How to read 52 books per year

It all started when I read a medium blog post that said: “if you spent reading the same time you spend on internet you would be able to read 400 books a year”.
Wait what? that is more than one book per day!! how on earth am I spending so many hours on internet! …
Then I investigated and realize that the autor was actually not only exaggerating but also using the verb “read” for “consuming valuable information” through different channels and sources; like podcasts, audiobooks, articles, actual paper books, manuals, etc and a key recommendation was not to discriminate what kind of book or information you would be consuming.
Ok ok, here I didn’t agree, I think there is SOOO much information and books to learn from in the world, that we have to choose the subjects that we are interested in during that month (or any period of time you choose).

So I decided to give it a try on my own way; I would commit to reading one book a week, and my only 3 sources would be:

• Physical books  (I love the paper experience of a book).
• Kindle (I love how I can bring with me several books in a super tiny kindle),
• Audiobooks (my forever favorite because you can always do this while commuting or working out is the best use of time for me).

And the result was actually pretty great, not only did I manage to read 1 book a week, but I was so excited to read much more, for every book I finished my “books I want to read” list kept growing, and the best part it actually became fun and easy! I found myself looking forward for those small moments I could have with my book. That is when I realized the “secret” of it:

The key was to make it a habit!  So here are my 4 tips to do it easy and simple:

1. Define more than 1 channel or source of information you will be “reading” from: for me it was physical books and audiobooks (audible), but you can choose whatever you enjoy the most.
2. Define two moments(habits) of your day where you can combine reading and some other habit you already have. In my case it was:
   • When I commute to work (a 25 min walk each way so in the end it was 50mins a day) I would be able to listen to my audiobook and really enjoy my commute, It was awesome how my commute became something I enjoyed so much that I was really looking forward to it every day. So It actually turned a boring “lost time” into a fun productive moment.
   • And; every afternoon I would arrive earlier than my hubby so I would prepare tea and watch tv or IG stories but instead I changed it to enjoying my tea with good background music and the book I was reading that week, it was such a great “me” moment that made my hubby jealous haha.
3. Commit to the new habits for at least 4 or 6 weeks, after that it will become natural. The thing is that the first times your brain is so used to your old habit; eg. turning on the TV instead of the background music and my book that it takes an actually conscience mental effort to switch to the new habit, but after you’ve done it around 30 times, your brain registers it as a new habit so you start doing it without actually thinking about it so it takes no effort. **

** this actually applies to any new habit you are interested to create, but be aware don’t try to integrate too many habit changes at once because it would be exhausting to your brain, so take one at the time. 

So go ahead and don’t forget to share with me (@TheYogiCoder) if you are able to make it!

Xoxo!
Alex – The Yogi Coder