“If you haven't read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate”
- General James Mattis
Somebody once asked Warren Buffett about his secret to success. Buffett simply pointed to a stack of books and said:
“Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will.”
Early in his career, Buffett would actually read 800 pages a day, not 500. Even now, he still reads for about 8 hours a day.
How does he do it? Easy. He makes reading a priority in his life. And you know what? He’s not the only one.
In an interview with the New York Times, for example, Bill Gates shared that he reads about 50 books a year. Gates will actually take reading vacations for two weeks at a time.
Elon Musk has said that he taught himself physics as well as rocket science simply by reading a lot of books.
Mark Cuban will spend up to about three hours of his day reading.
Oprah Winfrey has referred to reading as her “path to personal freedom.” She even started her own book club where she talks about her favorite books.
And the interesting thing is that these aren’t just outlier examples. It is extremely common for the world’s most successful people to read at least one book a week. One book a week is 52 books a year. That’s 520 books a decade!
This should be enough to make you ask yourself, "Am I reading enough books?"
If you look at all of the CEOs in the world, the average CEO reads one book a week.
Ever since I read this stat, I’ve made it a goal to read at least one new book a week as well. In fact, last year, I read over 100 books!
And I’m not exaggerating when I say this, but increasing my reading rate has amplified every area of my life.
I’ve never felt more interesting. I’ve never been more productive. I’ve never been a better partner. I’ve never successfully built more healthy habits.
And let me tell you something, reading 100 books a year is not as difficult as you think. Anyone can learn how to do it.
How? It’s simple. Here are 12 tips I personally use that will help you read 100 books a year. I hope at least one of them helps you.
So what’s the secret to reading 100 books in a year?
Well, the simple answer is that there is no secret.
Yes, I’m about to give you my best tips for reading 100 books in a year. But the truth is, if you want to read 100 books in a year, then reading simply has to become a priority in your life.
If you don’t prioritize reading, then watching Netflix, YouTube, and scrolling through Facebook will always take precedence.
We all have 24 hours a day. There’s no difference, time-wise, between you or Warren Buffett. Some just know how to maximize their time more efficiently than others.
If you don’t prioritize reading, then the rest of this eBook won’t help you much.
I take my books with me everywhere. If you ever see me somewhere, no matter where it is, you’ll most likely see me holding a book.
This is because there are always opportunities to read. Are you waiting in line at the DMV? Take advantage of that time and read your book.
Have 10 minutes between meetings or classes? Take out your book and read a few pages.
If you have a book on you at all times, you’ll start to find that there are actually a lot of moments throughout your day where you can grab your book and get some reading done.
A little reading done here and there throughout your day will add up to a lot over a week’s period.
A lot of people like to read a book cover to cover before reading something new.
I don’t.
Instead, I like reading a lot of books at once.
The reason I do this is because I find that reading multiple books at once helps keep my mind and thoughts fresh.
If I’m reading something complicated in the morning, for example, I find that it’s more relaxing to read something easier in the evening.
I also get bored easily. So instead of taking a break after I’ve been reading a book for an extended period of time, I’ll choose to just read a different book instead.
Doing this keeps me engaged and more productive when it comes to reading more.
A lot of the books I start reading, I don’t end up finishing.
Why? Because reading is supposed to be highly enjoyable.
So if you’re not enjoying the book you’re reading, then I highly recommend you stop reading it immediately.
Don’t feel like you have to finish every single book you start.
It’s always better to read books that sincerely interest you, rather than waste weeks trying to force yourself to read through a book just because you feel you should.
If reading feels like a chore, then you’re not doing yourself any favors.
I find that when I don’t have a long list of great books I want to read, I tend to not feel inspired to get through the book I’m currently reading.
When you keep an ongoing list of books to read, you’ll always feel motivated to pick up the next book, rather than falling into a long non-reading period in which you’re looking or waiting for that next perfect book to appear.
Having an ongoing list of books you want to read is extremely important and beneficial. The problem, however, with only having a list of books to read is that it’s also very easy to ignore.
Because of this, the benefit of having a written list diminishes. This is why it’s worth buying your books in advance.
Why? Because you can’t ignore a stack of books. Having a visual representation of all the books you want to read in a place that you will see every day will easily motivate you to read more every day.
If you have a goal to read a book a week, then you can’t be picky about what mediums you use to read.
In relation to me, I’ll read paper books. I’ll read books on my phone. And I’ll even listen to audiobooks.
Audiobooks, in particular, are very important.
If you struggle to read more books, I highly suggest you try listening to audiobooks. In fact, nearly 30% of the population are auditory learners.
By listening to audiobooks while you’re cooking dinner, going for a walk, or getting ready for bed, you can easily get through one book a week without much effort.
Personally, I highly recommend using Scribd (affiliate link), which is a far better alternative to Audible in my opinion.
Don’t wait until you’re “in the mood” to read. This consistently fails because of how unpredictable motivation is.
Instead, strive to habitualize your reading. Do this by setting aside time every day where you’re going to sit down and read no matter what.
Personally, I like to read for 30 minutes every morning and 30 minutes every night.
In the beginning, this wasn’t easy to do. New habits never are. But when you try to discipline yourself to read at a certain time every day, even when you don’t feel like it, this helps you create a habit. And creating a habit will help you do more of it and do it more easily.
When you’re reading, it’s very important to eliminate any outside distractions that have the potential to steal your attention away from your book.
According to Gloria Mark, an attention researcher at the University of California, it takes the average employee 25 minutes to return their full attention back to their initial task after being interrupted.
This is a huge price to pay to tend to pointless interruptions, such as emails and instant messages.
This is why it’s so important to protect your attention from external distractions that are going to derail your focus and productivity.
So cut out all distractions while reading. You can do this by listening to music for white noise (Tip #10), putting your phone away in a drawer, or shutting your door and putting a sign on it that says, “Please Do Not Disturb.”
This is something I really like to do. Whenever I sit down to read, I’ll always listen to music.
Why? Because listening to music helps put me in the zone. Time begins to slow down. Distractions become easier to ignore. And my mind becomes focused on the task at hand.
In psychology, this state of hyperfocus is called “flow.” And listening to music, I’ve found, helps put me in a state of flow.
Maybe it will help you too.
If you were trying to quit eating junk food, would you still keep it lying around the house? Of course not. You would throw it away.
On the other hand, if you wanted to eat more fruits, don’t you think it would be smart of you to put some apples or bananas on the kitchen counter for
easy consumption? You bet.
The key here is to design your environment to promote good behaviors and to discourage bad behaviors.
So if you want to read 100 books in a year, then make sure you (1) remove all distractions from your environment that are preventing you from reading more, such as your phone, laptop, noise, etc., and then (2) make your books as easy to access as possible.
In relation to me, I try to keep books everywhere around the house so I can easily just pick one up and start reading.
I even have books in the bathroom. And I purposely don’t take my phone with me into the bathroom so that I’ll be encouraged by my environment to read more instead of scroll through Facebook.
As humans, our brains tend to have a really tough time separating work from rest. If you’re doing work in your bed, for example, you might find it hard to focus and start feeling sleepy.
This is because your brain has learned to associate your bed with sleep, not work.
This is why you want to have separate environments for specific tasks. So if you want to read 100 books in a year, don’t do it in bed. Instead, have a designated environment for just reading. Go to a coffee shop, buy a reading chair, or go to the roof if you live in an apartment building.
If you’re always trying to read in bed, then you’ll typically find yourself getting sleepy, not being able to focus well, and unable to retain any important information.
Avoid reading in bed unless it has already become a habit or a part of your winding down routine for going to sleep.
So there you go! These are 12 tips I personally use that will help you read 100 books in a year. I hope you found them beneficial. If you resonated with this article, feel free to email me at vincent@vincentcarlos.com. I would love to hear from you.Thank you and happy reading!
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"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read"
- Mark Twain