The past few years have seen me read 50+ books. I'm often asked how I get so much reading done, so I thought I'd offer a few tips on how to get more books in your face in 2021.

Be intentional and make time for it...
This may be obvious, but if you want to read more then you need to make time for it. Instead of turning on the television when you get home, ask yourself if you'd rather be reading. I have nothing against TV, but I often use to find myself mindlessly turning to the telly to kill a few hours. Now I try to ask myself what my intention is. If there's a specific show or movie I want to watch, great! But if I'm just turning on the TV to kill time or fill a void, I try to reach for a book instead.

Use those tiny pockets of time...
We all have times throughout our day when we have a few minutes - waiting in line for example - when we pick up our phones to check Instagram, Facebook, email...you get the picture. But this is a great time to read as well! And if you're a Kindle user, you don't even need to pull out your ereader - just use the Kindle app on your phone.

Only read things you enjoy and ditch the rest...
I used to finish books, even if I wasn't enjoying them. But there are hundreds of books I actually want to read, and my time on this planet is limited. Once I thought about things that way, I was able to let go of the guilt I used to feel about not finishing books I'd started, even if I wasn't enjoying them. Now I give books a certain amount of time to grab me, and if they don't, I move on to something else.

Get into audiobooks...
The thing I love about audiobooks is that they allow you to multi-task. Going for a walk? Talk along an audiobook. Washing dishes? Audiobook! They're a wonderful accompaniment to some of the more mundane parts of life.

Make it fun...
Sometimes it takes a little self-coercion to sit down and read, and those are the times I like to try and make it as fun as possible. I'll pull out some great snacks and choose a soundtrack that matches the book you're reading. Spotify is great for this and many times I'll just head over to see what Brandon Fletcher has on offer; other times I'll find a soundtrack to a movie or show that's similar to what I'm reading. But overall the idea is to make your reading as cozy and immersive as possible.

Take a break once in awhile...
Being able to read a lot is wonderful, but it should always feel like a nice enhancement to life, not like a race to the finish. Sometimes in our productivity obsessed society, we start to lose sight of why we're actually doing something. So be sure to to a self check-in once in awhile to make sure you're enjoying reading so much. If you're feeling overwhelmed, dial it back. Learn to enjoy the process again. That's the whole point!

And those are a few tips to help you read more! What things do you do to help you read more? I'd love to hear more ideas - leave them in the comments!