How I read a book a week
This year my aim is to read 52 books in 2023.
You can read more about my 2023 reading list here (and get my free Notion reading template as well).
Here are three tips for how I am getting through a book a week.
1. I listen to audiobooks at 1.8x speed
For most of the books on my list I am listening to these on audible, rather than ‘reading’ them in the traditional sense. I normally use my 5.5km (1 hour walk) as my ‘reading’ time each day.
My natural pace of reading in a traditional sense is much slower than what I am able to consume when I am being read to.
So I have recently been experimenting with increasing the listening speed of my audiobooks. I have always listened to audiobooks at 1.3x speed in the past as my brain moves quickly and so that pace has always worked well for me.
But more recently I have been listening at 1.8x speed as I can obviously get through more books this way.
I’ve found increasing my listening speed does take some adjustment and I’ve experimented with going up to as fast as 2x speed but found that it was a little too fast to be able to process any of the content well enough. So for the moment I’m finding that 1.8x speed is a good pace for me to be able to still take in the information I am listening to.
I'm sure if you're not used to it you'll think the speed sounds super hectic at first.
But you do get used to it so start slowly and give it a try!
2. I use the Kindle or eBook app to highlight quotes
If I have listened to a book (via method above) but I particularly enjoyed it or thought there were quotes or passages that I would like to make use of and record for future reference then I will download the book to my Kindle and I will use the highlight feature to then capture the passages and quotes I want to remember.
I find that re-reading books I’ve listened to on my Kindle is a really good way of getting more out of the book as well.
I will then incorporate these highlighted quotes into my book library system in Notion. That way I can keep track of what I'm learning and make use of it when I need it in the future.
3. I don’t feel like I have to finish every book I start
This is the other way I'm getting through lots of books at the moment.
I used to have this feeling that I had to finish every book I started, even if I was finding it boring or hard to get through.
But for my 52 books in 2023 project I've decided that life is too short to read books I’m not enjoying so if I don’t like it then I will put it to the side and start the next one on my list.
So far I’ve only done that for one of the books on my list this year (which you can keep track of here if you’re interested).
So my recommendation is to not waste your time on books that aren't resonating with you. I give you permission to abandon books that aren’t resonating with you! :)
Reading is one of the ways that I learn so much about business, productivity and all the other things I'm interested in and these hacks above have been helping me consume lots of interesting information lately.
I hope some of the tips help you as well.
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
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