We all know that reading is beneficial in both personal and professional lives. Besides being a gr8 way to escape and unwind, reading increases your knowledge, focus, and worldview. But, modern life may seem too frantic for books. The biggest challenge is actually finding time to read more books. 🙄

In the new release of Opinov8 Tips we are going to talk with Ruslana — the Opinov8 UX/UI Designer. Ruslana shared with us her tips and tricks that will help you read more books and find ways to fit more reading into your schedule. 

Ruslana, UX/UI Designer

• 3 years in Design
• Leader of the Opinov8 “Book Club” Community
• 55 books read in 2020 😱
• Translator of Turkish language

When we talk about reading books, many of us will have associations from childhood and school, when we were forced to read. It lays a negative imprint on memory, and then it is hard to rebuild yourself that reading can be fun.

Back in the day, after I graduated from university, I stopped reading books for a couple of years (or read only a couple in a year). A few years ago, when all sorts of challenges gained popularity, I learned about the one-year challenge of reading books. It brought me back to the ranks of book lovers!

If you are reading this article, it means you care about reading, so I hope that the following tips will help you to love reading ever more and get a new hobby 😉

1. Define Motivation

The first thing to do is to determine what value reading will give you. Some people could become motivated by reading an N-number of books after an argument with someone, but it will not come from within and will not develop a passion for reading. 

You have to find your personal meaning.

Just ask yourself: “What is reading for me?”, “Why do I want to start reading?” and so on. For me, reading is a kind of meditation (if we are talking about fiction). I immerse myself in a completely different world. It is like watching a movie, but much cooler!  Another thing is that reading is about improving and extending vocabulary. The person who reads always has a very pleasant and literate speech and I find my motivation in this fact!

2. Set the goal

I understand that it is hard for a non-reader to count how many books he will be able to read in a year. Just think about what number seems realistic to you personally.

Let's say it would be 12 books per year, so 1 book per month. The average book is 500 pages. 500/30days=16 pages a day! Every person has his own reading speed, but 16 pages can easily be read in 30 minutes. So if you read 30 minutes every day, you could easily make 12 books in a year. Sounds gr8, doesn't it? 😉

Small steps lead to big goals!

Track your success and approach to your year goal with different programs. For those who read books in English I could suggest Goodreads, and for those who read in Russian or Ukrainian — LiveLib would be perfect. Both of them have a nice chart showing how you are moving, you can add books “to read later”, save a list of books you have read to share with friends later. There is a category of people who are motivated by the promise they make to their friends. Declare your goal to read a certain number of books to your friends on Facebook or Instagram, share your impressions of books you read. This can give you extra motivation on the way to your goal!

3. Choose the genre

• If yet you don’t have a clear idea of where to start, think of your motivation. For example, you have decided that reading will help you grow professionally — then start with classic books in your professional field. 
• Look for books based on your life interests: country history, wars, real stories or biographies, politics, the culture of different countries, fiction by authors of the country you are going to visit, etc.
• You can also ask someone you admire or with whom you have a common interest about their top books. 
• Search for a list of the top 100 bestsellers and start with them! You can find your favorite genre and author by the trial-and-error method.

There is a hypothesis that if after reading 50 pages a book does not impress you, you can safely put it aside and get the next one. 😉

4. Think about the format

Often I face the opinion that reading is only about printed or e-books and audiobooks do not count. However, everyone knows that some people perceive information better visually, while others perceive information audibly. 

I know several people who adore books, but they only go for the audiobook option. So don't listen to anyone. If you enjoy listening to audiobooks, choose them. Soon you will find your favorite book narrators whose voice you like. 🙂

5. Permanence is important

To successfully introduce a new habit to your life, you should tie it to your daily rituals. 

For example, read a couple of pages during breakfast or every time you take transport. If you like walking and audiobooks, try going out for a walk and listen to audiobooks while enjoying the surrounding nature or city views. Introduce the habit of reading before going to bed or even waiting in line at the supermarket. 🙃

6. Seek a support

Find book lovers among your friends and share the books you read. When you talk about a book, you remember it better. 

No man is an island!

At Opinov8 we have a Book Club, where every month we get together and talk about our favorite books, share our impressions. Also, we have the Slack channel where you can always ask for a recommendation or share the latest news from the wonderful world of books!

I hope these tips will help you to start reading. Remember that reading should be fun and interesting, not torture! Hint: instead of trying to power through a book that you're not enjoying, put it down 😉

If you still have questions, welcome to our Opinov8 Book Club! 

If you wanna join our super-friendly Design Team, don’t hesitate to check our open positions or send your CV to careers@opinov8.com