1. Appreciation
Try to appreciate the importance of reading. Reading is very important and to not think so would be ignorant of oneself. It is a form of self-taught education that builds vocabulary and enhance understanding. Furthermore its develops the minds as well as the imagination and can broaden our horizons. Reading makes you more intelligent (provided you read something worthwhile i.e. not you glossy gossip magazines) and enables and improves your ability to question and reflect on things flourish making you more inquisitive and less like to be naive. A book is a a powerful thing that can inspire and affect thought and action. Written word is a powerful tool.
2. Make time for it
Set some time aside for it. Try and work out how to use your time more wisely and start trying to figure out how you can substitute other activities or spend less time on them to free up some time for reading. Perhaps you can watch half an hour less of TV or less time aimlessly browsing on line.
3. Make it a part of your daily routine
This one is kind of in line with the previous, pick a spot in your day when you know you can set a few minutes aside to get some reading done. For example; I like reading on the bus commuting to and from school, or perhaps waking up 30 minutes earlier to squeeze it into your morning routine, or maybe just before bed getting it into your night time routine.
4. Read other formats - it doesn't have to be a book
You don't just have to read books, try out other formats such as digital. I love reading up on blogs (I'd totally love them to be made into books - I prefer real life reading to digital!) some of which include Colossal, Hello Nautral.co, Brooklyn Blonde, Tanya Burr and Ella Grace Denton. I follow most of these guys on Bloglovin' (feel free to follow me here) which is a great website that pulls all the blogs you read into one feed. Additionally I would recommend reading a range of formats so not only fiction when it comes to books, non-fiction also like autobiographies or perhaps architecture - if that tickles your fancy. What's more is that it's great to read the paper now an again to keep informed with current affairs, preferably not the tabloid, but rather the broadsheets. And you don't always have to buy, most of them are on line or in app form. The Guardian in app is one of my favourites. I also love magazines, not glossy gossip ones but things that interest me like Elle home or the Architectural Digest, and like I've said before go digital with these by buying an digital subscription service for you device(s). For those of you learning new languages I recommend reading magazines in the language you're studying. For me this was French and I have a collection from Glamour, to Elle Decoration, and Be as well as others. This is a great way to learn vocabulary and put it into context.
5. Re-read old favourites
There's nothing wrong with reading something you've already read. And if that's the cure to getting you back into the habit of read - why not? Personal favourites of mine come from my slightly younger days when I actually enjoyed reading more (to be fair I feel like I'm still in my childhood). Go back to articles you've read or blogposts you've really enjoyed and remember why you liked reading them again.
6. Try not to read for reading sake
Just because you're trying to start reading again don't pick up any old thing and just read it because you want to read as much as you can or fill up a reading journal (I'll come onto that later - it's the next tip). It should always be worthwhile, though at times by the time you've come to the end of a book you may not have been satisfied, hopefully there is something valuable to take away from it. Read something that will educate you, interest you, make you laugh, make you want to share it - read because you want to, not because you have to - unless of course it is a requirement concerning your education or job. But I'm talking about reading for leisure and pleasure here.
7. Get a reading journal
Get yourself a reading journal. I picked one up from Amazon for about £5-£10, but feel free to grab a notebook and make one freehand yourself. This will give you a feeling of accomplishment and is a great thing to look back on and see what you liked or didn't like and it's a great record to have that should hopefully push you to fill it and then another and another.
Hope you've enjoyed this follow up post from this previous post on getting back into reading.
Margaret xXx
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