The Disciplined Pursuit of Reading Less
The Disciplined Pursuit of Reading Less
Focusing less on volume because speed reading isn't as fun
I honestly love to read.
Some nights, my brain is tired, or I'm just not feeling it. I do ignore books and sit back and watch a fun show instead.
More often than not, I love to read.
I used to set decently high reading goals at the beginning of every year. I had seen other successful people talk about reading 50+ books a year. Why couldn't I do that?
Plus, there always seem to be a lot of great books out there that I want to read! The best way to get to them all is to read fast. Right?
Right?
Not necessarily.
Over time, I am not worried about the number of books I'm reading. More so that I take time to read consistently. The volume of books I'm consuming is decreasing, but I enjoy the process more. I feel like I'm learning more. I am retaining more information.
I am learning that the habit of reading consistently is better than how fast you get through books. Speed reading is overrated.
I'm not buying fewer books on Amazon, though. I still need to work on that. I still have an issue of buying books faster than I can get through them.
What do you think? Do you find that quality beats quantity when it comes to reading?
Side note: Ryan Holiday gives a few of his own personal tips when it comes to reading in this Instagram video. What do you agree/disagree with?
I'm always thinking about (and often tinkering with) my book reading "rules", per se. I've moved everything into Notion at this point, btw. I have all the books I've purchased and not read, plus all the books I "want to read". And of course all the books I've read over the last 7 years with ratings #nerd. I think it took the pressure off by getting them in there.
I do try to keep a fairly consistent goal of ~50 books a year because I think I could easily lose my way and find myself too often on my phone instead of opening a book, which I much prefer but the phone is too damn easy to grab and get distracted with.