My simple system for reading more

Beginning

I had a challenging start - I didn't learn to read properly until right before elementary school. To help improve my comprehension and reading speed, my first-grade teacher would assigned me additional reading homework. We had to read books at home while our parents tracked the time spent reading and signed off in a notebook. The very first book recorded in that notebook was a fairy tale called "Zuikis Puikis" written by the poet Eduardas Mieželaitis.

Mother's Influence

My greatest inspiration to read more books came from my mom, who has kept track of all her read books throughout her life in a single paper notebook. The last time I checked, it contained around 600 books, with detailed information including:

• Book name and author
• Publication date
• Number of pages
• Reading completion date

Mom loved reading fantasy, detective novels, and various other genres, though lack of free time now limits her mainly to work-related reading as she works as a biologist in a national park.

After school, my reading slowed down a bit, but I've since picked it back up and now read several books a year. I still track read books in the same notebook and can easily check what and when I've read. Some interesting milestones from my list:

• My very first English book was "Ready Player One." Before that, I read only Lithuanian books.
• So far, I've read 237 books.

Tracking books online

I've moved my reading tracking to Goodreads, where I record both completed books and those in progress. For me, the platform mainly serves as a quick way to save book recommendations and check popularity. As for choosing what to read next, my physical home bookshelf is full of suggestions.

Physical vs. Audio Books

Even though audiobooks are really popular and easy to consume at any time, I much prefer physical books. I love collecting and maintaining a personal library of a few hundred books that I can reach for at any moment. This allows me to truly own the books - not just access them through a subscription-based service that could remove them at any time. This preference probably stems from my parents, who had a full wall of books in their living room. As a small child, it was amazing to see so many books in one place.

Reading a physical book helps me focus fully and read it page by page. Sure, you can skip pages at any time, but what's the point of printing them? If you're only reading paragraph headings, it might as well be a blog post.

Reading on the web

During my university years, I started consuming more web articles, newsletters, podcasts, and other online media to expand my knowledge. A couple of years ago, I decided to track these materials just as I do with books. This has helped me share various recommendations with colleagues and direct reports, giving them material to explore. Currently, I save this list in a simple Notion database, as it allows me to update it on the go. For my website, I simply load it via API during page build, keeping things straightforward.

Tips that help reading more

• Daily achievements. Set personal goals to read at least 10 minutes a day. This would help you develop a habit with motivation to keep reading daily. Same way you would learn a language using Duolingo.

• Choose what you read. Reading should be enjoyable and useful for you, so make that time you spend reading worth it. Pick up books or articles you really love and you notice that you need to push yourself to continue with it - simply drop it.

• Find time that works. Choose the time to read a book when you have no distractions. For example I choose to read during coffee breaks at home. While coffee is brewing on a stove I read a book knowing that I will check all work related messages afterwards.

• Replace phone with book. If you are constantly checking your phone, remind yourself how much time you spend on it. Try replacing the scrolling with book instead.

• Share your readings. It will allow others to know that you are reading something interesting and ask question about it. Remembering things you read after a day or few will help you retain the information for much longer.