A few months ago I talked about how getting back into reading has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in recent memory and has expanded my worldview immensely. 

One of the most common responses I get when talking about this is: “I would love to read more but I just can’t find the time”.

This is certainly how I’ve felt a lot of my life! Maybe you can relate. Whether you’re in school or working a 9 to 5, when you get off in the evening it’s often already a game of almost impossible Tetris trying to fit in all of your tasks as is, nonetheless thinking about adding another task: reading.

So today I have compiled a list of various ways to read more without having to carve out more time, by repurposing already existent time in your day. Although none of them are extremely profound or revolutionary, they have all helped me immensely in reading more. Sometimes the answers are simple and obvious, it’s just down to actually deciding to implement them that’s the kicker. Here are some helpful changes you can make to read a little more:

1) Get free audiobooks and e-books legally.

The first (and honestly most important) tip is to get free audiobooks and e-books. This not only makes reading more accessible from a cost standpoint, but also cuts past the psychological barrier of having to buy a book, which can hold a lot of us back from actually reading anything. There is a way to do this legally!

I know many of you may have concerns about audiobooks and e-books, preferring the feel of a physical book. That is totally valid, and I used to feel strongly that way too. But I would encourage you to give these other methods a shot — they’re better than you might think. E-reading, whether it be on my Kindle (one of the best purchases I’ve made) or on my phone, is a great way to read more. The remaining tips will delve into further detail as to why, but mainly because of convenience and accessibility — these electronic mediums allow you to consume books in a wide variety of situations that you may not want to carry around a book in. And if you like physical books, nothing’s precluding you from having one of those too : – ) and you can even pick up free ones of those too, using the method I’ll outline.

The method, which some of you may have guessed, is libraries! But here’s the kicker — you don’t even have to physically go to the library to get free audiobooks and e-books. The site Overdrive (and it’s corresponding app Libby) is a platform to access the different library systems across the US. Chances are very good your local library will be registered on this program. You then go on their website (overdrive.com), find your local library, and register an account. Oftentimes you don’t even need a physical library card, you can simply register online with your phone number, and then immediately start checking out books. If you do need a library card, you can stop by your local library to register one, and then from then on can do everything online 🙂

This has been a massive game changer for me, and I can’t recommend it enough. Especially with audiobooks, where they often have unlimited copies available to check out for certain titles. You can check it out and have the book immediately transferred to your device in either an e-book or audiobook format. Check out Overdrive and it’s corresponding app Libby today.*

* I’ve also heard Hoopla is good (a similar service) but have never personally used it so can’t vouch for it, versus Libby (Overdrive) which I use all the time.

2) Listen to Audiobooks during boring parts of your day, such as commuting and chores

What I love about audiobooks is the ability to multi-task while listening to them. Granted I generally can’t do anything incredibly mentally complicated or I’ll lose focus, but there are plenty of moments in our days where we don’t really need a constant high level of mental focus. Listening to audiobooks on your commute for example can be an excellent way to repurpose existing time. If your commute is an hour each way, that’s 2 hours a day of audiobooks and subsequently 10+ hours a week. That’s a lot! That’s about a book a week! Even listening to an audiobook for 15-30 minutes a day during a chore really adds up over time. I personally use my semi-frequent vanlife-based long drives to read audiobooks all the time, all for free 🙂

3) Install an e-book reading app on your phone (like Libby or the Kindle app)

Installing an e-reading app on your phone (regardless of whether you have a separate e-reader like a Kindle) is a wonderful way to get more reading in during your day. The reason is simple and twofold: you won’t always have a Kindle or physical book on you but you will almost always have your phone on you, and you’ll reach for your phone a lot during the day regardless. We can then focus on repurposing that time spent on the phone, instead of directly trying to change the behavior, as this is a drastically easier task. You’ll flick open your phone out of muscle memory at a time where you have a few minutes to spare: on the toilet, in the line at the store, or even just on the couch at home. But instead of opening your social media app of choice, you can instead open up your e-reading app during your few minutes here and there. It adds up and while sounding silly, honestly has helped me read a lot more.

4) Slowly replace Netflix / TV time with dedicated reading time

Okay, so perhaps this one is cheating a bit as it is dedicated reading time, but I’ve found that the easiest way to add dedicated reading time to your day is to make a slow transition from other media to reading. If you simply go in trying to add reading time to your day, you will likely add it on top of your already existing media consumption, which will leave you feeling exhausted and overloaded with activities. Instead, I recommend slowly transitioning from one form of media to reading. If you watch an hour of TV a day, try watching 50 minutes and reading for 10 minutes. This is a great start. Maybe down the line you’ll bump it up to 20 or 30 minutes, decreasing the TV time respectively. Maybe not! Whatever works for you. 10 minutes of reading is infinitely better than 0 minutes of reading, especially when paired with some of our other tactics described above that will let you add more reading time passively throughout your day.

5) Read fun things

Another cheating one, but reading things that you genuinely want to read will make reading so much more enjoyable and make it so much easier to stick with it. Don’t feel like you need to read Tolstoy or Shakespeare to get fulfillment out of reading. I quite honestly have gotten more myself out of the “easier” books that I’ve read than the more difficult ones, as I was more passionate about reading them! Play around, read some different genres. Read poetry. Read short stories. Read fiction, non-fiction. Nature poetry and science fiction. Fantasy and neuroscience. Calvin and Hobbes and Lord of the Rings. Read whatever you find interesting without judgement, of the book or of yourself. And the best part of free books from the library is that you didn’t ever have to buy the book, so there should be no pressure on you to have to finish something you don’t like or to take reading too seriously. 

Those are my five tips. I hope you enjoyed this article and took something away from it! 🙂 Let me know in the comments below if any of these tips were helpful to you, and what you’re reading! 🙂

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