How Reading Changed My Life And How It Can Change Yours

Reading consistently has been the best habit I have made in my life. It has changed the way I think and live. If you want to learn how reading has changed my life and how it can change yours, continue reading.

Why I started reading

Reading used to be like pulling teeth. For most of my life, I avoided it at all costs, with one exception: the Harry Potter series. Reading the Harry Potter series was the first time reading didn't feel like a chore to me. The mandatory readings that I was assigned throughout my pre-college education did not interest me.

The first non-fiction book that I read voluntarily didn't occur until I was a 20-year-old Sophomore in college. The reason I picked up the book in the first place was that I was a young, collegiate athlete with anxiety that led to high blood pressure, desperate for anything that could mitigate my anxiety. I found Dale Carnegie's book, How To Stop Worrying & Start Living to seek non-pharmacologic answers to my health concerns. If you haven't read this book and you are dealing with excessive anxiety, I highly recommend this book to you. After reading this book, I was able to apply the lessons from Carnegie, and my anxiety and blood pressure lessened without the need for medication.

This was an eye-opening experience, and I realized just how powerful reading can be. It taught me that reading can fundamentally change the way we think and feel.

Why you need to make reading a priority

Mark Twain said, "the man who doesn't read good books is no better off than the man who can't read." The value that comes with reading a book is next to none. For $10 or less, you're able to gain insight from experts in the world that spend years of work dedicated to a single book.

You have the opportunity to change the way you think, and leverage ideas from the books you read to enrich your life. Making time to read isn't just a good idea—it's a vital component of the human experience! Prioritizing 30-60 minutes a day of reading can dramatically improve your quality of life and open up opportunities you didn't think existed. It may not seem like much, but with 30 minutes a day of reading, you can improve your knowledge, and capacity to think about complex issues and start to formulate your own ideas.

How to read more books

If you want to learn how to speed-read multiple dense books in a day and retain the information, you will be disappointed to find out that this simply isn't possible. There are tips and tools to improve your reading speed, but speed-reading is utter nonsense.

When I first got into reading, I tried to read as many books as possible. But for what purpose? The idea of having a large home library full of books you've read sounds seductive, but are you really getting the most out of each book? It is easy to skim-read through pages, but you won't be able to recall anything from what you just read. Slow down, and remember the reason you're reading. Hopefully, you're trying to gain new ideas and insights instead of reading because you think it's a productive thing to do.

In order to read more books while still absorbing information from them, you need to either read more often, read faster—which does not mean speed-reading—or both.

Seneca said, "it's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." Time is the most precious, non-renewable resource we have—make sure you're spending it wisely.

Many people think that in order to read many books a year, you need to read for hours each day. This is false. Bring a book with you everywhere, whether that be a physical copy, a Kindle version on your phone, or even an audiobook. You'll be surprised by the amount of free time you have throughout the day to read. Read while you're on the train, read while you're waiting for your latte, read during lunch, and maybe even pick up a book while you're on the toilet instead of scrolling through TikTok.

There are a few tips I have learned to read faster while still retaining the material. The best thing you can do to improve your reading speed is to use your finger or a pen to track the words as you read them. This helps your eyes to stabilize on what you're reading, while also ensuring that you don't lose your spot. If you don't track the words as you're reading them with your finger or another object, your eyes have a hard time focusing on each word. Also, you may find it useful to read just beyond your capability to process the information. Be careful with the tactic though, especially with dense, complex ideas. But, by reading just beyond your capacity to retain every bit of information, you train your brain to process the information faster and you can sift through more information without dramatically sacrificing retention.

How to pick what books to read

Picking which book to read is the most important step in reading. If you're not intrigued by the topic, then it will feel like a chore to get through it. Also, if the book is too complex or too simple for you, you won't find yourself optimally challenged to read it.

Finding good books that interest you can be difficult. I recommend you start by looking up books on topics that fascinate you on the internet. Personally, I use GoodReads to find new books and to read reviews on them before I purchase a copy. Amazon can also be a useful tool to read reviews and buy cheap books. Some may enjoy going to Barnes & Noble because they prefer physically going to a bookstore to purchase books. I find that Half Price Books has a great selection for a fraction of the Barnes & Noble price.

Inevitably, there will be books that you simply don't enjoy reading. If you start a bad book and you find it a burden to read it, stop reading it and find a different book! There's no shame in stopping a book that doesn't grip you. Life is too short to suffer through a bad book just because you think you need to finish it. A good rule of thumb is to give a book 100 pages - your age before you decide to quit reading it. For example, I'm 24, so if I follow this rule and I'm 76 pages into a book that I can't stand, I put the book back and move on.

How to retain information from books

Once you start reading a book, it's now time to find a method that helps you retain the material. Over the years I have found a system that enhances my recall and comprehension of the text without slowing down my reading speed.

I prefer to read physical books with a pen and highlighter nearby. I find that highlighting the text I find interesting or important helps me summarize the book when I'm finished with it. I also like to write notes in the margins to summarize certain concepts. Making notes as you read allows you to better grasp the concepts the author is trying to convey.

Once I'm finished with a book, I have a template that I use on Notion to capture the information I've learned from the book. You can come up with your own template, or use mine as a guide. I section my notes for each book with a simple outline that goes as follows:

- The book in 3 bullet points

- My top quotes from the book

- How the book has changed me

- My highlights and summaries from the book

Thank you to Ali Abdaal for creating this template on Notion for public use. You can find his template by clicking here.

Finally, summarizing a book into a few bullet points or sentences can drastically improve your comprehension. By formulating a book's key points in just a few sentences, you're able to better understand the author's arguments and you're more likely to implement them into your life.

The power of reading

Many underestimate the significance of daily reading. If you want to enhance your knowledge, opportunities, and the way you think about your life, look no further than formulating reading as a habit. In order for a habit to stick, you need to make it easy and fun. The best way to make reading a habit is to always have a book around you to pick up that you find appealing. Once you formulate the habit of reading, you can see the transformative benefits that come with it and improve your life.