I want to preface this by saying that it truly doesn’t matter how much you read, as long as you’re enjoying it. Comparison often is the thief of joy, and it lurks around every corner in our social media obsessed world. I know I’m part of this, as I share my reading online, but I hate to think others feel bad because they might read less than I do or shorter books or no classics. Whatever you’re reading, however much you’re reading, you’re doing great and I hope you’re having fun!!

That being said, I do understand how difficult it can be to fit reading into your day. Particularly if you’re a student who has to do a lot of academic reading or if you’ve got a job keeping you preoccupied 40 hours every week. (This is another reason why comparing your reading to someone else’s makes no sense, as you don’t know how much time they have available for reading.)

There are a few things you can do to carve out some literary moments in your days. These will vary a bit depending on your life circumstances, so feel free to adapt as needed! These are the things that help me make sure I get to flip those pages on a daily basis:

Make it a habit

This might sound obvious, and it is, but it’s also essential, particularly if you’ve not been a big reader before or have fallen off the reading wagon recently. It can be a bit challenging mentally to actually start a book or sit down and read when there’s so much else you could be doing. Forming a habit by consciously choosing to read until it’s a no brainer to get your book out whenever you have a spare minute is the first step in helping you read more.

Take a book wherever you go

This ties into number one, and it simply means you throw your book in your bag wherever you go. I read in doctors waiting rooms, on the train, during my lunch break, waiting for a friend to arrive at a cafe. You never know when you might be able to read a few pages, and to me there’s little more frustrating than having forgotten my book and dumbly staring at my phone instead to fill the minutes (I could obviously just spend the time people watching, or thinking, or striking up a conversation with a stranger, but I’d lie if I said I did that).

Only read what interests you

For a long time I thought there were certain books I should be reading. I guess it comes from having studied literature at uni, where a canon of literary classics was upheld as the gold standard all other books are measured against. That resulted in me reading a bunch of books I thought I had to in order to appear well read and smart. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read some amazing classics and still enjoy reading them occasionally. But I’ve also accepted that some of them I’m not going to read because they don’t sound like something I’d enjoy. Instead, I only read what I’m in the mood for. Some days, that might be the latest Heartstopper volume. Other days, it’s Sally Rooney. And sometimes, it’s Pride and Prejudice. By reading only what I feel like reading, I almost never don’t want to read. That makes it a whole lot easier to pick up my book any chance I get.

Have multiple books on the go

This might be a little controversial, so feel free to ditch this advice. I used to be the kind of person who only ever read one book at a time. Now, I often read two to three books at the same time. Sometimes, that’s one fiction and one non-fiction book. Other times, it’s a physical book and an audiobook (yes, audiobooks absolutely count as reading. no, I don’t care if you think differently). If I’m reading a collection of essays or poems, I’ll often want to take my time with them and so will dip in and out of the book over weeks and months. This way, I can always choose between a few different books depending on my mood, how tired I feel and the kind of content I want to engage with just then.

Switch out Netflix for reading

An unpopular one, I imagine, but one of the biggest helps in reading more. Realistically, in a working week, the biggest chunk of free time I have is in the evenings. I completely understand that some nights, all you can be arsed to do is switch on the telly and watch something, and that’s fine. I’m not telling you to force yourself to open a book instead and fall asleep two pages later. But I noticed that I’d often flick through Youtube or Netflix for half an hour, looking for something to watch. So I started reading instead. If there’s some new show or movie out I really want to see, I watch it. But if there’s nothing of interest, I read. The transition wasn’t that easy, though, so I’d recommend reading something similar to what you’d be watching instead. So, if you often watch fantasy movies in the evenings, switch them out for a fantasy book. If you’re into romcoms, read something romantic. You get the gist.

So, these are my tips for reading more. Remember, it’s not a race though, so please don’t beat yourself up if you go through phases of not reading much. That’s normal, and completely okay. Happy reading!