If you ask most people about their reading habits, they will say that they would love to read more but don’t have the time for it. This is the perfect excuse that masks people’s inertia to get into something that’s new and unfamiliar. When you probe further, there will be more excuses about why they don’t have time to read. If this paragraph makes you feel called out, then this is the post for you. Here we talk about the top 5 possible reasons people give for not reading enough books, and most importantly, ways to get rid of them.
Top 5 Excuses For Not Reading Books and How to Get Over Them
“I’m under too much work pressure”
This is the classic excuse that everyone has to justify not reading enough. Work pressure is constant and eternal. It’s probably never going to change. But can you stop making time for things you love because of it? Absolutely not. The moment you realize this is just an excuse you’re giving to stay in your comfort zone and delay getting into unfamiliar territory, half your job will be done. Just become conscious of this.
A concrete way to get over this excuse is to either change your environment or your mindset. Take the pressure off work by maintaining a healthy work-life balance and taking small breaks. During these breaks, you can pick up any book of any length. of your liking and genre. Meditating and journaling can also help you reduce stress and make time for things you love that will help you grow, personally and professionally.
“Digital media is cheaper”
Many people use the easy and cheap availability of digital entertainment like Netflix, Prime, YouTube, Hotstar etc. to get out of reading Books. In actuality, this is just a mask to guise people’s laziness because digital media is more addictive and less brainy than reading a book. It’s important to come to one’s senses by monitoring screen time as well as the kind of content being viewed.
The best way to get out of this excuse is to set a screen time limit for oneself. Once that much quota is done, shift to books. For people who find buying books expensive, many thrift stores sell second-hand books. Similarly, a library subscription is both value for money and will incentivize reading because of the sunk cost involved. Also, using a Kindle or even the Kindle app on the phone can help because you cut down on the price of paper.
“My social life is too vibrant to indulge in other things”
Social life is often seen as an impediment to doing productive things or even practising hobbies. But everything really comes down to the same thing. Everyone makes time for what they truly love. Recognizing this and getting into the habit of not responding with excuses is the first step to making time for things you love.
On a practical level, a great way to read more while keeping an active social life is to merge the two. Joining reading groups or book clubs, buddy reading with people, making new friends who love the same books as you or even introducing your old friends to new books is a great way to amp up inspiration. If you’re the solitary kind of reader then deciding a specific time when you’ll only read and ignore social obligations may help.
“I have no time because I spend all of it on my phone”
Although many will not admit this, phones are a huge obstacle to being your best self. Too much social media or games, or even work on electronic devices reduces people’s reading times drastically. And because people use phones mainly in pockets of time throughout the day rather than binging, it doesn’t even feel like much. But it is. Tracking your screen time throughout the day can be crucial to slipping back into the habit of reading.
As aforementioned, using screen time limits where your device shuts off after a stipulated amount of usage can work wonders. Otherwise, consciously stopping using phones after a certain time in the day and storing them away could help. Replacing phone time with book time and rewarding yourself later can incentivize reading and cut back on phone usage. Eventually, this will become so automatic that phone addiction will reduce on its own.
“Professional reading takes up all my reading time”
A lot of people need to keep up with the most recent developments in their field in order to be the best possible version of themselves at work. Thus people read a lot of newspapers, magazines, journals and even reference books. This gives them a free pass to say that their reading for their career is so vast that there’s no time or energy left to read anything else. But where there is a will, there is a way.
A great way to include more diverse reading is to let someone else pick out a book for you. When someone you love chooses a book for you, you will feel compelled to read it out of love for them. So, putting books on your wishlist for Christmas or any other festival can help. Plus, you can vamp up your reading ambience, set aside some specific time during the day, perhaps while travelling to read something or even begin with audiobooks.
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