I never knew exactly what I can accomplish with 20 minutes of daily reading. On and off I tried reading for 20 minutes daily for a week or so, but never continued more than that due to one excuse or the other. Trust me, I can make million excuses not to do a thing.
But this time I just tweaked my thinking a bit, rather than making an excuse for not reading for 20 minutes, I told myself I need to find an excuse to read for 20 minutes NMW (No Matter What). Initially, it sounded bit creepy like you are putting your one thought, of making an excuse, upside down, kind of on a head stand position than standing straight 🙂
That’s what I did for last 3 months, and results were nothing less than amazing. Sharing below a list of books I have read during this time.
I know there are people in this world that read way more than I read, but man look at the list above isn’t it impressive? I feel so motivated when I look at above list of books read from cover to cover not even a single page excluded, and that too in last three months.
At times, I still couldn’t believe myself as I had a very bad habit of not reading a book completely. I do have a good habit of buying books, but I used to read just some chapters of it then it’s off to my home book library. But not anymore, trust me the sense of joy of you feel when you have read a book cover to cover is totally incomparable.
Another thing I noticed that my reading speed has increased exponentially, now I can read much faster, I can comprehend what I have read. That’s the reason why I was able to read almost six books in three months.
You will find lot of material on Google regarding how to increase your reading speed or how to read faster. I, myself, tried many of those techniques, I definitely did see some improvements but I couldn’t comprehend what I read. What’s the point of reading (specially fast) if you can’t comprehend it?
If you are damn serious about increasing your reading speed then take my words for granted, read 20 minutes daily and see the change in next 3 – 4 weeks. Don’t waste time searching here and there, just read the damn book, any book of your liking, for 20 minutes daily, that’s it. Your search will end right there.
READING TIP: I normally move my index finger just below the text while I read, it maintains my focus on what I am reading else it’s easy to get distracted. Also, I noticed huge improvements in my reading speed with this technique. Every one of us learnt this technique when we were in our primary schools, there’s a reason why this technique was taught in primary schools so we could raise good readers who will become good leaders.
Now I reached to a point where I am hungry to read, adjusted my morning routine a bit so I have my 20 uninterrupted minutes of reading. I normally read around 6:15 AM after I am done with yoga and strength training exercises. I don’t do too much strength training in the morning, but something that gets me going in the morning, something like below:
- 15 Pushups
- 7 Surya Namaskars (aka Sun Salutations) steps here
- 10 Minutes’ Walk
I had to adjust my morning routine due to current COVID-19 lockdown, my before lockdown schedule is here. As I mentioned earlier, the one trick that really worked for me was to find an excuse to read. This one change is getting reflected in other areas of my life too. Here are some:
Now I find excuse:
- To do workout in the morning
- To go to bed early
- To help others where ever possible
- To Help Kids with their Home Work
- To Help Wife in the Kitchen work
- And the list goes on….
I feel much more happy and content every day now.
If you are already doing 20 minutes of daily reading then you know what I am talking about, but if you don’t then give it a try, and share your experience with me via comments below. I have written a small post on Daily Reading.
I have upcoming list of books that I want to read, some of them are below:
So what are you thinking now? Just go out there and read for 20 minutes daily, it’s as simple as that.
Take care and stay safe!
Recent Comments