4 Practical Ways to Find Time to Read

I was talking with my reader community this week about where their favorite place to read is, and while everyone has a favorite spot, they tend to read everywhere. So, this got me thinking. I hear all the time from ‘non-readers’ how they just don’t have time to read and I’m not going to lie… it annoys me to NO end!! There is time to read. There is ALWAYS time. This is the post you will want to share with your friend that you keep telling they need to read A Court of Thorns and Roses. (Or whatever book you swear they need to read.)

Do you need to find more time to read? I have a few practical or maybe a tad bit impractical that will help you get your reading goals.

Audio Books

According to Written Word Media, audio book sales are on the rise this year. I think the reason for this is obvious, we spend so much time on our commute to and from work. We are mom’s who are packing lunches, doing meal prep, working out, cleaning, doing laundry. You get the picture. We are always doing something, and during that time the only way to consume a book is to listen to audio. Gone are the days of putting off cleaning because we are in the middle of a good book, we will be listening to some dirty talking hero and putting away clean laundry, because we want to keep all the dirty in our books and not in our homes.

In fact, Audible has gone as far as creating a Romance package on their site just for women like us! I mean. How COOL is that? Even audio publishers getting in on romance, because we are such a huge audience.

Not to mention that, at the time of the last census, we are spending almost an hour our commute every single day and that number keeps rising. Now four years later, it’s probably even longer than that!! So, if you have an audio book downloaded, you can hook it to this handy little thing called Bluetooth and you can have a book listened to in a few days! So, tell me. Who doesn’t have time for that?

The Kindle App for your Phone

I know that a lot of people think that they can’t process what they are listening to when it comes to audio books, because honestly? I used to be one of those people. If this is still you, I’m going to encourage you to go download the Kindle App for your phone.

Before I go on and tell you all of the many reasons why you need this, how often are you more than 2 feet from your cell phone?

That’s right, probably only when you are in the shower. (Actually know people who put their phone in a baggie and take it in the shower with them)

You know when you are on your lunch break and you decide that today I’m going to have Chick Fil A, only to get there and realize you are going to be sitting there for 20 minutes waiting to place your order. This is the time to pull up your handy kindle app and read a few pages. You prepped dinner but you are waiting for the oven to finish warming up. Read your book. You have to go to the bathroom? Take a few extra minutes and read. Your kid is playing at the park? Read on your phone. I read 98% of the time from my cell phone. People may think that you are just sitting there playing games or stuck in social media, but don’t let them judge you. You read your little heart out. You can hide your phone in your lap and read at work! The times and places you can read when you have this app on your phone is LIMITLESS!!

TURN OFF THE DANG TV

That’s right. Stop binge watching. And open your book. What’s going to make you smarter? American Idol or a book? That’s right. Reading. It wins every single time. I know that there are probably some really good television shows out there, but all I have seen in the recent months is Teen Titan Go. As funny as that is, I’m probably actually hurting my brain by watching it. If you honestly want to find more read a book, this strategy is key. Maybe even be as bold as to download an app like the Forest App and try to grow a tree while you are reading on your tablet or physical book. If you get on your phone. You kill the tree. Do you want to be a tree killer???

Play Hide and Seek

Okay. So this one is going to be a little more difficult, but I know there is a chance that you are a stay at home mom. You have kids constantly piling on top of you and saying, mom, mom, mom. I would like to say lock them outside, but that’s probably frowned upon and I don’t want to encourage you to stick your kid in front of the television all day. Granted, I have been known to put on a movie that Hunter, my son, is obsessed with so that I can wrap up a book that is consuming me.

BUT.

When it’s one of those days that your child needs to run out some energy and you are going crazy stuck in the house and you can’t call in sick we are going to play Hide and Seek. You make sure that they are looking for you. And the key is to find a really really good hiding spot or two. Make sure you are wearing something that is comfortable and stretchy because you probably won’t be in the most comfortable spot. But you tell them to go count. You get in your spot, bring you book/phone/Kindle, and sit there quietly and read. You might only be able to read in small intervals, but if you can keep the game going long enough you can get some reading in.