Pick up a book you TikTok addicts! (Myself included)
How to read more in 2025 and a free reading habit tracker
With TikTok currently banned/not banned/under threat, with movements to “Deactivate, Delete, and Defund Meta,” and with X under leadership you may despise, there has never been a better time to turn off your phone and read a book.
But how? You ask. Because now you have the attention span of a hungry raccoon who just broke into 7/11.
Let me tell you the strategies I used to go from barely reading a magazine article to reading approximately a book a week, or 52 books a year, and sometimes even more, like in 2024 when I read 54 books.
And you don’t need to aim for a number as high as 52, but a goal does help. Try 25 in 2025 if you’re a rusty reader, or promise yourself you will read for 10 minutes a day every day.
Reading isn't just entertainment–it's intellectual fitness. Like building muscle, focused reading improves with consistent training. A book a month probably won’t be enough. You need to read more to see real focus gains.
How I Read More
Aside from the obvious, like picking great books and enjoying the story, here are my primary tactics to read more:
Set a goal. See above.
Discover the genre you actually enjoy reading by reading the bestsellers in different genres.
Start short. Pick short books to experience the satisfaction of finishing faster.
If you’re ordering books online, Amazon has a whole short-reads section and an hour-reads section.
Start small.
If you can only read for 10 minutes at a time, begin with 10 minutes and set a timer. Then gradually increase your time by five minutes each week.
Conversely, challenge yourself to read a whole book in one sitting.
Pro tip: You can check the time it takes to read a book in the Kindle app under the “book details” of any book. Then pick a book that is approximately the length of a movie or three, hour long TV episodes, so 2-3 hours. Then sit and read that book like you’d watch a movie. Try not to even get up to pee.
There is magic to this single setting reading, or what I call “day book” practice, because you can be one-shotted with the author’s entire vision.
It also feels delicious to consume something so quickly that you know took someone else possibly years to create.
Hide your phone in a drawer in another room while you read.
Embrace eBooks.
Ebooks are nice because you can read lengthy samples of them to decide if you actually like them. They get delivered instantly and you can also use your tablet or phone’s screen read feature to read them aloud to you as needed. Or use an app like Speechify to read them in celebrity voices.
Embrace KU.
You can try many genres and books on Kindle Unlimited aka KU for one price. You can also use the subscription fee to make you feel more accountable. You paid for the month, now read a few books.
Ritualize your reading.
Find a cozy spot. Get a special blanket. Bring snacks or fancy tea. Light a candle. Whisper to your ancestors and ask them to grant you the gift of concentration and reading pleasure.
Embrace reading soundtracks.
Grab the paperback of your choice and put on music that pairs with the book.
Sometimes I even take this up a notch and put on YouTube music ambiance videos that pair with the novel I’m reading. There are many channels like this. For example, I’m currently reading a novel set on the Florida coast, in a swamp, so I’ll search for something like “ambient swamp music” on YouTube on my TV and find a magical swamp scene paired with instrumental music to transform my bedroom into the book’s environment while I read. This works even better for fantasy novels, as there are many fantasy scenes and magical forest playlists on YouTube.
Speechify will also let you play music in the background while it reads the ebook aloud. This is fun. You can pair westerns with fiddle players, horror novels with dark ambient, or sci-fi stories with the Blade Runner soundtracks. This makes one-shot books feel even more like single, immersive, cinematic experiences.
Get a library card and get free books.
This is another free way to sample different genres to determine what you actually like to read.
I usually don’t do this anymore because I want to mark up every book I read, but this helped in the beginning of my re-embracing reading journey.
Stop being pretentious.
You don’t need to read War and Peace. Find some easy-to-read fun trash if you want. Read corn. Read manga. Read a cookbook. Mix in fast entertainment with more serious literature.
Or be pretentious. Rub your reading in everyone’s face. Carry around a copy of Infinite Jest. Whatever works for you.
Join a bookish community, or book club, or coordinate your own reading challenge with friends and family.
Embrace audiobooks and 1.5x speed or higher.
Learn to love audiobooks and listen on your commute or while folding laundry. For most people, 1.5x is fine for audiobooks, and some can even process them at 2x. You can try Speechify also to listen to Kindle books and turn on the feature where it gradually trains you to listen faster. My favorite voice on the app is actually the app’s founder and I like that I’m supporting helping people with ADHD and dyslexia by using the app. Finding your perfect speed and favorite voice not only lets you enjoy the audiobooks without feeling bored, but it lets you finish more books in a shorter amount of time.
Use your reading to solve a problem you need to solve anyway.
We forget that books contain valuable learning and instruction in a time-tested, unbeatable format. Instead of watching 20 YouTube videos about your problem, find the most respected book regarding the issue and read it.
Replace a bad habit with reading.
Read at the same time every day, or don’t.
Routine helps some and hurts others. Test both methods to discover if you prefer consistency or novelty.
Habit stack your reading.
Tell yourself you can only watch The Kardashians after you read a chapter of a book.
After you brush your teeth, read 5 pages of a book.
When your child does their homework, sit with them and read your book.
Highlight, underline, take notes, or write in the book’s margins to keep yourself engaged.
Coordinate your books so they’re in conversation with each other.
This is an advanced tip, but books can dialogue and synergize with each other. Sometimes this is accidental, but you can also create it with intention. You can read non-fiction about the same topic but with opposing viewpoints, find Ivy League course syllabi online and follow the suggested reading, or pick novels that mirror the subject of your non-fiction reading, etc.
Embrace mood reading/cycle-synching reading.
Another thing I like about ebooks and KU is the way the app allows you to read multiple books at the same time. This way I can dip in and out of non-fiction or fiction depending on my energy level or mood/time of day, etc.
I find my reading preferences even correspond with my womanly body’s cycles. Ladies, see if this resonates:
Follicular phase: non-fiction.
Ovulatory phase: not reading as much, because I’m socializing more, but still enjoying lighter reading and romance/steam especially.
Luteal phase: moody books, angry books, literary fiction.
Menstrual phase: anything, everything.
Reward yourself with crunchy or sweet treats.
Use this with caution, as this is a dangerous path for some. If you know you have an addictive personality, or an eating disorder, etc., avoid this one.
Remember the “Book Math.”
You’ve heard of “girl math?” Well, this is book math: if 300 pages take 5-7 hours a day to read, read an hour a day and you finish approximately a book a week.
And last, but not least—use a habit tracker to help you stop lying to yourself.
I’ve made you one you can use electronically or print and use by hand. You can actually use these for any habit. Kindle will also track your reading habits for you, but I think coloring in circles with gel pens is more fun.
I’m not just talking about tracking books you finish. I think it’s actually more useful to track the days you read. Again, reading is like brain fitness.
In addition to this, you could get a pack of gold stars and a calendar and promise yourself a December 31st pizza party if you read X number of books this year.
Habit Tracker download
Here you go. These sheets are for the whole year but just start now. It’s fine. START NOW! Today!
The Google Sheets Digital Habit Tracker
The Printable Habit Tracker:
If you need further instruction on how to use these trackers, please reach out, but I think they’re pretty self-explanatory.
Final Word of Advice
If you’re still struggling to read after implementing these tips and trying your best, don’t despair; after all, we’ve been running like rats from app to app in search of dopamine. Instead, I’d recommend seeing a medical professional. Maybe you need glasses, treatment for ADHD, depression, alcoholism, sleep apnea, etc. In that case, please get help, then try reading again.
Now You
What are your current reading habits?
What bad habit would you like to replace with reading?
How many hours do you spend on your phone versus reading?
Would you consider taking the #52BookChallenge? Or the 25 in 25 Challenge? Maybe the Read 100 Books You Already Own challenge?
What's the last book that changed your life?
Have you ever used reading as therapy?
What book has been sitting unread on your shelf that you could start reading today?
XXXOOO
Charlotte Dune
#16 regarding auto repair manuals.
There is in my experience no replacement for the paper Haynes and Chilton books. Anything on YouTube, the manual will have both more reliable and more detailed information on. I think this applies across all technical books.
Cook books, are similar, but in that case I think its having a physical repository of recipes, that cannot go away if app services are shut down, or you cant connect to internet.