I’m an atrocious reader of non-fiction articles or books. First off, I find myself constantly zoning out when reading a technical article. Secondly, I’m a sucker for instant gratification. I would rather clean the house for an hour then sit in a chair reading. For context, I do neither and watch YouTube instead. Those pottery videos aren’t going to watch themselves.
In the past few weeks, I committed to reading more. To quote a toddler, “why”?
Reading is a superpower. And it was one that I was missing out on. It unlocks new ideas, challenges preconceptions, and it helps me find my voice when writing. Also, by reading more I can finally complete the Goodreads reading challenge.
Here’s what I’ve been doing to help me (re)build my reading habit.
Make reading a priority
The first step, and the only step that matters, is consistently making the time to read. Or more concretely, make reading a priority.
When I have a busy day, reading used to get bumped into the “I don’t have time for this” bucket. No more! I now carve out 10 minutes, non-negotiable, reading time in the morning. I do this after I wake up, and after I make coffee. For those habit nerds, I make reading part of a habit chain.
10 minutes doesn’t sound like much, but it’s more then what I was doing a month ago. And the goal is to slowly up this amount of time.
Figure out your reading vibe
Since 10 minutes isn’t a long time to read. I’ve found doing a vibe check at the start of a session a good way to get the most out of it. It sets myself up for a win and after the session I felt like I accomplished what I wanted.
These are my reading vibes:
- Reading to be entertained
- Reading to be informed
- Reading to understand
Most of the time I want to be entertained or informed. If that’s what I’m feeling for the session, I’ll focus on those types of articles first. If there are more technical posts that seem interesting, I’ll save it for later.
In the past, I’ve felt the pressure of taking notes, or always having to takeaway something when reading. It doesn’t have to be this way. I’m becoming comfortable with reading an article, saying “huh, interesting”, and forgetting about it the next day. It’s a muscle, and as we read more, we’ll get better at digesting information.
But there are days when I want to fully understand a concept. Or I have a technical article that I want to read. On these days, I normally spend a bit more time in my reading session. The next tip helps me digest information in these articles.
Prep your brain, then check your brain
Before diving into a deeply technical article. I prep my brain for learning. I’m basically telling my brain “hey dude, it’s not that bad, don’t zone out”.
To prep, I skim over the article to get the general gist of what is happening before I start reading it. After skimming, I write down everything I know (or think I know) about the concept.
Then after I’m done with the reading session, I write down at least one thing that I learnt from the article. If I have time to write more, I’ll write about new concepts I found out, how they relate to my existing knowledge, or if they challenge what I currently know.
I’ll rinse and repeat this process until I’ve finished with the article. The end result are notes I can look back on, and an article that I fully comprehend.
(Bonus) Curate your reading list
My final tip is to be selective about what you read. There’s so much content out there and not all content is the same. Daily.dev is a good place to find new content. But it can get overwhelming if you don’t follow the tags or collections you care about.
Nothing has beaten an RSS feed for getting new content. My RSS reader is my best friend. And it helps me keep up to date with the people I look up to most. If you’re curious, here’s my blogroll.
My reading habit is still a work in progress, these tips have been helping, but I have a ways to go before I complete the Goodreads Challenge. I hope these tips have been helpful. Happy reading!