How to Stay Focused While Reading: Tips That Work For Me
Many people value reading as a commendable activity worthy of respect. They imagine that someday they’ll add it to their lives. However, after making attempts to become avid readers, they find themselves lacking something to really implement this idea. Others do read occasionally but, still, don’t feel like they are successful readers.
Maybe it happened to you that you were reading a book and couldn’t focus on it for a long period of time. Thoughts and urges distracted you through the course of reading, or you simply didn’t find the process to be pleasurable and didn’t grasp much. I have a few tips that can help you to fix the issue and start reading with the proper mindset.
A Healthy Level of Asceticism
The first thing that I have to say is that reading is hard work. It may and should bring you pleasure, and I’m glad for those who easily manage to have fun reading. But, in most cases, reading is a skill that develops if you make effort.
The reality is that you can live life without a lot of reading. You can graduate, and have a job without being a reading giant. Especially, these days, when you can consume information from watching videos, or from simply skimming through short articles, it is a skill that can be neglected.
So, the idea that I want to convey to you is that you have to be more strict with yourself. Prepare to say NO, NO, and NO to pleasures when the reading time has come. At least it’s true about having “other pleasures,” assuming that you’ll manage to turn reading into your spiritual pleasure.
The thing is that we are wired to seek to make everything goes easier. We want to do something that gives us an immediate and strong feeling of delight like watching videos that make you laugh and leaving witty commentaries. I don’t know, maybe for you, it’s something else, but for me, it’s a huge temptation. It creates an illusion of socialization and makes me forget my obligations. Except, it also ruins my routine.
Basically, you can call it laziness, or self-pity, but my point is that this little tiny humanoid that is a part of me wants to be always careless and have no struggles. You need to say NO to it and be very severe about it.
Especially it is true if you don’t have control over your activity except for the one that you’ll establish for yourself. Believe me, you can lie to yourself that you are not being lazy, and let some gurus convince you that reading has to be always fun and that you should wait for the ‘right moment’.
But, if the result shows that you either don’t read enough, or you don’t read what you should read, or you don’t read at all, the approach evidently isn’t good.
So, here’s what you want to do. You have to make a decision. You have to plan its implementation. You have to be accountable for your accomplishments to yourself. And you need to actually do it.
In such a manner, it’s much easier to focus on the book when you know on all levels that there’s no other way. You can’t escape from this activity to your comfort zone. You’ll treat your inner humanoid, in this way, that no indulgencies or excuses will save it from today’s daily portion ascetic self-education and increasing of your intelligence.
Reaching Emersion
That’s being said, I want to add that by having this mindset, you will manage to reach immersion. You may hear a lot of fair advice that you have to get rid of distractions, establish a fixed time for reading, preparing in advance what you have to read. And it’s true.
But, the main component is a realization that you have to value reading more than temporary pleasures.
Respecting the Book
You have to respect reading and knowledge first. Think about ancient wise men, and how they expected their students to treat them.
Listening to a person without respect and a strong belief that the information they provide you with is immensely important for you won’t make their words stay for long in your mind.
Optional reading may create an illusion that this book won’t get anywhere and you could finish it any time after. But, the fact is that this is not true. There’s a huge chance that you won’t be able to return particularly to this book.
If you finished reading it and missed the main thoughts, reading it for the second time is not always possible due to the absence of novelty perk. Going through the same material is more difficult because you already know what’s to expect from the book.
Regularity
Reading is a lifestyle. Thinks about it as a visit to a gym. No one doing it correctly from the first attempts. You learn the skill gradually and it becomes easier to practice the exercises after each visit.
When you gain new vocabulary, develop reading speed, learn your moods, and habits, adopt new tricks and tips, focusing becomes natural due to acquired fluency.
Make your reading time your sanctuary and a ritual inbuilt to your life. Turn the reading process into art, or a game if you will. Because in this activity you get achievements that stimulate you to seek for even more achievements.
It may be a number of books, or even accomplishing all the series of a certain author. Like in the case of building muscles in a gym measuring your progress increase your motivation.
Thinking About Reading
Increasing reading focus starts long before you actually put your eyes on a book. Try to spend time thinking through your reading routine. Do it while walking, or getting rest in silence.
Plan what you wish to read in the future. Recall what you’ve already read. Ask yourself questions about what useful did you learn from the book. What was the reason for the characters’ actions, if it’s a fictional book?
What do you disagree about with the author, if there are such things? And so on.
But, the most important is to meditate on the improvement of the reading process per se. Again, like people who go to the gym are learning how to exercise more effectively, you want to learn about proper reading. Actually, if you are reading this, you already accomplishing this point.
Keep thinking over your path of the reader to improve it every day. Especially, turn your attention to the mistakes you do to avoid them during the next session. What distracted you? What decreased your focus?
Should your stomach be empty while you are reading or, half-filled? What time of the day is better to read more? Experiment, and memorize what works for you.
Conclusion
To summarize, I want to repeat that reading is a lifestyle. It’s like hanging out with friends. You create common jokes with them, and you make them be a part of your life. As time goes on, you understand each other better than people outside your company and it takes less energy to grasp each other points from the first attempt.
Devotion to reading and being aware of what you are doing will help you to avoid mistakes and apply more effective techniques. Learning about reading will make the process more smooth, and pleasurable. Commitment will teach you to fight temptations to be distracted by low-quality entertainment.
Don’t forget that the information that you consume from good-quality books will be handy, and you’ll be inspired to read more when see that it brings fruits. Without reverence to the book and understanding how important it is it’s a bit difficult to stay present while reading.
Respect your books and their authors like religious people respect their holy books and they will reward you with knowledge as a grateful student.
