By “I want to read more” is a goal almost everyone has and almost no one systemizes. Here are the strategies that actually move the number, not just the intention.
Track Pages, Not Just Books
Counting only finished books punishes you for reading long, dense books and rewards you for reading short, easy ones. Tracking pages (or minutes) gives you an honest, consistent measure of progress regardless of what you’re reading.
Always Have Two Books Going
One demanding book (literary fiction, dense non-fiction) and one easy one (genre fiction, a light read). When you’re too tired for the hard one, you still read. You just switch, instead of doing nothing.
The 50-Page Rule
Give a book 50 pages. If it hasn’t earned your attention by then, put it down without guilt. Reading strategy isn’t about finishing everything: it’s about not wasting your limited reading time on books that aren’t working for you.
Replace Scrolling With a Default
The single biggest lever for reading more isn’t a strategy about books at all: it’s having a book physically or digitally available in the exact moments you’d otherwise default to your phone: waiting rooms, commutes, the ten minutes before sleep.
Audiobooks Count
If your only reading time is spent driving or doing chores, audiobooks aren’t a lesser form of reading. They’re the format that actually fits your life. Optimize for consistency, not purity about format.
Match the Book to Your Actual Energy
Trying to start War and Peace during your most exhausted, distracted week of the year is how reading habits die. Match book difficulty to the mental bandwidth you actually have right now, and upgrade to harder books when you have more of it.
Review What You Read
Even a two-sentence note after finishing a book (what worked, what didn’t) builds a personal record that makes your next book choice sharper, and makes you notice, over time, what you actually enjoy versus what you think you should enjoy.
Related: 5 Classic Novels Worth Reading
Written by the BookPros editorial team
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