How to read eighteen 200 page books in a year!

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body” – Joseph Addison

For the vast majority of my life, reading has been something I did because I had to, not because I wanted to. Outside of what I was required to read in high school, I remember picking up a couple of John Grisham books and reading them all the way through. That’s really all of the reading I did.

But that all changed for me a few years ago when I was introduced to reading for personal growth. The idea was something I had never really thought about before, but after seeing the improvement of several leaders I respected, my whole outlook on reading changed. Since that time, I’ve learned a few simple ways to adopt reading as a part of my life.

One simple step is to set aside time to do it every day. For example, at the end of the day, right before you close your eyes to sleep, read 5-10 pages in a book. Studies have shown that reading before bed can reduce stress levels. A 2009 study by the University of Sussex found that reading for just six minutes can reduce stress levels by up to 68%.

Another key to success is for the book to be in a non-digital format. A good old paperback book will do the trick. Dr. Guy Meadows, insomnia specialist at The Sleep School in London, tells us that most people will sleep better if they don’t use mobile phones and other electronic devices right before bed. The main problem is the kind of light these devices produce.

Maybe you’re like I was and consider yourself to be not much of a reader. What if I told you that by implementing this simple changes in your daily routine, you could go from not reading at all to reading eighteen 200-page books in a year?
 

Take a second and imagine the amount of information you could learn reading 18 nonfiction books. For example, what if you researched and picked 18 books that all focused on one of the areas I discuss in this book? Maybe finance is your thing. Perhaps it’s health. What kind of an expert could you become in one year if you were able to read 18 books in one of these subjects?

So, how does one get from reading 5-10 pages before bed, to eighteen 200-page books in a year? Simple math. If you commit to reading only 10 pages per day, you will read a total of 3,650 pages in a year or roughly eighteen 200-page books. That’s how you get it done. One day at a time, 10 pages a day! Try it for seven days and see how easy it is to implement.