How to Double Your Reading Time

“I don’t have time to read.”

That mantra is taken as gospel by anyone who works for a living or is raising a family. Even pastors and teachers, legendary book consumers, complain that they seldom read as much as they’d like to. The average person spends only 108 hours a year reading books compared to 1,698 watching television.

Here are five strategies increasing your diet of words without re-ordering your life.

Read Audio Books

Nobody drives in silence, and it seems every jogger owns an MP3 player. We fill the space in our commuting, exercise, and down time with music, proving that we have time to consume words—if not to read them.

And with the growing availability of books and Bibles in audio form—871 million units sold last year alone—we have more options than ever for "reading" good books.

Start using audio books, and your reading intake will probably triple.

Read at Lunch

Reading for 30 minutes a day on your lunch break would more than double the amount of time the average person spends reading each year. Adopt this strategy, and you'll read about 10 more books each year.

Read on the Clock

If you're in management, staying informed is part of your job. While you might not get away with reading a suspense novel at your desk, a business book is fair game. Add reading to your annual goals and put it on your to-do list.

Join a Discussion Group

Give yourself a reason to read by joining a book club or discussion group. The accountability factor will boost your reading time. Deadlines really work.

Turn off the Tube

The average person spends 15.7 more hours watching television than reading. Give up just one show per week in order to read, and you'll more than double your reading intake.

Of course, all of this assumes that you want to read more than you do. If that's not the case, then no strategy will be effective. Reading is both a leisure activity and a discipline that must be practiced. You must choose to read.

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