone, but I’ve found it favorable to read multiple types of books in parallell.

I always read one e-reader/paper book, and one audiobook.

If I’m driving, or on the bike trainer — I’ll go for my audiobook. An audiobook is also great when going on a walk. In bed, audiobooks put me to sleep, but reading works.

Funnily enough I struggle listening to complex non-fiction audiobooks while doing something physical — I seem not to be able to walk at the same time I’m listening to something too advanced (men and multi-tasking… hmm?).

The other trick I find helpful is to read one fiction and one non-fiction book. Sometimes I feel more for one or the other. And having it as an option makes it easier to read.

Get inspired

Another crucial part is to get inspired — about reading, and about books.

Inspiration creates motivation! It may even create an incentive to keep on reading, because you are so excited about what else you also can read.

Personally I find it inspiring to visit real bookstores and browse through their selection. Online communities are great too! Think about what gets you going.

Way back I used Goodreads, but it did feel outdated, cumbersome, and not so genuine. Today I use a similar service called Literal. It is quite similar but more modern, and a great community of users. Many books I discover is through other users on Literal.

I also use Literal to keep track of what I read and what I want to read. The sense of progress is rewarding to me.

Literal is completely free for book readers. I recommend you to create an account (you can even import your books from Goodreads, like I did).

Make reading top of mind

Finally, the unique reading hack I promised.

I found that the key to my reading momentum was make the thought of reading books more present. It is so easy to lose your habits, especially when you have a lot going on. And then it is really hard to find your way back.

I thought…

“How can I keep reading top of mind, and get reminded about what books I’m excited about?”

While using Literal, I discovered their public API and came up with the brilliant (in my humble, quite biased, opinion) idea to create a Chrome Extension to show what I’m currently reading.

After a few evenings of hacking away I got something that worked pretty ok for me. It made a huge impact on my reading habits — so I decided to polish it and make it available to everyone…

Allow me to introduce the Currently Reading Chrome Extension!

Whenever a new tab is opened in the browser, you now see what you are currently reading, and a random selection of what you’ve put on your Want to Read shelf.

This browser extension made all the difference to me. It makes reading top of mind! It reminds me of what I’m reading when I derail from my routines. And it inspires me with new books to read.

Feel free to try it out too — you can install it from the Chrome Web Store. It is completely free, it got no ads, it doesn’t track anything or require any permissions.

This was a game changer for me and my reading.

Have you found anything that made a huge impact on your reading?