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EIGHT<br />
STEPS TO ACHIEVE<br />
YOUR READING GOALS<br />
PRATIKSHYA MISHRA<br />
Many of us tend to register for reading challenges around<br />
the year, but few reach the goal by the year-end. So here are few<br />
pointers to help you achieve your bookish goals.<br />
Reading habits vary from person to person. Someone likes<br />
to read before going to bed while someone prefers reading the first<br />
thing in the morning. Someone reads fast, someone reads slowly<br />
taking his own sweet time. Someone prefers to listen to a novel<br />
being read aloud to him, rather than reading it himself. There are<br />
various reading challenges all over the internet- the Goodreads, Epicreads-<br />
varying on the basis of the number of books you are committing<br />
to read in a year, or the genre of books, or even color-coded<br />
challenges based on the book covers. Read 101 Classics challenge,<br />
LGBT books, Banned Books, Poetry Books, translated books, etc.<br />
Weird ones, challenging and interesting ones. Here are a few steps<br />
on how you can achieve your reading goals if you tend to lag behind.<br />
1. Choose a time-slot<br />
You need to be dedicated to reading every day. Choosing<br />
a particular time of the day to read can help a lot. It can be while<br />
traveling to or from your work or institute, in the morning hours, during<br />
lunch hours, tea breaks, evening strolls, park visits, or late night<br />
before going to bed. Since I am essentially a morning person, I love<br />
to start my day with reading. Leverage weekends, rainy days, and off<br />
days.<br />
2. Set Daily Reading Goals<br />
It can be 50 pages a day or minimum 5 pages a day, but<br />
make sure to set a daily reading goal and stick to it. Having a good<br />
bookmark handy works wonders. I am a bookmarks frenzy person,<br />
I use anything and everything pretty looking as a bookmark, be it<br />
strips of craft paper, clothes tag, a thin bracelet, a crochet, anything<br />
woolen, newspaper cutouts, photographs, etc. I commit to reading<br />
at least 5 pages a day, the more the merrier.<br />
3. Listen to audiobooks<br />
Sometimes it does happen that we are neck deep in official<br />
works and other routines, then we don’t have energy left to hold<br />
a book. That is the time having an audiobook handy on your smartphone<br />
and a good quality earphone helps. You can immerse yourself<br />
in the world of stories without having to strain your eyes, just<br />
make sure that you like the reader’s narration. These days classic<br />
audiobooks are easily available on Youtube, apps and other public<br />
libraries- Librivox, etc. If you are into short stories, 60 dB- Season<br />
of Stories- is a very good option. It has episode wise narratives, offered<br />
in chunks for the busy readers. I have listened to ‘Eat, Pray<br />
and Love’, ‘My Cousin Rachael’ and a few short stories by Jhumpa<br />
Lahiri and Haruki Murakami in recent times.<br />
4. Choose your genres and titles and mode of reading well<br />
If you are a regular reader, you must be aware of your<br />
own tastes and preferences. Consider a book after going through<br />
ratings, reviews, author details, and author interviews. While experimenting<br />
is great, try to make sure it’s worth your time and money.<br />
You can borrow books from a local library or a friend, if you are not<br />
sure whether you’d like it, instead of buying and hoarding bookspiling<br />
up your cupboard without actually reading it. Goodreads,<br />
Amazon etc offer recommendations for you to check out related<br />
works, those are worth a browse through. Modes of reading can be<br />
paperback, Kindle, ebooks, or even a weekly email subscription.<br />
5. Have your own reading tribe<br />
A reading group helps keep your interest in and around<br />
books. It can be online or offline, but have a habit of connecting<br />
with your tribe, and share your recent reading experiences while<br />
they share theirs. I personally love discussing books, online and<br />
offline, so a group who pays attention to my rants, and provides<br />
meaningful recommendations hugely helps. A community keeps<br />
you updated on the recent book release, book signings, and another<br />
book buzz. There are too many good books out there and too<br />
little time, so your tribe helps you come across your kind of books.<br />
It is through such an online Facebook group that I discovered my<br />
love for memoirs and travelogues, from reading just romantic YA<br />
novels, thrillers, mysteries, and mythologies. Subscribe the right<br />
sites, blogs, pages and sign up to join the active groups.<br />
6. Review the book you read<br />
28 Ink Drift Magazine<br />
www.inkdrift.com
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