So that it becomes a daily habit, it is important to set a time – even 20 minutes a day – to dedicate some time to reading. Before bedtime is typical for many people.
For me, what works best is reading early in the morning, having a nice cup of coffee, usually before other people in my house wake up. In silence and without interruptions, reading flows well and the feeling of well-being lasts throughout the day!
One thing that puts some people new to reading off is to start with a huge novel. Often these books take a while to get in to and they take a long time to finish. This can put some people off reading. so it is good to start with a shorter or lighter book.
Light readings are great to get us into the habit and make us finish a book faster, which gives us the energy to start another one!
If you can’t resist sneaking a peek on your cell phone at every notification, keep it far away from you. In addition to being a constant interruption, often those 2 minutes to reply to the message or see who commented on your photo turns into half an hour without you noticing.
Reading about personal development and business is important, I know. But there is life (and a lot of learning!) in other literary genres! And I say more: sometimes it.
And it’s also by varying the genres that you’ll discover what hooks you the most and what makes reading truly pleasurable. That’s how reading becomes a habit and becomes a part of you.
Kind of controversial, right? But the truth is that many people, and even myself, have been stuck for months in the same book because there was no flow in reading. Some times it made me sleepy and I wanted to come up with any excuse to do something else.
In these cases, the best thing to do is to let go of the book itself. Maybe you’ll even come back later, when you’re more patient or interested.
Well, that’s it! I hope the tips will inspire you to adopt or resume the reading habit, which can bring so many benefits in the short and long term: it leaves us more inspired, but creative, more cultured and even with a better command of the Portuguese language, whatever the genre.
