Do you have “your” chair? Your favorite spot?
A recliner, a rocking chair…the porcelain throne…
I realized that I was spending hours each month sitting in my favorite chair and using my time doing practically nothing. So what did I do?
I literally just moved the current book I was reading from the end table across the room to the shelf right beside my favorite chair.
The results? I read 5 more books last month than I planned to.
I realized that reaching reading goals has a lot to do with your environment and you have control over that.
Here’s how you can read more books by controlling your environment…
Set Yourself Up For Success
Does it seem like time goes by quicker when your doing something trivial?
I could spend hours watching TV and not even realize it. And the second you sit down in front of the TV to “relax”, you’re setting yourself up for failure, if you don’t have a plan.
There’s nothing wrong with television, unless it’s stealing multiple hours of your day.
If you think you watch too much television and your favorite spot happens to be right in front of the TV…move your chair! Or move the TV…out to the trash can…I kid, I kid, but only slightly.
It may not be TV, it could be your phone. Whatever distracts you from doing what you really want to and need to do.
Control Your Environment and Read More
Here are 5 steps to control your environment, before it controls you…
- Strategically organize your home. Find the most productive places to place your furniture. You may need to move your chair away from the TV. If you get distracted easily, you may want to move it into the bedroom.
- Keep a book by your “spot”. Where do you spend most of your time? Keep a book on the table beside your favorite chair. If you have multiple favorite spots, keep multiple books around so you can easily pick one up.
- Be mindful about spending your time. If you enjoy TV or surfing your Facebook news feed, plan for it. Devote some time here and there to doing so, but get out of the habit of mindlessly turning to technology. Don’t forget about the time when you can be listening to audiobooks. Why not learn while you’re cooking, cleaning or driving?
- Don’t underestimate small actions. Reading one page here and there can add up quickly. Think about the time you spend on technology. Add it up one day. You probably don’t realize that a few minutes here and there adds up. Use that in a positive way. Like I just said, don’t forget about audiobooks. Even a few minutes at a time will take you through a book over a few weeks.
- Keep a book beside the bed. If you have been wanting to read before bed, but haven’t started, it may be because you haven’t set yourself up to do it. Keep a book by the bed. It can be a great go-to book for those times when you can’t sleep. Or be even more mindful and plan to wind down by reading at least a few pages each night before bed.
It Was Literally Because of Ten Feet
Seriously, once I moved the book I was reading from the table on the other side of the room to the counter beside my chair, I started blowing through books like never before.
Simply moving the book to my favorite spot meant that I would have more opportunities to read a few pages when I wasn’t doing anything else.
Sometimes you’ve just got to be honest with yourself and I knew there would be times when I felt so lazy that I didn’t want to get up and go get my book after I sat down. If you’re going to be lazy, plan ahead.
I put my book beside my chair and began to read when I was feeling lazy, instead of surfing Facebook.
You know what happened? Not only was I reading more, but I cut back my social media time drastically. Which is great, because I feel like Facebook has a tendency to decrease my IQ sometimes…especially when I get caught up watching stupid cat videos.
I have no idea why I can’t resist the urge to click on videos that I know I don’t really care to watch. And then I would get redirected to YouTube and for some God forsaken reason, I would scroll down and read the comments. If you want to really feel smarter, read YouTube comments. Those people can make anyone look like a genius.
Enough about my social media, cat video, YouTube comment rant. But seriously, the struggle is real.
Read more books by molding your environment. You can control it, I promise.
Photo Credit: Pixabay, Curtis, JimyJOp