{"id":36,"date":"2025-01-26T18:24:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T18:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:36:44","slug":"my-approach-to-reading-and-how-its-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"My Approach to Reading: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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How My Reading Habits Have Changed: Letting Go of Reading Rules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, when my boys were still very little and very demanding, I set a goal to read 12 books in a year. To keep myself balanced, I rotated between fun\/fiction books with self-help\/growth books. The \u201crule\u201d I made for myself was simple: I couldn\u2019t start the next fun read until I finished a self-help book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? I flew through my fun, fiction choices, but slowed significantly when I got to the self-help books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Problem With My Old Reading Rules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t as if the self-help books weren\u2019t good \u2013 they were! Many offered valuable insight on how to have a deeper relationship with Jesus, be a better wife and mom, manage money better, have deeper friendships, run more efficiently, etc. But these just weren\u2019t as engaging as my fiction reads. A few of were just plain hard to get into. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I had set this goal and made the rules, I forced myself to stick to them. And because I was also a book finisher\u2014meaning if I started a book, I had to finish it\u2014I ended up enjoying reading less that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The New Way I Approach Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last several years, my reading habits have changed. I still set yearly goals, but I approach books differently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. I don\u2019t force myself to finish every book.<\/strong>
If I start a book and it bores me, offends me, or just doesn\u2019t click, I put it down. Life is too short to read crappy books!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. I sometimes read two books at once.<\/strong>
Now I\u2019ll read a fun\/fiction book alongside a self-help book. I usually aim to read a chapter of the self-help book first, then enjoy as much fiction as I want. This way, I make progress through both while still keeping reading enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why Changing Reading Habits Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you\u2019re like me and you have arbitrary rules for your reading life. If those rules aren\u2019t serving you, it’s OK to let them go. Your reading habits can (and should) change over time depending on your season of life, your interests, and your goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because at the end of the day, reading should bring joy and growth\u2014not stress. And like I said earlier, life is just too short to waste time reading crappy books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you? How have your reading habits changed? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2b50 Come hang out with me for daily bookish chats on Facebook<\/a> or Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How My Reading Habits Have Changed: Letting Go of Reading Rules Several years ago, when my boys were still very little and very demanding, I set a goal to read 12 books in a year. To keep myself balanced, I rotated between fun\/fiction books with self-help\/growth books. The \u201crule\u201d I made for myself was simple: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[232,16,17,231],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading-goals","tag-book-finisher","tag-reading-approach","tag-reading-goals","tag-reading-habits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}