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Are aphetamines or Ritalin or whatever off the table? If you have genuine ADD you should be on actual treatment. Maybe bring all your unfinished books to your psychiatrist as evidence of your inability to concentrate.
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Sep 3, 2022 04:00
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escape artist posted:Don't try to dive into Tolstoy or Melville right off the bat. Start with something you enjoy, even if it's a guilty pleasure. Maybe re-read a favorite from your past, give it a look with a newer perspective. And learn to read in small, tiny doses! Fifteen minute break at work? Get a few pages in. Also there's nothing wrong with audiobooks. They're great. And remember, getting started is the hardest part. Thanks, that's good stuff. I have a book to my right at the moment, will make a note to pick it up a few times today.
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Sep 3, 2022 19:54
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Realizing it's an old thread but I'll chime in as well for anyone looking for advice on this. I never fully fell off the reading train, but I absolutely would barely get reading done. What flipped the switch for me this year was I finally quit Twitter, I realized it was making me anxious and miserable and destroying my brain so I deleted the app from my phone and threw myself into reading instead, forcing myself to pick up a book anytime I would go for Twitter and reading for a few minutes instead. So from January to May this year I finished 11 books. Since June I've finished 32, including a mix of short 1-2 sitting reads and a couple long tomes like Brothers Karamazov. I realize this is a bit of a humblebrag but my point is that it's not actually hard to do if you commit. (Side note, I also have ADHD and take meds, but even then I didn't magically start reading regularly until I forced myself to this summer). 1. You don't need to sit and read for an hour at a time if that doesn't work for you. Just try to read in 10-15 minute chunks throughout the day, whenever you get a chance. I think a lot of people assume reading means spending hours in one place reading all at once, it doesn't have to. 2. Remember there's no test at the end. Didn't get something? Worried you misunderstood a point? So what? You can go back and reread obviously if it's affecting your enjoyment of the story or you got your facts totally wrong, but don't stress out about memorizing and absorbing every single piece of the text. At first you might really struggle to actually absorb much of anything, but reading is a muscle and if you just commit yourself to keep going it will start clicking and you won't have to even think about it anymore. 3. Trouble reading before bed because you get tired? Read right when you wake up! Presuming your schedule allows for that. I get way more reading done first thing in the morning over coffee and then trying to pick my book up throughout the day, either on work breaks or after work. Sometimes I read before going to sleep, but often I'm too tired at that point. I realize not everyone has a job that allows for that, but find the time that is best for you. 4. You absolutely have time to read. One of the top excuses you hear from people. If you have time to post on forums, use social media, play video games, whatever else it is you do, then you have the time to read. Find whatever it is in your day to day that's not an obligation and you enjoy the least and carve a little time out of that. Spend three hours a night gaming? Start a half hour later than you normally would and read for a bit first (again, try to prioritize reading earlier rather than later if you get too tired). I won't presume to know other people's relationships with social media, but there's a good chance if you're on it then you're on it way too much. Pull away, challenge yourself to read a book for five minutes instead, and see how it goes from there. 5. Antsy? I probably drive my partner crazy but I will pace while I read, or I'll read on the exercise bike. I find that moving while reading does slow my actual reading speed, but I'm too high wired. I definitely can sit or lie down and read, but I start getting antsy and feel the need to move. I don't know how common this is, and I know a lot of people absolutely can't read and exercise at the same time. But again, if you think it might work for you give it a try. Anyway, hope that didn't come off as smug or too long. Just my tips, on top of a lot of the other good advice people have given like starting with shorter books, allowing yourself to read multiple books at a time, and personally I say go with a mix of an ereader and physical books because both have their advantages. TrixRabbi fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Sep 22, 2022 |
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Sep 22, 2022 15:15
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TrixRabbi posted:What flipped the switch for me this year was I finally quit Twitter, I realized it was making me anxious and miserable and destroying my brain so I deleted the app This is good advice for just about anything but now that I think about the timing, giving up Twitter is probably part of what got me reading again too, in addition to just overall being less miserable and angry all the time. It's really an astonishing invention, something that makes people addicted to making themselves miserable.
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Sep 22, 2022 16:15
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Vienna Circlejerk posted:This is good advice for just about anything but now that I think about the timing, giving up Twitter is probably part of what got me reading again too, in addition to just overall being less miserable and angry all the time. It's really an astonishing invention, something that makes people addicted to making themselves miserable. Opening it up every day was like getting punched in the face. I'd actually be feeling pretty decent, then I'd check Twitter for 10 minutes and feel like the world is ending. Cutting it out was the best decision I've made in years for my own health.
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Sep 22, 2022 17:09
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Cool tips! I also have a goal of trying for under 3 hours of net browsing a day, down from 5 on average etc, aiming for lower than that in future. Replacing some net reading with book reading is helpful for sure.
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Sep 22, 2022 22:19
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When I waited tables and would get off work at like 11pm I would go to a bar and read, not on Fridays or Saturdays, but slow nights when it wasn't super loud. Like Sundays or Tuesdays. (Mondays at bars can be kinda rowdy, I think it's because most customers just had their first day back at work after a weekend and they remembered how much they hate their loving job)
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Sep 24, 2022 10:25
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Right on, that sounds cool. Been meaning to try reading in different locations too.
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Sep 24, 2022 10:33
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One way to get started reading is to read together with friends! If you don't have those, we can substitute. https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1577126864631783424?s=20&t=FojNdxuOSM-JLm7ChjLAbw
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Oct 4, 2022 03:47
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every 25 pages stick a stamp bag of heroin in there. you get to do it when you get there. you may not be able to stay awake after though.
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Jan 31, 2023 22:38
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Repeating advice from others, but Audiobooks helped me read more, I listen to them on my commute to work. When I want to read books at home, I need to make sure distractions are put away, I'll keep checking my phone if it's too close. Another thing when getting back into books is to pick something small, and set a timer when you read. Try to read for 20 minutes without checking your phone or computer.
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Feb 1, 2023 01:49
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Well, it's about three years since I started the thread, but I finished a book! It took me about two months to finish, but I enjoyed it. It took me a while to get back into the groove of immersing myself in a story, I'd have to take breaks in between, but I tried to at least read a whole chapter before I put the book down. I also would find myself on occasion reading without actually having payed attention to what was written, like reading on autopilot, and having to go back. The book was A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. I really enjoyed it, and already have the sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, I borrowed from the library. I'm hoping the set date I have to return it will encourage me to read more consistently. I found that, when I'm at home, reading in my back porch really helped. So many public places are so noisy, it's like the world hates silence. Almost every place that you can just sit down and relax has loud music blaring. Thank God for libraries. The particular book I read also kind of challenged my grasp of vocabulary. I can read at a high enough reading level, but I still had to look up some of the words, and that's when the author wasn't making up sci fi words or names, herself. When I was a teenager in the earlier 2000's, before smart phones, I asked my parents for a pocket electronic dictionary for this very purpose. I also finished an audiobook from Audible. I got a free subscription with my airpods, and forgot to cancel it, so I bought a bunch of books with the points I accrued, since I didn't want the money I accidentally spent to be a waste. They're all Star Wars books. Thanks for all the advice! Hopefully I can keep it up and enjoy the stack of unread books I've managed to collect over the years.
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Jun 6, 2023 05:29
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I got back into reading books for pleasure by reading aloud to my wife at bedtime. Having an audience who needs to know what the hell I'm talking about means I need to concentrate on the page to the exclusion of everything else, something I was finding impossible to do when just reading for myself. Even after I retrained myself to just sit down and absorb myself in a book, we never stopped the nightly ritual; it's a nice thing to share and I'd swear reading 3-4 chapters out loud every night has made me a better public speaker.
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Jun 7, 2023 20:10
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