The sole purpose of Reading is to grasp as much information and knowledge from the books possible. And, therefore, reading books effectively makes it much more beneficial and enjoyable. So, Here in this article, I will discuss some of the best tricks that can help everyone to read books effectively.
I have been reading books since a long time, but to be very honest effective reading takes a lot more patience and reading than we actually think. Since, most of us hate reading textbooks, we start hating all kinds of books and thus, whenever we read, we might have to read some sentences twice to understand them.
Reading Books Effectively means that most of the book read is actually retained by our brains which can easily be retrieved whenever required. Effective Reading fulfills the purpose of reading so that any person may never have to read something another time to retain. Reading helps us in our professional lives while we are marketing to talk about something interesting and also helps in personal lives.
Reading effectively comes with experience and constant reading but as a beginner, we face the difficulty of managing our spare time in reading. So, Here I will discuss some of the tricks which helped me in reading my books effectively and can help you in getting most out of your books.
Ways for Reading Books Effectively
1. Read Books you Enjoy
Reading is not only always for the purpose of learning, rather it is also done for pleasure, love, excitement, adventure, etc. It depends on the readers to determine their need and select among their favourites.
Because when you read what you actually enjoy, you find it difficult to keep it down and are always excited to read further.
For example: If you are a TV Series fan, you can relate it with the eagerness to wait for the next episode of any series to be released.
If I tell about myself, when I started reading Game of Thrones Book series, I read it within a week, even though I had watched the TV series. It the excitement that led me to read that book.
2. Set a Goal
Do you ever set a goal before reading a book?
Probably “NOT”. Because only a purpose defines if you will ever complete a book and retain anything if you complete it.
“Any work without a goal is like a race without any finishing line.”
Now since, you have set a goal of reading books in a day or month, keep it to yourselves. A 2009 study found that sharing the goal with someone will most likely not be achieved as there will be less motivation.
3. Read Whenever Free
There is never a good time to read. We never get time to read unless we systematically schedule our time.
We must always look for that particular time when we can read instead of doing some unnecessary work which will never give us a beneficial return such as playing video games, watching movies, scrolling through social media.
Scheduling 2-3 hours constantly for reading could be hectic and is never preferred for any beginner since we cannot continue any work we hate.
Therefore, unless it turns into a habit we must read in short passages of time.
Try to schedule your timings specifically for reading even though you have a very hectic schedule.
As you know, reading for even 20 minutes a day can have some drastic changes in your lifestyle. So reading before bed for 20 minutes could be included in your reading schedule.
4. Sit in a Non-Distraction & Comfortable Environment
Switching off Mobiles and TV are the basic distraction devices that must be kept away while you read. Apart from that Personal tasks, noisy background, etc. can’t be avoided.
Try to remain in a room in a comfortable temperature, with your personal needs like water, food covered in your room to keep yourself away from any kind of distraction.
Drink Coffee or Tea to avoid any sleepiness and keep yourselves fresh while reading to focus completely on reading a book and grasping as much as you can.
5. Change your Mindset
Your mindset defines how you shape yourselves after reading a book. If you are having negative vibes while reading a book, you must immediately quit reading that book.
Since, all the books are not same and not all books needs to be completed. It’s on the readers to finish a book if he/she likes it.
I have quit many of my books which I neither felt were worth reading or had any patent to read. In this world, not everything is unique, most of the books are either copied or manipulated by the authors.
“A Positive attitude and mindset leads to success.”
6. Read Multiple Books
Reading multiple books actually help in reading books effectively. As we read multiple books in a day, we face the challenge of remembering each and every character, plot, twist, lessons, messages, etc.
Some of the readers may confuse themselves, but most of the times we can grab that since we had a life long experience of reading multiple textbooks in school.
We have that capability to actually read, learn and portray the message we have read in a book. Reading multiple books helps in developing the reading habit very soon and that too very effectively.
7. Commit Yourselves to Read
We cannot achieve anything unless we commit ourselves towards it. Commitment is necessary in every part of life and we are always committed towards something. We need to customize our commitments that proves to be beneficial for us.
You can relate this to the day before exam when you read the whole syllabus with full dedication just to pass the exam.
You require a minimum commitment level and focus while reading too, to grasp the important lessons but for exams of life.
8. Share What you Read
When you share the story/plot with another person, you kind of will remember it for a long time than usual.
During the process of sharing, our brain cells are activated to regain what we read. That retaining of knowledge by the brain helps us in remembering that particular thing sticks with us for a longer period of time.
You can relate this to the incident, that most of the toppers in our class had the habit of clearing other’s concepts. They weren’t intelligent because they used to mug up or learn but due to their habit of sharing they actually remembered those concepts for longer by also clearing their own doubts while sharing/teaching.
9. Join Book Clubs
Book Clubs is the platform for beginners to motivate themselves more into reading by communicating with different readers to listen to their recommendations, thoughts, etc. I have not used it for a long time yet I have understood how beneficial it has proved for many different people.
I joined it a few months ago and have found some of the exquisite readers to share my thoughts with, and listening to the recommendations of some avid readers have made me read some of the best books.
10. Swap Your Habits
The habit of scrolling through Social Media for abject content and wasting time is not an ideal way to achieve success in any aspect.
You should swap such bad habits with some quality habits like reading something online be it book, article, or any quote.
But reading online is a bit tempting since leaving a habit immediately is not an easy task. So look for a hard copy and read whenever you feel a temptation to reach out to your phone.
As you develop your reading habit, your mindset changes with time to read effectively.
11. Write Notes of What You Read
Writing Notes may look like old-fashioned work, but believe me this trick helps in actually remembering and understanding the author’s message more clearly.
While reading, our subconscious mind sticks some important messages and lessons which can be remembered for longer period of time if we write it down.
As you know, reading improves memory. and continuous reading helps it when you start writing notes in the early stages.
12. Re-Read
Re-reading a book is the process of retaining the lessons and messages from the book much clearly to remember for a longer period of time and implement them in our lives in professional as well as personal lives.
As you used to re-read all lessons of class before exams to remember all concepts, it all works the same with other kinds of books except fiction most of the times as the stories are the purpose of reading them is not remembering.
Therefore, you must re-read a book after few months since we know, human brain is quick to forget things.
13. Ask Questions
Have you ever asked questions while reading a book such as Why am I reading this book? What will I learn from this book? How will this chapter help me? How should I implement these lessons in my life?
These little questions help you to understand little things in the book and focus on learning more effectively rather than completing your TBR (To-be-read).
Questions increases your engagement with the author and the story in the book.
14. Understanding What You Read
Reading should not be for the purpose of just completing your book and keeping it away in your stack. As mentioned before, reading is meant for the purpose of retaining anything you can from the books and recall anything whenever required.
There are many times you might forget what you read few moments ago, but you must re-read that sentence again so that you can acknowledge since, every sentence has something meaningful for us which can be life-changing for us.
Conclusion
Reading books effectively is never possible without any commitment towards reading where focus & patience is the main key. We cannot understand anything based on just reading consistently for many hours.
Rather reading in short spans helps us in much better way which keeps our mind fresh. Reading for effective understanding of the concepts helps us in growing our mindset and think freely. We get that extra motivation to harness energy from small positives to apply them in our weak areas.
Thus, reading is one of the best habits that we can adapt to. And above-mentioned points can be really beneficial and help one grow exponentially.
