Make time to read

Even busy people can find time to read. With this episode’s strategies, you’ll plow through War and Peace in no time.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good morning. This is Laura. Today's tip is about how
to make more time to read. When I asked people
what they want to spend more time doing, exercise always
comes up first, and don't worry, we're gonna talk a
lot about that in future episodes. But reading is a
close second. Indeed, if you'd asked me a few years

(00:23):
ago what I wanted to spend more time doing, I
would have said reading books. I would have told you
I was busy and I had very limited time to read.
Then I tracked my time for a year, a year incidentally,
when I had four children under the age of eight,
including an infant, which I thought was a pretty good excuse.
My timelogs were clear. My problem was not a lack

(00:46):
of time to read. I had spent three seven hours
reading that first year, which is almost an hour a day,
but I couldn't remember many good books I had read.
The truth as I had spent the vast majority of
those three twenty seven hours reading online news stories and
gossip magazines. Why, well, that's what was easy and available

(01:08):
when I had open time, so that is what I read.
It makes sense, but it's also kind of sad, as
three twenty seven hours is enough time to have read
more than fifteen thousand pages of real stuff. I could
have read War in Peace ten times. Let's just say
that did not happen. So I resolved to do better,

(01:28):
and over the next two years, I didn't spend much
more time reading, but the quality of my reading material
massively improved. I actually did read War in Peace. I
read Moby Dick, I read Middle March, Infinite Jest, Kristin
Laverne Statter one q eighty four, Ulysses a number of
other amazing books on my reading bucket list. I did

(01:50):
not magically find more time. Laura who had no time
to read, and Laura who read War in Peace were
the exact same person, living in exact same universe. It
was just about being more strategic with the time I had.
So if you'd like to be a better reader, you
might try to do what I did. First, make sure

(02:11):
you have really good books to read readily available. Now
you might think this sounds backwards. I can just hear
people yelling at this podcast, Laura, there are all these
wonderful books that I have no time to read. This
is not my problem. But let me ask you this.
If you were to turn off this podcast. Could you
be engaged with a book you really wanted to read

(02:31):
in the next thirty seconds, because I know you could
be on Instagram in the next thirty seconds. If you
don't have that same ability to dive into a book,
then this is gonna limit your ability to cease time
to read. So make a list of the books you'd
really like to read, not what you think you should read.
You're not in high school English class anymore. You don't

(02:53):
have to read what you don't want to read, even
if that cuts out some good books. I'll put this
out here. I don't like false accusation stories, and I
don't like the sort of awkwardness that's endemic to romantic comedies. Also,
I feel like there's enough violence and cruelty in the
real world that I just can't stomach too much of
it in my fiction. Even though I know this puts

(03:14):
some really good books off my list. I do me,
you do you? So figure out what you'd like to read.
Build in you know, twenty minutes a week or so.
To find book recommendations. I like to check out the
Modern Mrs Darcy blog and her podcast What Should I
Read Next? I look at the Wall Street journals, review section,
and Oh Magazine for ideas. I welcome your suggestions too.

(03:37):
Then get your hands on the first handful. Physical books
are great. But here was the real breakthrough for me.
I put the Kindle app on my phone. This is
Amazon's e reader app. And guess what, I always have
my phone with me. Since you're listening to a podcast,
I'm guessing this is the case for you. To Putting

(04:00):
the Kindle app on my phone meant that I could
immediately buy any e book I saw recommended, and I
could turn my headline and social media scrolling time into
reading time. People turn out to have a lot of
this time. You probably pick up your phone at least
fifty times a day. If you want to check the
exact number, just look at the screen time function if

(04:21):
you have an iPhone, So you pick up your phone,
you delete junk email, and then what you probably look
at social media or at headlines. But if you spend
six of those five minutes spurts reading, that's half an
hour a day of reading right there. And then the
funniest thing happens when you're really into a book, you

(04:42):
start magically finding more time to read instead of spending
ten minutes puttering around with the mail pile looking at catalogs.
You read instead of channel surfing. You read. You are
the exact same person, but time starts to open up.
Of of course, there are ways to build more reading
time into your life structurally too. If you've got a

(05:04):
long commute, definitely put audiobooks into the mix. Maybe you
listen to this podcast for a bit, and then listen
to a chapter in a book. You know, if you've
got a forty five minute commute, you're going to spend
seven and a half hours in the car this week.
You're gonna spend forty five hours in the car over
the next six weeks anyway, so you might as well
listen to Doris Karen's Goodwin's Team of Rivals, which clocks

(05:24):
in at just under forty two hours. Reading is also
a great way to wind down at night. I try
to get ready for bed at least twenty to thirty
minutes before lights out time a few days per week.
Then I can use that time to read. Finally, one
of the most motivating things I did was to start
keeping track of what books I've read. There are fancy

(05:45):
book journals out there, but you don't really need anything
like that, Just a notebook or a file on your
computer or your phone is going to do just fine.
You can also start sharing your lists of books read
with friends. Not only will people see what you like
and start recommend ending titles. It's a great way to
hold yourself accountable because while I really did enjoy reading

(06:08):
War in Peace, I also get a kick out of
telling people I read War in Peace. I'm guessing you
will too. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody got
a tip or a question. You can share them with

(06:30):
me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at Before Breakfast pot
that's be the number four then Breakfast p o D.
You can also email me at Before Breakfast podcast at
iHeart Media dot com for the email to spell those
words out. I look forward to connecting and learning how
you make the most of your time.