Hello everyone and happy Wednesday! Today is a little chaotic and I won’t be around the comments section much, but it’s the chaos that inspired todays post.
In February you may have heard me complain a few (million) times about how crazy things were. My life was a steaming pile of hot garbage. But as ridiculous as things were, I still managed to read almost every day. Even if I worked for 18 hours that day I still forced myself to read for my own sanity. I needed that little bit of down time to focus on me and to take my head out of the game and into something I enjoyed. Point is – our lives sometimes get in the way and we may need a little bit of help getting motivated and back into the reading game. Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years that have helped me through some tough times:
READING CHALLENGES AND READATHON’S
This is the number one motivator for a lot of people. There’s such a wide variety of themes and lengths of the challenges so it’s really easy to find something that will suit you. Short term challenges are particularly helpful as they are quick, intense, and the allows for a smaller window of failure due to the short time line. There are also other people participating in these challenges so there’s an instant support group and people who can motivate you to keep going!
SETTING PERSONAL CHALLENGES
If you’re like me, then your typical reading challenge never works. My life is too busy to commit to a specific time, and my mood reading conflicts with themes a lot of the time. SO, what I do (being a MASSIVE goal oriented person) is I set my own goals! For example, I am currently using a chart where I mark down the amount of pages I read on a daily basis. Because I have this visual representation, it’s pushing me to read just a few more pages so that I can have a little bit more on that bar graph. This is working out WAY WAY WAY! better than ever expected! I’m pushing myself to reach a number and it’s stopping me from going on my phone or wasting time in general. I will be doing a specific post on this challenge very soon including pictures.
SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE
For quite a few people, staying consistent and reading every day no matter what is all the motivation they need. So many people will take a day off and then realize that maybe just one more day off couldn’t hurt. Before they know it, they’ve spent the last 2 weeks watching netflix and haven’t read a single page. If reading on page/chapter every day is all you need, then I say go for it! Usually that one chapter turns into 3 or 4 so….. the books will suck you in eventually!
ALREADY READ IT? READ IT AGAIN!
Rereading is one of the best ways to keep yourself motivated or rekindle your love of reading. I’m in the middle of an Illuminae Files series reread right now and it’s been FANTASTIC!!! I’ve had the chance to revisit this world, the characters, and the insanity that is this plot. Revisiting your favourite book bring you back to what you love most about reading and will hopefully refuel your reading fires!
TRY SOMETHING NEW!
Trying something new can go one of two ways. One, it will flop and not interest you at all. Two, your adventures out of your comfort zone could excite you and open a world of new possibilities! You could switch to a different genre – say you’ve been reading a lot of contemporary lately so switch to a science fiction! Stuck in a TBR rut? Pick 5 books that you’re somewhat interested in and read the first chapter. Or if you plain and simple step outside of your comfort zone and love it, then maybe you’ll want to devour all the books within that genre, essentially opening an entire new world of books for yourself.
This isn’t the longest list ever, but just a few points that if you find yourself in a rut, these things might help to motivate you into wanting to read “all the books”. My reading motivations are all over the place all of the time, and these are the things that I do (sometimes on a weekly basis) to get back into the reading game. I hope these tips help you find your motivation! And if any of you are interested in the bullet journal page where I use my competitive nature to push myself to read more (LOL) then I might think of doing that post at some point. How do you keep yourself motivated?
Until next time, happy reading!
I definitely needed to see this post. I’m in such a slump at the moment! Hopefully I snap out of it soon 🙂
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Oh no!!! I hate hearing that people are in slumps. It’s the worst feeling in the world – my Bookworm heart reaches out to you!!!
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I’d love to see your bullet journal post! I’ve finally started mine and having a reading motivation page would be a great addition as I’m planning on reading 10 books a month.
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Same! I want to start a bullet journal and need some tips!
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I hope you do start a journal. It’s helped me become better organized. Just do not compare your journal with others!!!! I did that for years and I hated my journals then just gave up on them. I’ll be doing an updated bullet journal post next week 🙂
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Ooh ok! Can’t wait to see it 🙂
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I think I might do the post next week. If I can stay organized enough lol!!! I can’t believe how much this little page helped! I’ve read SO much over the last week!!
Good luck with 10 books – that’s my goal as well. Seems like a good number. It’s in the double digits but not too ambitious lol
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Yes 😄
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Lovely post. Really needed to see this!! ❤
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🙂❤️
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I’m ‘slow and steady’ and ‘try new’ kind of reader that always keeps me going. I also set a personal challenge like I will read at least 50 pages a day or 10 chapters a day, it always works. Nice post! 🙂
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It’s funny you say that because my daily goal is 50 pages! Having that tiny goal pushes me to read every day. Some days I hit the goal, some days I don’t, and some days I triple it. Point is, I’m reading. I’m totally a slow and steady person too!
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Awesome post! Thank you for the tips 🙂
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🙂❤️
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Great post! Thanks for the fabulous tips 🙂
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🙂❤️
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Trying something new always helps me! If I have been reading a ton of fantasy, I’ll pick up a mystery. Lots of YA? I’ll grab a non-fiction book. It really helps so much!
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That’s something that I have to do myself. I get in the mood to read science fiction and that ends up being all that I’ll read. Sometimes you just have to step away from what you’re obsessing over lol
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Trying something new defo worked for me. I didn’t realise i liked contemporary, but i’ve read 2-3 this year and they were pretty good.
Then i remembered all the ones i read in my teenage years. Not sure when/why i actually dropped them.
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Lol this has been a good year for contemporary for me as well! Same thing, I wondered why I dropped them 🙂
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I needed this post, I’ve been in a small slump this past week. I’m goal oriented and maybe seeing the pages I’ve read daily might help make me excited to read more and more each day. Plus adding pages to my BuJo is always exciting!
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Lol I think I’m usually just looking for new BuJo pages too! Lol. But yes, seeing it visually has really pushed me to read more!! I hope you can get over your slump before it turns into a monster!
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Hahaha Shanah I can’t relate this time as I never and have never needed motivation to read! It’s like breathing: necessary!
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😂 that should be an inspirational quote somewhere!!!
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I go slow and steady with my books but make it a point to read everyday. I rarely join challenges since I’m a huge mood reader!
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I wish I could join more challenges. They seem like so much fun. But mood reading makes them almost impossible!!
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Thank you for your tips! I feel a slump coming on after I read a particularly large book or I read too many books at once and feel overwhelmed. I’ll be sure to try a few of your tips to just keep on reading.
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Oh good point! Sometimes after you read a long book it feels like a slump is coming. I don’t know why this happens!
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great tips! I find that putting books on my calendar for when I want to read them helps me!
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That’s a good idea! It would give you an idea of how many pages to read in a day if you want to finish it by a certain date. Smart thinking! 🙂
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GREAT tips!! I will be saving this post! These would make great slump tips to!
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Great point with “slow and steady”! So true. Thank you! I needed this.
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I recently have committed to writing a little each day, even if it’s not a long post…just a quote or one liner is fine
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That’s a good way to do it! But by your name – mom of 7?! I don’t know how you would find the time! But so happy you’re spending time on you! That’s so important for us moms. But we always feel guilty about it
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Mom of 7+ twins lol….I usually wait until late at night or early in the a.m. or naptime. It’s tough but I do my best to get some me time in
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Wait, so you have 9 total?! And I thought my 2 were a handful! You are superwoman!
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Thank you it’s not easy but I do my best
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