Stone Soup for Five: 2 Simple Steps to Reading More Each Week

2 Simple Steps to Reading More Each Week

I am very ADD about reading.

I am usually always reading at least 4 books at a time.
I want a book for every mood I might be in.

There is almost always a biography I'm working through,
(right now it's a HUGE Bible-sized biography on Walt Disney I picked up in Disneyland last year.)


and always ALWAYS one or two non-fiction books--usually on parenting, marriage, or self-improvement,
(right now that would be Love and Respect in the Family and Praying for Boys)



and one on business
(Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point)



and one fiction or classic book
 (which may be both all wrapped up into one, like Dracula)


But for the last few years, I'd had all these books laying around the house and would honestly only get to read a few paragraphs here or there at best. 

I wasn't intentional about it, and nothing was getting read.

And my collection of unread books was getting ridiculous
and embarrassing.
.
.
.

So I made a goal of reading just a chapter or 25 pages a day.

And I would try.

And do okay sometimes.

And then never remember if I had made my goal for the day.

And feel all discouraged and scattered and just fall back into the rut of reading on facebook or watching TV, etc etc.
.
.
.

So I started a new system.
A new goal.

My goal is to read 100 pages a week.

And how do I remember that?

Post it notes!!
(my favorite tool for just about everything... from planning/organization to Bible reading.)

At the beginning of each week, which is Sunday for me--the day I'm planning our week's schedule, homeschool, and goals/lists-- I move my post it notes forward 25 pages in each book.  


I put the post it so it is hanging out the side of the book on the page I want to reach. 
It's that simple.

1. Get a book
2. Place a post it

You don't have to be neurotic like me, with a thousand different books for any mood.

You could make it a goal to read just through 25 pages a week in one book.
Or 10 pages a week.
Whatever fits the season of your life.

And if I get to the post it and have time to keep reading?
I move the post it to the top of the goal page I reached, so it hangs out the top and keep going.

That way, at the end of the week, I can quickly and easily see if I made my goal, or exceeded it, and by how much.
.
.
.

Oh, and installing getcoldturkey.com has probably helped the most.
I didn't even realize how much time was eaten up by social media.
I've now blocked all social media from my computer except for certain short periods of time during the day.
And when I click that tempting Facebook tab,
and it says PAGE NOT AVAILABLE with a frowny face.

I try to pick up a book instead 
(or get back to work on whatever it is I was trying to avoid).  

Even if I just read one page, or one paragraph, it's pushing me forward toward that post it!



If you try it, I'd love to hear how it works for you, and if it pushes you to read more too!

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