I have to read a lot as I am doing two degrees and a master’s thesis. I need to read even more as my time in Grad School is hitting halfway point. I decided for this month to focus on reading at least 20 pages a day.
After two weeks, I have surpassed the 20 pages a day and have done much more. Part of the reaching the goal is to have books that interest you. Sometimes many books. Besides the textbooks for which I have a daily goal, I also have regular books I read. They keep me off twitter and facebook and entertain me on long trips to school. One book I read is No Dream is Too High. Another was Nudge. Making progress doesn’t feel as bad when it is something that you like.
Another thing to mention is on one sleepless night I thought: how fast am I reading? I read about 300 wpm. That’s good but not good enough, people with my education usually read 500 or more! So I looked up some apps. Most cost money and I found one that is free and seems to be decent. It’s called SpeedReading. I just read a passage faster and faster. I’ve read a speed reading book before so I know techniques, so this is about practice. If you don’t know techniques, I recommend making a speed reading book as a book on your 20 page per day challenge.
After four weeks, I read two books and nearly 1000 pages. I was able to do all of my reading for my MBA program and keep up with work. I also increased my reading speed to almost 450 wpm. It’s a bit short of the goal but still pretty good.
So in the end, pretty good challenge, not hard to keep up with so long as you keep track of your reading, keep reading interesting material (I read a biography of Leonardo DaVinci by Sigmund Freud and No Dream Is Too High by Buzz Aldrin) and if you throw in a reading speed test, you’ll have even more fun!
Of course, reading didn’t make my load lighter. I have a lot of work to do by end of the year. So my next month will be to cut out the unnecessary things to keep on top of studies and work. Which means, 30 days of no social media returns! This is kind of cheating since Instagram account being hacked and sold on dark web plus no access to my facebook due to forgotten password has me already almost social media free, but now I will even give up Twitter!!!!
See you in a month!
My thirty days record keeping. As you can see, not all days I read and not all days I read a lot. But progress is not made with perfection, but with not giving up and one page at a time.
not-rushin 