How To Make Time for Reading

As part of my planning and organization, I purposely set up time for reading. Planning experts talk about the Eisenhower Grid, which divides things into four categories: urgent and important, urgent and non-important; non-urgent and important; and non-urgent and non-important. I will unpack those more in a future blog post, but for most of us, reading tends to falls into the category of non-urgent and important.

Why is this so? For one thing reading doesn’t have a deadline, unless you are a student or have to read something for work. Books just sit quietly on their shelves and while passing them by might make you feel guilty for a moment, they aren’t going to jump down and tackle you. If you’re not in school, no teacher is going to test you on that book you want to read. Even if you add it to your Goodreads “Currently Reading” list, it’s unlikely that anyone will say something if it lingers there for months, or you quietly move it back on the To Read shelf. I know this because I have done that more than once, and no one has ever asked me about it.

So, while reading is not usually urgent, it is important, because reading allows you to grow as a person by learning new things. Putting yourself in another place or another person’s shoes or another time helps you develop compassion and insight. Reading expands your mind and your heart.

Therefore, if reading is important but it doesn’t reach out and grab you, it’s up to you to make time for it. The easiest way to make sure I have regular time for books and article is to schedule it into my regular rhythms and routines.

Morning is set aside for devotional and intellectual study since that’s when my mind is most able to chew on meaty topics. By lunch time, I’m ready for some good nonfiction or serious fiction, which I read while I eat or listen to while walking. By the time evening rolls around, my mind is done for the day, and often I’m only able to read easier fiction, light essays, or a fun memoir.

I like to read articles from magazines and blogs but don’t have time for those during the work week. Several years ago, I discovered Instapaper, which allows me to gather articles together and then send them in batches to my kindle. Once a week, usually on the weekend, I sit down with a batch or two of articles and read through them. Some I skim quickly while others are worth thinking more deeply about. The beauty of having them converted to kindle documents is that I can highlight or make notes on points I want to study further or use in my future writing.

Other things I consider are my energy, emotions, and the season of the year. After considering the time of day, I also consider whether it’s the beginning of the week and/or the weekend when I have more energy. If things in my life are difficult, I will sometimes read for escape. For instance, I went on a murder mystery binge during the pandemic. Mysteries are my favorite genre and rereading old favorites was especially helpful when I didn’t want to think about the outside world for a couple of hours. My reading also tends to follow the seasons of the year—reflective reading and rereading in winter, more challenging reading in spring and fall, and mostly fun reading in the summer.

A key part of making time for books is knowing what I’m going to read next. I like to have several books lined up, some light and some heavier reading, so that when I finish a book, I don’t have to hunt around for another. That hunting tends to lead me down rabbit trails on the internet, and I lose all of my reading time to deciding what I’m in the mood for. If I have several good titles of varying difficulty and genre already chosen, I can almost always just pick one up and jump right in.

I get my ideas for titles to read next from what’s new at the library, book blogs and podcasts, and suggestions from friends and fellow librarians. Since part of my job is to read about books, I often have more books in mind than I can possibly read. An endless to-be-read list is one way to ensure I always have my next book waiting for me to pick it up.

Planning ahead and arranging my time and energy allows me to establish rhythms of reading into my days and weeks. How do you fit reading into your life? Please share in the comments.