March 16th, 2022
David Peachment
How to EASILY Read 52 Books a Year
If you’re at all like me, you can find it hard to get some good reading in. There are always a thousand things vying for your attention. Phones ringing, family members, work, notifications, emails, the list of potential interruptions doesn’t end. With so many things always happening and going on, it can be very challenging to find a few moments to read that book you’ve always wanted to read. Or, if you want to broaden your knowledge and consume more information, those dozens of books you want to read.
In a previous blog post, I had detailed how I’ve read 52 books a year for the past few years and how that activity has helped me immensely! (You can find that blog post HERE). It truly is a very transformative experience and will improve your life in countless ways. But you’re probably thinking, “I can’t read that much; who has the time?” Well, I’m here to tell you that it really doesn’t take nearly as much time as you think it does! And anyone, no matter their stage in life, can read that much in a year. For this blog post, I’m going to break down a few tips and tricks for reading 52 books in a year!
Plan out your selection of books
The first suggestion towards reading 52 books in a year is to prep some of your book selection ahead of time. There’s nothing worse than having the time to sit down and read, but you don’t have a clue what to pick up. And by the time you’ve decided between a few options and selected your choice, you’ve now lost your reading time! When you have a few extra minutes, put together a stack of books you want to get through. Then when you sit down to peruse a few pages, just simply take the book off of the top of the stack. If you really aren’t feeling like the top book at the moment, then begin the next one on the stack. This will ensure that you have a few options you can quickly get into without taking forever to go through all of the titles on your bookshelf! And by planning ahead a little, you can pick your stack based on different subjects you want to learn about!
Set aside a half-hour a day
The next suggestion is to simply commit to spending 30 minutes a day reading. It’s not a lot of time out of your day, but it will be plenty for going through your stack of books! On average, it takes about one minute to read a page in a book. (Naturally, this varies a bit depending on the complexity of the subject matter or the size of the pages.) So if you read only 30 minutes a day, say six days a week, you’ll read 180 pages a week! That’s basically a whole book right there! The important part isn’t sitting down to read for hours; the important part is being consistent with reading. Have consistency, and you’ll finish a book in no time at all!
Listen to audiobooks
Another great suggestion is to listen to audiobooks! On your commute to and from work, while you’re at the gym, or even cooking supper, you can get through all kinds of books while doing other activities that don’t require much mental stimulation. Check with your local library; a lot of them these days have audiobooks you can borrow or even an audiobook app you can download! Pick up some of your favourite ones and start listening! If your library doesn’t have what you need, check YouTube or Spotify. Both of these platforms have a wide range of audiobooks! This is another excellent way to get through your book list without having to find extra time to read.
Learn speed reading
The final suggestion I won’t go into too much detail, as there is a lot of information on this subject alone. But you could learn some speed reading to up how many pages you can get through in a sitting. There are many online courses available and YouTube videos that will give you tips and tricks to improve your speed. Do a little research, and you’ll be able to find one that suits your needs!
I hope you’ve found this blog post helpful in getting through your reading! By planning out what books you want to read ahead of time, setting aside just a few minutes each day, listening to audiobooks, and even taking up speed reading, you will be able to read 52 books a year EASILY! Your knowledge will expand, your confidence will grow, and your life will just get better overall! But enough about how to read more books, go and do it!
Until next time,
David Peachment