‘”Sleep is good… Books are better.”‘

George R. R. Martin

When the Covid pandemic happened, I decided to start a book blog page on Instagram. I’ve since found that joining the Bookstagram community has been a gratifying experience for me. I’ve loved talking about and recommending books to a group of people that appreciate reading as much as I do. During this two-year journey, I’ve accumulated so many books that filled up my “To Be Read” cart that will probably never be empty ever again as I continue to buy more and more books every time I visit a bookstore without having read the books I already have at home (I swear, collecting books is a completely separate hobby from reading books). As I sit writing this, I can’t help taking anxious glances at my TBR cart every now and then and wonder how I’ll ever be able to read all of them.

Let’s be honest: Book FOMO is inevitable.

It is statistically impossible to read every single book you want to read in an average human lifetime (unless your lifetime reading goal is, like, ten books, in which case I urge you to aim a little higher). But that doesn’t stop us from thinking, What if?, every time we walk into a colorful bookstore with beautifully detailed hardcovers and lovely-smelling paperback books. With book marketing and design becoming more visually appealing,- with the added advertising help of social media like Instagram or Tik Tok- books have become very tempting to read (which is why I have a book problem).

While I may not be able to read every single book I want to read by the end of my lifetime, I do want to read as many books as I possibly can in my time on Earth. To do that, I did some research to find out how I could make the most out of my lifespan to read as many books as I possibly can, while also taking into account general life obstacles like work and chores.

Do the Math

According to Literary Hub, the average person reads 12 books a year. Of course, this number is very inflated due to some very avid readers who greatly skew the mean by reading hundreds of books in a year. I think most people actually struggle to read one book a year (which is concerning yet possible since Americans read a lot less than many other countries in the world). If most people were to read one book a year- and the average human life span is around 84 years old,- a person who is 25 years old is on track read 59 books in the rest of their lifetime (that is, if they live long enough to finish that 59th book). Fifty-nine books is a good number of books to aim for in your lifetime if you’re not a strong reader to start.

If your goal is to read at least one book a year then, the next thing to do is to calculate your reading speed. You can do this by using any Words Per Minute calculator like this one, which offers different passages for you to read at different reading levels. All you have to do is calculate your average reading speed, and from there you can calculate how long it would take you to finish a book. If your average reading speed is 200 wpm and your book has about 70,000 words, you could finish a book in 2 weeks if you just read for 30 minutes a day. At that pace, you could read up to 26 books in one year! Of course, these are just averages. If you did the math for yourself, or even just decided to read for 30 minutes every day, setting your goal to read just one book each year is not a terrifying concept at all. In fact, it sound kind of easy when you lay it out in numbers.

So take the test and do the math yourself. Find out how many books maximum you could possibly read in a year and choose a number between your maximum and one, and that will be your reading goal for the year. Now, let’s help you reach your goal.

Form a Reading Habit

We’ve all heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I personally think that this number is bogus and looks nice on paper, but is actually harder to carry out in plan. After all, people are busy enough as it is with things like school and work and just life in general. So how are we supposed to make time for reading? That’s easy: you don’t.

Hear me out.

You shouldn’t make room in your schedule for reading. Instead you should read in times that open up for reading. For example, if you have a a doctor’s appointment that gets pushed back, read until your name is called. If you get out of work early, read for however much time you saved. If cleaning the house didn’t take as long as you expected it to, read for the rest of the duration. You shouldn’t worry about trying to fit reading into your schedule. Just read when you can so that you’re not taking away from life’s experiences. You’re just adding to it.

But how can you form a habit without a set schedule? Simple: don’t make reading the habit. Instead, start carrying a book around everywhere you go. When you leave for the day, don’t forget to bring your book with you. Even if it just stays in your car or your purse for the day, forming the habit of bringing your book everywhere like you would other essential items, like your phone, is a great way to remind yourself that your book and your phone could be used interchangeably. Do you really want to check Twitter or can you read a couple pages instead? If you use your phone to read, before you turn off your phone, close all of your other opened apps and leave only your reading app open. That way if you do have the urge to turn on your phone, the first thing you will see is your book, reminding you that you have a chapter left unfinished. Conditioning your brain to think that reading is the same as spending time on your phone will help you naturally replace your time spent on social media with time spent reading.

Forming a small habit such as the two I mentioned will help you if finding time for reading is a difficult task in your daily schedule. Once you’ve got your habit down, you are much closer to achieving your reading goal. Reading as many books as you want to in a given year is not an impossible feat, but, if you’re up for the challenge, you must also change the way you think about reading.

Reframe Your Mindset

I know the idea of making yourself read for 30 minutes a day could start to feel like a chore for some people; just a thing to check off at the end of the day. When this starts to happen, we start to dread reading and it could seriously affect the way we read. To get the most fulfilling experience from reading is to go into reading, not with the mindset of a chore, but with an eagerness for knowledge.

No matter what genre you read, you receive some level of insight from the books you read- whether it’s fictional or not. Are you looking for a love story? Do you want to learn about gender studies in America? Do you need some life advice from a famous celebrity? Go into a book with a question in hopes of an answer. A good book will answer it; a great book will answer it and leave you with new burning questions. And that is how you find your next read. If you go into reading with the mindset of wanting to know more, reading will be much more enjoyable for you. This is why it is imperative for you to choose a book you want to read instead of a book you think you should be reading. There is absolutely no pressure to read anything out of your reading level, unless you want to.

If reading 30 minutes a day starts to feel laborious for you, break your habit for a day. Do something else you enjoy instead, something rewarding. Then, after you complete an actual chore the next day (like washing dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, etc.) read for 30 minutes as a reward for completing the task. Reading should be a rewarding experience and thus should be treated as such. Once you start to look forward to reading again after completing a tedious task, you’re back on track!

Read to Your Heart’s Content

At the end of the day, numbers are just numbers. Whether you complete your goal or not is not what’s important. Some years are harder than others. Circumstances change and reading slumps do exist. We may not be able to get to every book we possibly want to read- and that’s okay. Just have fun with and appreciate the books you did get to read, but don’t stop trying to strive for more. Our hunger for knowledge is what drives us and is what sets our species apart from others. Books are a way to fuel that hunger and should not be forgotten about.

If you’re someone who hasn’t read a book in a while: go pick up a book today and try to set a goal for yourself, whether it’s as small as reading a few pages a day or as big as finishing the book within the year. I promise you it’s not as scary as it sounds and can actually be enjoyable if you give it a chance. Who knows? Maybe you’ll actually like it. And if so, you can pick up another book and do it again. As long as you’re having fun reading, nothing can stop you.