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Finding Focus: Why Reading Matters - Five Reflections from a Daily Habit

According to a 2021 Pew Research Center Poll, approximately a quarter of Americans reported not reading a book in the last year. While this number could be much higher, it’s still concerning to me, especially given how important reading is to our creative input and our problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The adage garbage in, garbage out is as popular as it is because there’s some truth there. What you consume informs who you become, and reading is an almost universal source of good input.

As I read the study, I thought about what I might say to one of the people who aren’t regularly reading in support of my experience that reading, particularly a daily habit, has made me a better and more well-rounded human. With that perspective in mind, here are five reasons why there’s so much value in reading regularly.

Reading offers a reflection on the past

Many of the books I choose to read are written in a way that promotes self-reflection, often through a historical lens. After a hard day, reading what someone living two thousand years ago thought about the same problems we face today offers a sense of perspective. None of what we deal with is particularly new, although the delivery mechanisms are more varied. Still, the fundamental challenges we face today were faced by those in the past.

Stoicism and philosophy aside, many of the books being written today are inspired, whether explicitly or not, by the creative works of our history and the shared experiences we and our ancestors lived through. So much great art and literature is built upon the shoulders of what came before. How many beautiful literary references find their origins in truly ancient texts? Even in fiction, there are again, references both explicit and implicit, to what our species collectively has learned.

Books are engaging, not exhausting or enraging

Although I struggle to stay focused doing a lot of things, I do not multitask while I’m reading. If I’m reading on the Kindle app on my iPad, I have my reading Focus Mode on to keep all notifications and distractions at bay. Even the Home Screen changes to display only the Kindle widget and a few tools that complement my reading habit.

I read for enlightenment, entertainment, and a feeling of joy and excitement when learning something new that I never get tired of. I read to understand the past and figure out the road ahead, even if it’s just a page or two a day. I read because it makes me happy and because it makes me a better version of myself. It takes the noise and sets it aside for just a few minutes.

Books are a collective experience that we experience individually

Knowledge is important. It propels us forward. There’s a certain decorum, an expectation of style, in how a book is written and the message therein delivered. It requires attention, and a well-written book allows us to let our guard down and learn something new. Even the loudest voice is modulated on the page, the biggest thought distilled into digestible forms, all combining to allow the message to be heard by a variety of people and in a variety of ways.

Books are essential to the growing brain, especially little ones

I want my kids to see me reading, and I face a dilemma when using the Kindle App. They see me on my iPad but don’t realize that I’m often journaling, writing, and reading a book. This is why I intentionally keep and read some “old fashioned” print books around the house, including some of my favorites that I hope my kids might pick up and take an interest in. I realize they’re not at an age where Meditations or Kitchen Confidential will grab their attention, but someday it may.

I still remember the books my parents read when I was a child, and it’s because they were present, part of the scenery. The headboard of their bed had a built-in bookshelf containing volumes of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. My father had the Time Life series on home improvement. We often had the local newspaper, especially when I was delivering it in middle school, and always the more substantial Sunday edition.

Dad, who preferred audiobooks over printed material, read a lot of spiritual, personal wellness, and self-help texts from the likes of Ram Dass and Dr. Andrew Weil. At the same time, my mother enjoyed fiction from popular authors like Mary Higgins Clark and Danielle Steele. That they read and kept these books around had an invisible and enduring impact on me. As kids, my sister and I also had many books, and some of my earliest memories are of going to our town’s library, a place of absolute magic where so much knowledge was held.

My formative years were before the Internet was widely available, and I was in my twenties before we had reliable, high-speed Internet in our pockets. There was a patience to that, an understanding that while information was vast, it wasn’t fast. Now, and as I get older, I think more about this, and it sometimes feels like that balance is tipping.

Books Spark Conversations and Relationships

When you meet someone new and strike up a shared kinship about a book, author, or genre, you create a powerful bond, a feeling that you already know something important about the other person. They’re in on it. They KNOW how good that author is, how insightful that book is, and how life-changing that series can be.

These connections fuel living, sparking conversations and relationships that can transcend the moment and turn acquaintances into longtime friends. Books have magic; make sure you take the time to soak some of it up, even if it’s just a page or two every day.

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Finding Focus: Five Ideas to Help You Build a Better Reading Habit

Reading is an anecdote to so much of what afflicts us. It can reduce stress, improve sleep, and build better brain health. It’s also a fun way to learn about new ideas, develop existing concepts, and further our understanding of anything. Like journaling, reading is a practice, and here are five ideas that I think about to maintain a healthy reading habit:

Schedule Reading Time

What gets scheduled gets done - Michael Hyatt.

I rarely miss a meeting at work and know I have to pick my kids up from school at a particular time. Why? Because there is a defined time when these actions need to be taken. I’ve put them on the calendar, set reminders, and, over time, built habits. I need to do the same for anything you want to succeed. I can’t just say I want to read before bed or during my lunch break. I have to plan for it.

Remove the Progress Bar from the Kindle App

I read on my iPad Mini most of the time, and I found having more than just the book's text on the screen while reading in the Kindle app distracting, so I turned it all off. I wrote about how I removed the clock and reading progress here. It’s easy, and I found it made a difference in my ability to concentrate.

Don’t Finish a Book That Doesn’t Work

Life is short, and while there’s something to be said for gritty determination, some books just don’t work for some people. If I’m reading a book that isn’t working for you, it’s okay not to finish it. If the topic is of genuine interest, I might try the audiobook or look at what other authors have written on the same subject. I’ll also give the author another chance if they’ve got other work that seems interesting to me.

Keep a List of Books You Want to Read

I’ve got a list of books I want to read, and I have a few ready. I’ve read Ryan Holiday say that he will always buy a book that interests him, but that won’t work for everyone. Find what works for you, but a good rule of thumb is always to have a book accessible, whether it's a paperback in your work bag or a reading app on your device.

Use Focus Modes on Digital Devices

I enjoy technology and the Internet, but I know it’s a distraction machine that pulls our focus from important and meaningful things to the entertaining and shallow. The reading focus mode I set up a few years ago locks everything down. The Home Screen on my iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPhone changes to remove all apps that might entice me to wander onto the World Wide Web, and the only text messages that come through are from my immediate family.

Reading is not a race for me. When I was a stay-at-home dad, I had more time. Now I’m back to work, so I read less. Life is a balance, filled with subtle or cataclysmic shifts. Reading is a constant through any chaos for me, and I hope it can also be for you as well.

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