How Can I Make Reading a Habit If I Don’t Like It?

Nik Books, College, Critical Thinking, Emotions, Habits, Happiness, Inspiration, Learning, Life, Motivation, Overcoming Fear, Productivity, Quora, Reading, Self-Awareness

In 2007 I took a plane for the first time ever.

I spent two weeks over the summer in a language camp in England. It just so happened that the very last Harry Potter book was released while I was there.

Guess who’s a huge HP nerd?

Yup, this guy:

I mean look at me. I basically stole his glasses. Anyhow, one day the camp team took everyone to London to get their copies, and guess who missed it?

Yup, once again, this guy. *points at self*

After I threw a tantrum, one of the supervisors was kind enough to bring me a copy the next day.

For the next 2 days, I locked myself in my room and did nothing but read.

The whole, damn thing. 600 pages.

It was fun.

In 2012 I lived in tiny 80 sqft room in a dorm with 5 other guys on a US college campus. While everyone was partying, I was in becoming better mode. One day I started getting up at 5 AM, watching the sunrise each morning…

…and then reading for a few hours. A book I remember most vividly is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I read it on my iPad. Zipped right through it. To this day I quote from it all the time.

It was fun.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in 2016, I grabbed my freshly arrived copy of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and went to a little park. I bought a large cappuccino and started reading.

Eventually, I got so sucked into the book, I decided to finish it right then and there. I spent around 4-5 hours on that bench, reading, thinking, highlighting.

It was fun.

I’m not telling you these stories to brag. I wanna show you something. Did you notice?

All of my most productive reading moments happened when reading was really, really FUN.

I WANTED to read these books. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them and devour them start to finish. If you’re serious about building a lifelong habit of reading and learning, then, ironically enough…

You have to make reading FUN.

Why do you think even avid readers spend most of their time looking at inspiring quotes? Or witty tweets? Or short, one-minute motivational blog posts?

It’s because these things remind us of all the times we had FUN reading. And they’re a great way to re-enter the magical world of words.

Here’s how you can work on that instantly:

Read something fun. Today. Not tomorrow. TODAY.

Spend some time around the web. Look at fun, little reads that don’t overwhelm you or take too much time. Learn something new. Browse on Amazon. Order a book. Download a free ebook. Save a long blog post. Whatever you like.

The truth is it doesn’t matter what you read. Or when. Or how much. It only matters that when you feel curious, you go. You follow. You give in. And you trust your gut.

Here are some of my favorite starting points:

These are places I go to get sucked in. Many of my best reading trips start there. I hope today you can find one of those gateways.

I’ll see you at the bottom of the rabbit hole.

PS: I made a new mini email course about reading. This lesson is part of it, so if you liked it, take a look.

Nik

Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.