So you haven’t done so well at finishing a book once you start. Or you are a little sporadic in your reading. Here are a few tips to help you become a more disciplined regular reader. Whether you are reading a book a day or a book a year, hopefully these tips will help drive you further along in the process.
1. Set a realistic deadline.
I found the syllabus in college very helpful in providing a daily or weekly schedule of reading. If you have trouble starting and finishing a book, why not take a few minutes, flip through the book you want to read and set out a realistic reading schedule. Maybe a chapter a day or a chapter a week. Figure out a deadline and work your way back from there. When you find yourself getting behind, double up until you have caught up.
2. Read at a set time.
Maybe you have time in the morning before work or Tuesdays at Lunch or for an hour on the treadmill in the gym. Find a time and place that work best for you and fit into your regular schedule and start reading. Incorporate reading into your daily routine
3. Read good books.
Check out a few book reviews before you read a book. See what other readers thought after reading the book. Try and find both favorable and unfavorable reviews to read. Once you have found a good book that still piques your interest after reading the reviews… read it.
4. Don’t move on until you have finished.
If you are an undisciplined reader, don’t start a new book until you have finished the last book you were reading. This will help you press on through the later chapters of the book once you have already been well introduced to the topic. Otherwise you will end up with several half-read books.
5. Have a reading list at least 2 or 3 books deep.
This will motivate you to finish the book in front of you. Go ahead and plan the next book or two out. That way when things begin to lag, you will have an incentive to finish the book you are reading to get to the next book that you are highly interested in.
The Hill House 