You Don't Hate Books: The Simple Method I Use to Read 100 Books a Year

If you’re stuck never finishing books and don’t get how to make reading an actual enjoyable habit, let me show you. It’s tempting to think that things like reading, or even maths or chess are things that you either get or you don’t, you enjoy or you don’t, but this just isn’t true. Here's how I believe we can train our eyes and our focus to love reading in the natural, instinctual way that people who've done and enjoyed it their whole life do.

To make your life easier:
0:00 Intro
1:40 Training Your Eyes
6:02 Training Your Focus

If you want to stay in touch:

Or leave a comment, I (try to) answer 100% of comments :)

[leenanorms]

I think that tip about pausing a book in the middle of a chapter to make your own cliff hangers just changed my life!

[yukinotdoit]

i actually decided to quit social media and substitute it with reading. 9 books this year and still counting :))))
(hope i stay disciplined lol)

[khalilahd.]

Thinking about your energy level prior to reading a dense book is so important and it’s not something I thought much about until this video. I love how you explained things simplistically. I’m definitely going to keep this in mind when making reading goals in the future 😊

[getthefakepanda]

Another point here: nothing wrong to not finish a book, this is how people continue the habit and keep reading. Not to finish a task but to enjoy the process.

[omareduardo]

This was so helpful, made me realize why I've been struggling with several books right now, some fiction and some non fiction. They all require focus due to how they are written, and I need chill/diffuse mode books right now.

[gyroskop]

I like the approach Elisabeth you are educating the reader on the nuts and bolts of the reading experience, and understand what most readers struggles are.

[danieljohnkirby]

By far my biggest thing is reading two books at once. As noted regarding focus, having the option between two different types of books lets me get in daily reading time without feeling bogged down.

Also being willing to give up on a book helps a lot. I read about 50ish books a year and I think last year I gave up on like three or four books. Not a huge number, but if I let myself get bogged down I might never keep up the pace.

[ShermanKyle]

Very glad to have found your channel Elizabeth; you’re the reading coach I needed to get back into re habituating reading.

[matthewbrooks]

A little piece of advice for those with reading difficulties like myself listening to books is a good option for story driven books but what helps me the most is listening to the audiobook whilst I read the book, it gives me the motivation to keep going and also helps with processing the text quicker and helps keep the flow! Hope this helps! 💕

[henrikr.]

I'm reading "Thinking, Fast and Slow" at the moment and wondered why it is so hard to get through :D gonna try these approaches. thanks a lot

[ankitaraj]

I have been doing this for years now. My peers ask me how I am reading 3 to 4 books at once and this is exactly the reason why. If I have energy I like to dive in deeper concepts and if I don't I would love to read fiction which can be a great way to unwind when you have low energy after a long day. Thank you for putting this out there !

[sandrajevtic]

You make a lot of good points here. The energy/focus mismatch never occurred to me, it makes sense now, because there are tons of good books I just DNFed because the timing wasn't right.

[lina]

I really want to make reading habitual. Ive gone thru a lot recently and im healing from it howevrr my focus is so shattered. You gave us such a great framework for making it more easy. Thank you Elizabeth.

[aishwaryadaniel]

I must agree that I found this video at the right time! As you said in the intro, I've paused reading Thinking fast and Slow. I bought that book out of sheer love towards the concept but could not get nmon with it. Meanwhile I had finished reading other books and I was wondering why it is so hard to start reading that book again. So glad you shared this video. Absolutely loved it!!

[mathew]

Youre my favorite youtuber. I never feel like youre trying to dictate or state that you have the answers. I fell into a weird place awhile ago and your advice helps me sort out some of my perfectionist issues if i can claim them to be that lol anyw ays thank you for all the unique efforts 🙏

[faenights]

unlike other productivity creators, your tips are so neurodivergent friendly; they are really helpful 💌

[batsteve]

I like the idea of adapting the book you’re reading to your current state of focus. I recently had 2 books on the go at the same time, Atomic Habits & Pandora by Susan-Stokes Chapman. I was able to dip in and out of both depending on how I was feeling, but didn’t automatically notice that i was actually doing it, so this video explained the concept very well.

On a side note, both are definitely worth reading! Pandora is a great fiction book and definitely worth getting.

[eneidacanev]

Wow! This was such a clever understanding of why/how we get through books. This tip will increase my book consumption this year and I’m excited to implement!

[elginubalde]

Great. Can be used for learners from Junior High School to Medicine to explain why complex reading materials be approached based on energy and focus. I ' LL use this in MENTORING CLASS in pre-med and Medicine proper.😊

[alexg]

I’ve read about 100 books or more and it really has a lot to do with putting the information learned to use. You can read 1 book, put what you learned into action and do better then a person that reads 100 books that didn’t put what he/she learned into action.