#189 | Special Edition: How to Read More Using 3 Key Strategies

episode SUMMARY:

Douglas Vigliotti shares his insights on how to read more and make it a habit using three key strategies. He emphasizes the importance of following your interests and only reading books that truly engage you. But with a subtle mindset shift and the three methods you’ll learn in this episode, you'll discover how easy it is to accumulate pages, build a reading habit, and explore the world of literature.

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Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week I am going to be doing another special edition episode. It'll be a little bit different than the ones that I did last month. Those were a little bit more expansive. They were just more lengthy in general. This one, I'm going to try to stay true to the normal episode length. With that being said, I do have quite a few things that I want to cover under a very exact topic, which is how to read more. In short, it's the thing that I get asked the most when I have conversations with people in real life about reading. They say, oh, I'd really love to read more, or I've got to read more. And this usually comes off the heels of me saying I'm a big reader, or I have a podcast that is called Books for Men.

(01:02)

Some people know about it, some people don't. This usually ends up getting into the territory of, I want to read more. I really should be reading more. And it's a really interesting thing to me because, for me, when I tell people in conversation that I'm a big reader and then they ask me how many books I read, and I tell them probably 60 to 80 books a year, they say, wow, you are a really big reader. And the thing that I always want to stress is that this is not something that I force myself to do. So reading is just built into the way that I live. It's not a competition to see how many books I can read versus how many books you can read. It's either the way that you live or it's not the way that you live. I mean, I could find people who read similarly to me.

(01:48)

I know people that read more than me. I know a lot of people who read less than me. But with that being said, none of it is an indictment or a proxy on someone's intelligence or anything of that nature. The fact that you want to read more is something that has to come from you internally. You have a reason why you want to read more, and there's got to be something to this idea because I hear it all the time now, is it something that people just want to say they do a lot of, it's weird to me to even think that saying that you read a lot is a signal for anything other than this is just something that I'm interested in. I think that we have this cultural idea of reading that is like, well, if you're reading a lot, then you're better than me or something.

(02:38)

I don't know. It's something very strange like that. And the only reason why I say that is because sometimes when I have a conversation with people, there's this built-in inherent competition that is inescapable really. And it's this weird thing of, well, if you're doing it, I'm doing it too. And it's like, it's okay that you are not reading a lot now or you're not a big reader, or you only read one book a month or one book a quarter. It's all good. You do what you do. I do what I do. And it's not like an indictment on anything. I don't know. It's just this very strange dynamic. And the reality is, is that reading is something that you do for yourself and it's a slow, deliberate thing that we do to learn more about ourselves and learn more about the world around us.

(03:29)

Of course, there are a lot of charlatans out there who will parade around that you should read because it's going to help you earn the next million dollars in your life and you're going to be in the 1% and all these stupid things that don't correlate with reading. Reading is, as I mentioned, a mechanism to learn more about yourself, learn more about the world around you, do so in a very deliberate way. And for all of the reasons that I mentioned in a previous special edition and 10 reasons to read, fiction has countless unseen benefits aside from just entertainment and education. What really put me over the top to create this special edition episode was an email that I got from a listener who asked me this question very, very specifically, I want to read more—how can I do so? How do you read so much?

(04:26)

And it got me thinking that maybe there are more people listening to this podcast that would like to know how to read more. And of course, I replied to the listener and told him specifically how I thought he could read more. And then I thought about two other big things that I've utilized at different points in my life to read more or do anything that I wanted to do more of and make a habit of. Combined, that is three big things that I think you can do to read more. And that's what I wanted to share with you today. So the first one is a slight mindset shift. So I'm really a big believer in this concept that nothing changes unless you change. And you might be saying to yourself, yeah, I know. I get it, dude, we've heard this thing before, but I want you to think about when you go to a sporting event or you go to a concert, is the concert the same for the person in the first row as it is for the person sitting in the nosebleeds?

(05:33)

And I'm not even going to tell you which one is better or worse, but to me logically, even though the actual show, the content is the same, so the band plays the same concert, it feels, looks and sounds much different for both parties. Again, I'm not saying which is better or worse. You can decide that or maybe neither of them is the best option or the worst option. And maybe there are 30,000 other options that might be better or worse, or different. And this is the point that I am trying to make is that everything looks different when you change your view. This to me is one of the major mindset shifts that you can utilize in your life at different points of your life to get different results, change a habit, change the way you're approaching a situation, change your strategy, whatever it is. If you change your view, whatever you are looking at will look different.

(06:35)

Perspective matters, and this is the same concept that makes reading so powerful because you're able to get so many different points of view and perspectives when you are a big reader. But I don't want to digress. The reason why I bring this up is because people who say they want to read more and then we get into that conversation of how many books do you read and you tell them, or I tell them 60 to 80 books a year, they say, my God, that's a lot of books. And it is a lot of books, but that's because your lens is too wide. You're looking at reading through the lens of books when you should be looking at reading through the lens of pages. How many pages am I reading today? And when you look at this through a much more bite-size and achievable metric, you'll quickly see that it's easy to accumulate books.

(07:30)

If you're reading 40 pages a day, let's say. So if you read 20 pages in the morning and 20 pages in the afternoon, that's 40 pages. And if you're reading 40 pages a day, assuming you're reading the average length book, which is around 300 pages, then you are going to be reading somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 books a year because one book a week would be 280 pages. Now again, there's variability. You'll probably find that you'll read more or less. The point is not how many books you're reading or not reading. The point is that all you had to do to read more was change your view. Don't look at it in terms of books, which seems daunting. Look at it in terms of pages, which is something that you can break down on a day-to-day level. And even if you don't want to read 40 pages a day, you only read 10 pages a day, that's probably still going to put you somewhere in the neighborhood of a book a month.

(08:28)

For some people, that's a big uptick in their reading. I would bet that if you try to only read 10 pages a day and you're reading things that you're truly interested in, it's going to be hard to do, meaning you're going to find that you're going to read more of whatever it is than you even intend to if you're picking up things that you're interested in. And this brings me to point number two. I call it the interest principle. If you know me, you've heard me talk about this so many times before, it's something that I live my life by. It's something that has guided me in a multitude of ways I'll find out at the end of my life if it led me off track or if I'm satisfied with it. But it's a principle that I am willing to risk my life on, I guess.

(09:16)

And that is do what interests you. Follow your interest. You will be more engaged, it will be funner. You'll be more apt to do it. I just used the word funner, and that's not a word you see. I enjoy this. So even my excitement enables me to misspeak. I always listen to these episodes and I hear myself say words that aren't really words. Maybe you don't catch 'em, but I do because speaking does that, especially when you're interested in something. As I'm interested in this, you often make mistakes and flubs, and that's okay, because, you'll go back to it tomorrow because you're interested in it. And so I say if you want to read more, you've got to pick up books that interest you, not the ones that you think you should read because somebody somewhere said they were the great books of our generation.

(10:04)

Who cares that The Great Gatsby is great? Yes, I love The Great Gatsby, but if you don't want to read it, don't read it. Pick up that book about hockey or golf or rock and roll or whatever it is that interests you. If you get into the habit of reading your 10, 20, or 40 pages a day, it's going to bridge you to the next thing to read. This may seem like a very simple, simple concept, but I think more people fall into the camp of this is what I should be reading than they're willing to admit. And I believe that that is one of the big things that prevents them from truly engaging in the activity that they're doing. In this case, it's reading, but this concept also applies to pretty much anything that you are learning or want to do more of. And unfortunately because of all the voices, maybe mine included, there are a lot of people telling you a lot of different things.

(11:02)

And we fall to this idea of we should be doing this because we are a man or we're a woman or we're 35 or we're 50, or any of the varying things that we should be doing because we are of a certain age, height, demographic education, the world is telling us that we have to do this specific thing. And to me, the only thing that's worth following is interest. Am I actually interested in this thing? Because if I am, it is going to be the engine that drives everything. And I've seen this and observed it amongst creative greats, athletic greats, and just people living excited, satisfied lives. They pursue their interests because those are the things that propel them to go forward. Reading is no different. Whether you're reading about ponies or Shakespeare, neuroscience or the Renaissance, crime fiction, or anything else. Whatever you're interested in, read that.

(12:08)

It's going to be the bridge to the next thing that you read and you're going to get those pages in willingly. You're going to want to go back to it. And lastly, if you want to read more, there is one thing that you could do that could really up the ante, but I realize that it's not for everybody. This is a strategy that I've utilized at different points in my life to learn things, achieve things, or make things a habit that I wanted to make a habit of. I will say though, it is work, whereas following your interest doesn't feel so much like work. It feels like it's the right thing that I should be doing. This is more of a tool that will keep you accountable and it's a very simple tool and it's known as tracking. So if you want to read more and you really want to up the ante on that and make yourself accountable to it, track how many days you read your 10 pages, your 20 pages, your 40 pages, whatever your actual page number is.

(13:09)

The act of actually having a spreadsheet that you mark off daily, whether you did the thing that you said you are going to do can be a very inspirational and empowering tool. It could also be more work in your life. It's not a lot more work, but it's something that you're making a commitment to. And this is why I say it's not for everybody and I don't want reading to feel like it is something you have to do. This is a strategy for somebody who really wants to read more or up the ante of reading more. You could probably do the first two things, change your view from books to pages. Just read what you're interested in and you'll probably be able to read more. But if you really are having a tough time or you want to up the ante, then track it.

(13:58)

This is something that I've done as I've mentioned in my life, to learn how to play the guitar, to get a handle on my drinking, to do all different kinds of things in my life. I've used tracking to be able to get me to a certain level of proficiency or a certain habit that I wanted to change, and I really do strongly believe in it, but that's not to say that it's easy. At the same time, it's something that I do recommend. But I will caution you that anything you track becomes very, very in focus. Meaning, it could have an adverse effect by putting that much focus on something, you could take the enjoyment out of it. You could create other problems in your life. Now, of course, you won't know this unless you do it, but you should really question and ask yourself, is this something that I really want to change or is this something that I really want to track?

(14:55)

This has obviously been observed and utilized with nutrition, weight loss, and athletic performance for a very long time, but it could work with reading as well. I will end this by saying that you don't have to read more. The amount that you are reading today might just be fine. Like I led this off with, I am not you. You are not me. I am not better than you and you are not better than me. We all do things that we are innately interested in. I read and write books because I have a high level of interest in doing so. In fact, one would say that if I had the choice, as in I wasn't being pulled to doing it, it might make my life easier in other aspects of my life, but I have such a pull that I don't really choose to do it as much as it's just baked into the way that I live.

(15:51)

And this is really the thing that I want for you. And I hope that reading is an important thing for you as you're a listener of this show. And I believe that you probably are a reader and a big reader if you're listening to this. But you don't have to be, I won't look down on you if you're not. We'll have a fun conversation about something entirely different than reading or whatever it is when I see you. Unless it's going to kill you or harm you, then life is too short. Just do what you want to do, follow your interest. I cannot stress that enough. Alright, so that's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I went on longer than I expected to, not shockingly, but I want to do more of these reading-focused special editions. I have a more advanced “read like a writer” special edition than I'm planning to do in the near future, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

(16:44)

These are all things to come with this segment. I'm enjoying doing them, so I hope you're enjoying listening to them. On that note, I'd love for you to do two things. One, share this with a friend or a family member, someone else who you think might enjoy it. And secondly, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on. Doing either of those two things, sharing or subscribing goes a long way in helping more people find the show and supporting the initiative of inspiring more men to read. If you want to connect with me, you can always do so on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti. It's the only social media that I have. And of course, for more information, visit BooksforMen.org where you can get full transcripts for every episode, as well as sign up for the newsletter, which is a monthly roundup of every episode complete with full book and author information, episode summaries, all the best quotes and newsletter only book recommendations. Again, if you're interested in that, all you have to do is head over to BooksforMen.org.