We people know that reading books could revolutionize your life.
The real problem arises when we try to read a book.
On the first page of the reading, it will be enthusiastic.
As the pages roll on, we began to feel sleepy 😴
I too have faced these kinds of distractions which stop me from reading those life-changing books.
As I have read many inspiring and motivating books, I could try to share my thoughts and the impact of books here.
Here you'll get to know about how to read a book effectively for long hours for the beginners and also remember the contents in properly.
Today, I am gonna tell you the tips that could help you to start reading the books with enthusiasm and full dedication.
Why should you read books?
Books have the capability of changing the human's perspective regarding this world.
A person who reads books could experience unlimited happiness and a sense of calmness. This could be felt by those readaholic people.
I had started to read books during the quarantine period in 2020 when the covid pandemic started.
While the world was facing a pandemic and the fear created by media was spreading fast like a fire, I had thought of developing my mastery and skills that could help me to achieve my dream.
The enhanced feeling you experience by reading books is one of the most precious feelings you ever get in your life!
Further, books will help you to harness your knowledge and train your brain to absorb those thoughts and ideas from the author's ideology.
Before moving on to the tips to start reading a book, let us see some of the benefits of reading books.
Health benefits of reading books:
Stress Buster
Stress has become one of the common problems faced by teenagers and people in this day and age.
Further, the adversity caused by stress is high among students.
Because of their studies and exam pressure, students are falling into this problem.
77% of people experience stress which affects their physical health.
These studies show the negative impacts of stress on our day to day lives.
Reading books for just 30 minutes helped people to reduce their stress level as humorous movies and yoga do.
If you're always stressed out, then try to spend at least 30 minutes reading a book that could help you to enhance your mood.
Fights Depression
According to WHO, about 264 million people in all age groups were facing depression all around the world.
Did you hear me right?
All age groups!
Reading books also helps people to fight depression and to embark on their normal life without this hectic problem.
People with depression tend to isolate themselves from this world, so reading books helps those people to feel as if they are not isolated and books give them a feeling of companionship.
Reading fiction books helps depressed people to escape from this polluted world to enter into the world of fantasy.
I read the books alone in a quiet room when I feel guilty and depressed.
I used to leave my phone silent outside my room for about 2-3 hours and start reading the books with the windows opened.
Yes, I love to read non-fiction books, but fiction books could do more magic to those people fighting against depression.
Even medical experts suggest reading self-improvement books to elevate the mood and it could also improve the connections between the neurons in our brain.
Longer lifespan:
A study was conducted by Yale University school of public health with 3,635 participants for 12 years, in which it is found that people who read for at least 30minutes a day had 2 years of longer life than those who don't read the books or magazines!
Shocking right?
Reading books related to fiction may help to improve cognitive thinking and also had the possibility of living 2 years of longer life.
The habit of reading has this much potential to lead a long and healthy life.
Critical thinking
Reading books could also help you to improve your critical thinking skills which is the most needed skill nowadays.
Further, reading books improves your vocabulary, language and interpersonal skills.
Possibilities of memory improvement are also found in some studies on reading books.
Focus and concentration:
Today, people struggle to keep their focus on a particular thing for a long time.
The power of concentrating on rk is found only in a low number of the population because of practising distraction for 7 days a week.
Remember that "We become good at what we practice"
We only practice distraction and multitasking instead of channelizing our energy on a particular work.
In just a matter of 5 minutes, we people will be chatting with others, tweeting, and also interacting with our friends or co-workers.
But we blame that technology as a great distractor.
In reality, technology is a wonderful invention, but the way people use technology determines whether it is good or bad.
If you're a person using your mobile uncontrollable, then here is a detailed article about getting rid of smartphone addiction and getting control over technology: The Untapped Secrets Of Smartphone Addiction And Tips To Avoid It
While reading a book, our brain tends to deeply indulge in the story or the ideas discussed in the books.
As our brain is constantly acquiring knowledge, we rarely have the feeling of being distracted.
Reading books is extremely beneficial for students, as the books will help students to concentrate on studying and gaining the concepts from their school or college books.
Reading books immerse you into the story and you'll forget the world around you.
So read books before beginning your work or studying something related to your career and focus on it.
Reading books also improves your productivity by reducing your multitasking ability.
If you want to stay productive, just take a book and go to your nearby coffee shops or parks and start reading for at least 10 minutes before an important work that you have to do.
Believe me, it makes a difference!
Ebooks vs paper books: Which suits you?
In terms of accessibility and storage, ebooks perform for those people who are busy with their schedules.
Ebooks could help us to read wherever we go.
Because reading real books could be hard especially when we are travelling.
We couldn't carry paper books everywhere in our hands, so ebooks are easily portable and handy which helps in those circumstances.
Ebooks are economical and convenient.
Considering the environmental improvement, ebooks are good as they will prevent the deforestation of trees which is done for making papers for the real books.
Ebooks are suitable for those people dislikes reading in papers as it will create a feeling of studying in the classrooms😀
Explaining the benefits and the suitability of ebooks, let us see about the paper books.
Based on the latest studies, 66% of readers claim that printed books seem to be a better choice than e-books.
Whatever may be said about ebooks in terms of convenience and price, reading a printed book is a different and unmatchable experience.
If you ask for my opinion, I will suggest reading the printed books.
The realistic feeling is experienced only by paper books.
You should also consider your convenience and availability of money to choose ebooks or printed books.
Hence, choosing ebooks or paper books depends on you!
Now let's dive right in!
The practical tips to inculcate the habit of reading books:
Start with your interests
If you're serious about inculcating the habit of reading books, then read the upcoming points with your full attention to get the maximum benefit out of it.
Before picking a book, you have to analyse it.
What I am trying to say is, understand what type of movie you like.
In my case, I like science fiction movies and also inspired by the life stories of successful people.
Because of this, I started to read one of the best books about A.P.J Abdul kalam.
This was the first book I took to read.
Unexpectedly, this book made me enter into the habit of reading books and it tends to be a life-changing habit for me.
If you're a person who likes thriller stories, then buy a thriller storybook and start reading.
This is applicable for all of us according to our genre.
When we read books that are associated with our genre, it makes us turn the pages and pushes us to read more and more.
Picking a book with a genre you like will act as a page-turner and transform you into an ultimate reader.
The books seem to be tons of pages, and this sense will demotivate us to continue reading the books.
So start to read little short page books.
It could be a great start towards your divine habit of reading.
Magazines and articles could work best
If you're going to start reading a book, try to read the magazines related to your interest.
Magazines help you to pick up the flow and increase the speed of reading the words and ultimately improve your speed and efficiency when you read a book.
If you're an article lover like me, you should start the habit of reading with the articles which are flooded on the internet.
Go ahead to your browser and search for your favourite niche, then start reading the article.
This could also help you to digest the chunks and also you get practised to absorb those small contents and you'll be ready for absorbing the epic contents of the books.
As a rule of thumb, start small.
Autobiographies and life stories will be a great starter
As I said before, if you're a fan of someone or you're inspired by someone else, then read about those personalities first.
With this is the habit of starting to read about your inspiring personalities, you'll get the motivation to read more about them.
And finally, you could move on reading a whole book written about your inspiration.
Challenging your perspective
It is one of the powerful methods that could help you people to encourage yourselves to read more books.
It is very simple, start reading the books that are opposite for your beliefs or perspectives.
Because reading books that challenge your ideas and thoughts will motivate you to read the book fully.
In my case, I am agnostic, I used to read books related to religious beliefs, gods etc...
As these books challenge my ego and perspective, I tend to absorb the message delivered by this book.
It had made a difference in my learning journey.
But, this could work for only some people, because reading the books that are against their belief could not be accepted by some people, so they'll blame the author and they never read those books.
In my case, it works well!
Just give it a try.
Use the proper time to read proper books
This is one of my best techniques to understand the concepts better that is given in the book and utilise them to stay happy and energized in the long run.
In the early morning, the prefrontal cortex in our brain will be less active and this prefrontal cortex is the reason for unwanted thoughts and silly reasons rising in our brain.
Usually, I wake up at 5 am, as there is a profound reason that leads to success which is taught by the book "The 5 am Club".
If you want to know about it, check out this link after reading this article: The Power Of Waking Up At 5 AM
I used this early morning time to read the most philosophical books that create positive vibes and declutter the unwanted thoughts emerging constantly in my brain.
As our brain is calm and blank, feeding it with the most positive ideas could enrich the knowledge and lead to our creativity level going up.
Starting your day with a powerful book of philosophy and motivational books could make the rest of your day beautiful.
In the afternoon, you could read almost all kinds of genres.
So the afternoon session is left according to your choice.
We people were raised in our childhood days by hearing the stories.
This practice of hearing stories at the night could make us fall asleep.
At night, I used to read some of the fictitious books that make my eyes tired and make me sleep fast.
Believe me, after reading those fiction books and rising early in the morning will be energetic.
Like you change the channels on television to not getting bored, you have to change the genre of the books that you read according to the time.
"Victims own big TV's, leaders own huge libraries"
- Robin Sharma
Books related to your career and needs:
People are always thinking about their work and constantly making an effort to update them in their careers.
So, you could use your career as a motivator to read the books.
Start reading the books that enhance the skills that are required for your career growth.
If you're a salesperson then grab the book "How to win friends and influence people" as it will teach you about the tactics to influence people to your way of thinking.
This applies to all career types.
If you are interested in maintaining a smooth relationship with your partner and want to pour love on them, you can choose "Men Are From Mars, Woman Are From Venus", as this book will teach you the important life lessons to understand the opposite gender.
Or if you're going to express your love to someone and want to know about it more, then you can try the book"The 5 Love Languages"
If you want to know about financial knowledge and elevate your financial life, buy "Rich dad poor dad", as it will be your financial mentor!
Reading books according to your needs and career will motivate you to explore the in-depth knowledge shared in the books. It could help you to stay enthusiastic in the path of reading books.
Conclusion
Books are my best friends, as it had taught me all the things what I want to know.
On reading a book, you'll get to know the appropriate ideology about the author and also acquire a little knowledge that is flooded in the books.
Reading books helps you to experience the whole life of those creative and successful authors and simply applying those principles discussed in those life-changing books will be a game-changer in your life.
Present some of the books that you had read on the birthday of your friends instead of gifting something else.
Those books could also transform your friend into an unstoppable person.
If you're not having a book, go to the nearby store and purchase one.
And start reading the book now!
Everything could be taken from you, but your knowledge could not be stolen!
Now I'd like to hear from you.
What is the most influential book that has changed your life?
Let me know in the comment section below.
And if you want to know more about me personally, follow me on Instagram where I post quotes, updates of currently reading books.