HOW TO READ 100 BOOKS IN ONE YEAR BY JON ACUFF, FINISHER

Transcription

1 HOW TO READ 100 BOOKS IN ONE YEAR BY JON ACUFF, FINISHER

2 I read 156 books in How? I used the tips I m about to share with you. Why did I read that many books? Because reading refills your idea bank. We all have one of those, a depository of ideas floating about our heads. Know why it s hard to think of the right thing to say in a meeting? Know why it s difficult to be interesting on a date? Know why you re intimated by the blank page as a writer? Your idea bank is empty. You haven t been actively filling it. The ideas are stale. The resources limited and thin. Reading changes that. It replenishes your ideas. You might not need them today. You might not even need them next month, but at some point, you ll have to be creative and when that happens, you ll be glad your storehouse is overflowing with ideas. So how do you read 100 books in a year without skimming or speed reading? I ll show you.

3 1. Start with your bookshelf. Don t make going to the store or shopping for a new book an unnecessary barrier to beginning. 2. Don t prioritize. Nothing wastes time like trying to have a perfect list of books picked out. At most, I know the next 3-5 books I m going to read. 3. Go to the library. One of the excuses you ll try to use is that, Reading 100 books is too expensive. It could be or you could go wear out a library card. 4. Keep track of your progress. You d be shocked how many people do challenges like this and don t have a list of the books they read. 5. Never finish a book without at least one new book to start. It s easier to keep an engine going than it is to restart it after it s stopped. 6. Don t read the extras. Don t waste time with the acknowledgements, the research notes or the study guide in books. Sometimes, things like study guides are added last minute to pad a book and offer zero value. 7. Only read books you want to read. Don t read books you find boring or try to better yourself by reading about a topic you don t understand but secretly hate. 8. Have more than one book going at a time. For me, this means reading fiction at night and non-fiction during the day. No one wants to curl up in bed with a financing book. 9. Mix up the genres. I don t care how much you love a subject, you ll get bored if you try to read 100 books in the same category. 10. Expand your definition of what counts. Want to read graphic novels? Great. Want to read beach books? Great. You make the rules. It all counts. 11. Reread your favorites. Reading one you ve already read before counts.

4 12. Read the book version of your favorite show or movie. I loved getting into the Longmire books after I discovered the series on Netflix. 13. Listen to audiobooks. Don t think those count towards your goal? Refer to point 10. Also, don t be afraid to speed them up if the narrator is slow. That counts, too. I listen at 1.5 speed. 14. Create listening moments. When will you find time for audio books? Listen on the treadmill. Listen during your commute. Listen while you mow the lawn. Listen while you jog. 15. Create reading moments. It might not seem like reading on your phone for 10 minutes before a flight matters, but little things like that add up. Take advantage of small moments. 16. Make by then goals. Tell yourself, I have a flight on Thursday, by then I ll be done with this book and get to bring another on the trip. Use little deadlines along the way. 17. Chip away at long books. It might take me 3 months to read an 800-page tome. That s OK. I have an entire year to finish. Break big books into small chunks. 18. Buy multiple copies if that helps. I don t do this often, but sometimes I will own the digital and paper version of a book in case I don t want to pack it on a trip. 19. Make the pages a game. Fun goals win. Find ways to make the pages you read matter in silly ways. For instance, pretend you were reading for a test in high school. Would you pass where you are in the book right now? If your page total was a batting average would you make the all-star game? E-books are the best for this because they track the percentages for you. 20. Make it public. Share your goal to get some external motivation. Posting each one you finish online is also a great way to find new books to read since people will suggest their favorites.

5 21. Use a short book to get unstuck. Don t read five long books in a row or you ll get discouraged. Throw some short books in the mix to get some wins along the way. 22. Read instead of. During the reading challenge, my TV watching went down. I m OK with that. Switch out something you don t care about that much for reading. 23. Go with fun after dull. If you end up reading a boring one, make sure the next one is a blast. Two or three dull ones in a row can wreck the whole thing. 24. Finish what you start. The year I read 156 books, I only quit one. It just got super weird and dirty and wasn t what I expected at all. Do your best to finish the books or a habit of quitting will take root. 25. Vary your pace. One month, I read a book every day. I hustled hard and added a lot of new books to my list. During other months, I read at a much slower pace. Mix up your rhythm, as long as you keep progressing. 26. Try discount services like Kindle Unlimited. It s a great way to cut the cost of your reading challenge. 27. Turn pages into currency. Want to watch TV? Pay a 10-page toll first, promising yourself you ll read 10 pages before you turn on Netflix. Want some ice cream? That s 5 pages. You get the picture. 28. Give yourself a reward. Point #27 is about rewards for pages, what about a reward for each book? Or all 100 books? Spur your progress with celebrations along the way. I hope this will help you read more books. I started reading more when I wrote my book, Finish. I wanted to see if all the research I did would help me read more of the books I owned. It did. I went from reading 10 books a year to 156. If you ve got a goal you want to finish, consider adding a copy of Finish to your list. Jon Acuff