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1. Just open the book.

 

I say that sentence to myself all the time and it works.  On Day 1, pick up your book and open it.  Read as long as you want to and stop whenever you feel like it.  That’s it.  If you need motivation, check out the reading inspiration page.

 

2. Set a page goal.  

 

On Day 2, think about how long you were able to focus on your book on day 1 and count how many pages you read.  While doing my THING, I read for 30 minutes on day 1 and finished about 20 pages (on a tablet).  That felt pretty good to me, so I made 20 pages a day my goal.  

 

Some days I read less than that which was totally okay because most days I read more than 20 pages.  I exceeded my page goal most of the time because I made sure the first book I picked was highly recommended and a great fit for my interests (Step 1).  While reading for My Next Thing, I was able to finish one book a week with great book recommendations and that 20 page per day goal in mind.  

 

3. Pick a time that you’re going to read every day.

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There is almost no way you haven’t tried and failed to do this with a habit before.  I’m the person giving you this advice and I’m a great example that it is difficult to stick with this idea.  While doing my THING, I was really good at scheduling my reading time during week 1.  By week 2 I convinced myself that I had the habit down, so I stopped scheduling my reading time.  That’s when I started to miss days.  So learn from my mistakes when it comes to reading this month.  Pick a time that you will start reading each day and stick with it.  

 

For example: 

• I’m going to read during my lunch break

• I’m going to read before I go to bed (careful, I can’t do this without falling asleep)

• I’m going to read after dinner instead of turning on Netflix.

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4. Take notes while you read.

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This is the most important step.  Let’s first talk about what not to do here.  

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• If you’re reading a physical book, don’t highlight the book or take notes in the margins.  Instead, take notes digitally.  You don’t want to waste time flipping through a book 6 months later when you can pull out your phone and search your notes in a fraction of the time.  Ever since I started taking digital notes about books, I find myself referencing them all the time.  This system has been like uploading a searchable portion of my brain to the cloud.

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• Don’t take notes while you’re reading.  Finish a section before going back to take notes on the most important details.  I try to read at least 2 pages before going back to take notes.  I used to struggle with this because I thought I would forget the most important details if I didn’t take notes right away.  But I’ve realized that the important stuff always sticks.

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• Don’t take notes in Microsoft Word.  Use a program that is searchable across devices (phone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, etc.)  You want to be able to access these notes from anywhere.  Here are some note-taking platforms (in order of recommendation specifically for annotating books).

  • Evernote - Great design, very powerful platform.  This is my go-to for taking notes about books.

    • How to use Evernote

  • One Note - Less powerful and less user-friendly than Evernote, but always free.

    • How to use One Note

  • Google Docs - Very easy to use, least searchable (I used this before switching to Evernote).

    • How to use Google Docs

 

There are plenty of other tools out there that you can certainly try.  I have not used any of these because I’m happy with my platform of choice, but many people use and recommend the following:

 

• Bear (only for Apple devices)

• Ulysses (only for Apple devices)

• Roam

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