Making time for reading with a busy schedule

And my perfect reading schedule.

I’ve been a bookworm (do people still use that term? Or am I aging myself?) since I was a child. My dad used to take me to garage sales every weekend to hunt for used books and at some point I owned nearly the entire Magic Treehouse series and quite a few Goosebumps books as well. Kid me was pretty proud of her collection! There was also a huge Chapters book store (similar to a Barnes & Noble in the US) in the mall near where I used to live and whenever my mom would need to run errands, she’d just drop me off there and I’d spend all my time just strolling through the aisles flipping through random books.

When I finally got access to my elementary school library, it felt like the world was opening up to me. I’d cherish the moments I got in the library, always asking our school librarian for more recommendations. Needless to say, I spent almost all of my free time consuming these books from cover to cover.

After elementary, my reading slowly started to slow down. They were replaced with afterschool activities, hanging out with friends, gaming, and shows. This slowly persisted throughout high school going into my twenties and at one point I stopped reading altogether. The only times I’d pick up a book was the occasional non-fiction read that I was reading for personal development or learning about business. BORING, I know.

Looking back, that was also the period I felt the most lost. Is there a correlation? I honestly can’t say for sure. I’m not going to harp on myself for being a twenty-something girl trying to figure out life and where she fit in. However, I do remember picking up my first fiction book after several years of not reading one and something felt like it clicked. The joy and sense of adventure that came from exploring new worlds and lives through books felt like it never went away. Despite my lack of commitment throughout those years, picking reading back up felt as easy as walking. I was over the moon that my childhood hobby didn’t abandon me altogether.

Now as an adult with a big girl job, big girl bills to pay, and a big girl life to live I still make time daily for reading. There is a sense of escape that I crave whenever I go through a reading lull. But beyond that I see reading as so much more now. Reading has become a way to learn, whether or not I’m reading non-fiction. Amongst the magic in fantasy, cheesy romance novels, and characters and lives in literary fiction, there is actually so much to absorb.

For one, I love examining human nature through books. Yes, the lives and characters are made up but each story shows different facets of human lives (or faerie/demon/god lives?) that give you a deeper understanding of the way people operate. Books also expose you to a variety of voices and writing styles. As someone who writes blogs and newsletters to improve my writing, being able to take a step back and look at how a piece of writing was crafted and what may have prompted the author to make certain creative decisions gives me the opportunity to do the same with how I write. Plus you’re improving your vocabulary as you read! There are so many things I love about the act of reading hence why I continue to make time for it no matter how busy my schedule.

Currently my reading schedule looks like this:

• AM routine: After skincare and hygiene, I always head downstairs to make myself a lemon water and coffee. In the mornings I like to pick up a non-fiction book to read while I have my variety of liquids (especially the coffee).

• Throughout the day: If I have a break in my day where I’m not doing much else, I’ll browse through Substack and a few other media publications to see what’s going on. I know there’s a lot of discourse around replacing social media scrolling with scrolling Substack, but I think as long as you’re reading articles rather than just mindlessly scrolling through notes, it’s not a bad thing at all!

• PM routine: Another great habit I’ve built up is reading before bed. The goal was to replace scrolling on my phone with a fiction read. (They’re so much more fun to consume anyways.) Replacing my screens with paper has also made it easier to fall asleep. I find that if I’m doom-scrolling, often times it keeps me up for a lot longer. I will say, if I’m reading a page turner of a book, this will keep me up as well. But at least I feel a lot less guilty staying up for a good fantasy than for TikTok!

As with any habit, reading is something you have to build up over time, especially if it’s not something you do regularly. I definitely didn’t wake up one day and was able to follow a reading schedule right away. That’s just not how it works. It takes time! Here are some tips if you’ve been struggling with it:

1. Figure out why you’re reading. Is it an act of escapism? Something to take you out of your stressful day? Is it to learn? Is it for entertainment? I find that with any habit I’m trying to build, bringing some awareness to WHY I want to accomplish that goal gives the goal purpose which makes it easy to stick to.

2. Find a genre you’re interested in. If you find yourself struggling to finish self-help books, try a business or travel book! If you can’t stand smutty romances, try lit fic or fantasy. I genre hop all the time but once I find something I enjoy, I find it’s way easier to continue down that path and keep finding great books in that category. Which takes me the third point…

3. Don’t be afraid of DNF-ing books. I struggled with this for a long time. Something in me always said that I HAD to finish a book before I moved onto a different one. The problem was, once I encountered a book I wasn’t really enjoying, my reading would slow down exponentially. A book that would usually take me a few days to read suddenly sits on my bedside for months. WHY do we do this to ourselves? If you’re not enjoying something, don’t read it! Or if you really feel unsatisfied not finishing a book, put it aside and just start a new one first. Maybe you’ll go back to it. Maybe you won’t. See how you feel once you’ve gotten excited about reading again after a good book.

4. Schedule reading into your day. I find that the best way for me to make sure I DO something is by scheduling it into my calendar. I live by the motto “if it doesn’t exist in my calendar, it doesn’t exist at all.” If this task is important to me, why wouldn’t I schedule it in?

5. Gamify it and make it fun! When I used to run a book club, one of the girls would split the book into sections with sticky notes. She said she did this so she could give herself a reading goal for the week. If she gets to the next sticky within the week, she gets to have a treat. I think that’s such a fun way to motivate yourself to hit your reading goals whether it’s to read a chapter a day or a quarter of the book a week. `

6. Rotate between reading methods. I used to be a purist and only want to read physical books so that I can feel and smell the experience. (Please tell me I’m not the only one who buries her nose in books…) Now I read physical books as well as e-books (both on my phone and e-reader) and I listen to Audiobooks as well. This means I almost always have a book on me, even if I’m using one of my teeny weeny purses.

7. Join a book club! Fable is a great app for book clubs! I used to run my book club there. Or start one with your friends. Having a book club is like having reading accountability buddies.

8. Create a cozy reading space. Nothing beats being freshly showered and moisturized with a candle burning and a cup of tea steaming next to me in bed while I read. Even better, have a space in your home just for these cozy moments. Dedicate a time of day, corner, or mood just for reading so it’s easy (and desirable) to go back there daily.

9. Use the 5 minute rule. If all else fails, use the 5 minute rule! This is a habit building tool that works by incentivizing you with just a tiny bit of the big thing. All you have to do is do your goal/habit for 5 minutes. That’s it! If after 5 minutes you want to stop, then stop with no guilt. Your goal is just to read/write/do whatever for 5 minutes. Once those 5 minutes are up, it’s up to you to decide whether to continue or to stop.

Whether you're rediscovering your love for books or just starting out—remember: reading is a journey and should be a fun one! The most important thing is to make it enjoyable for yourself. No habit is easy but the ones that are the hardest to build are the ones you don’t want to do! Start small, be consistent, find the genres you love and before you know it, you'll be craving your next read.

Happy reading!

☕️ Angel xo