Why You Don’t Like to Read: My Simple Process for Finding Better Books

I set a personal goal to read 30 books in 2018.

It was an ambitious target for someone who didn’t consider himself much of a “reader”. But on December 28, I finished This is Marketing by Seth Godin and checked off book #31.

I developed a passion for reading more during my first job out of college. Living alone in a small apartment in Ohio without cable TV, Playstation, or a Netflix account, left me few options for entertainment. Reading on my deck overlooking the parking lot was how I chose to spend many summer evenings.

I read books like So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, and Essentialism: The Discipline Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.

With each new book I read, I was motivated to find another. Suddenly, reading served a purpose beyond killing time at the beach or studying for an exam. I had found a genre of books that got me thinking in new ways and motivated to try new things.

Reading has become second nature to me now, and I’m on track to read just as many books in 2019 as I did the year before.

How could a book compete?

Even as I’ve grown to find so much value and inspiration from the books I read, I’m always disappointed when I hear from my friends, or other people that I meet, that they don’t enjoy reading.

It’s not hard for me to understand their sentiments. There are so many other forms of entertainment jockeying for our time and attention.

I mean, how attractive is reading really when you have Game of Thrones to watch, Instagram stories to scroll, and a million other ways to entertain yourself in the palm of your hand?

On the surface, it would seem that words on paper could never compete with your choice of reruns like Family Guy, Workaholics, or Nathan for You (some of my personal favorites) on Hulu.

However, I think a big reason why people don’t find as much satisfaction in reading as they could is because they’re simply not reading good books.

Buy better dog treats

I’m reminded of when, as a kid, I accompanied my Mom to obedience school with our new puppy.

At one point during the class, one of the other dog owners asked the instructor why their Dachshund refused to pay him any attention. “My dog doesn’t listen, even when I wave a milk biscuit under his nose,” he lamented in frustration.

“Why don’t you try buying better treats?” came the teacher’s response.

A dog learns how to sit and stay pretty quick when the reward is savory, meaty Beggin’ Bacon Strips.

A simple process for reading better books

All of this brings us to the purpose of this post, which is to help you find books that get you excited about reading again.

Not every book I sit down to read is a winner. In fact, one of the most important disciplines I’ve had to learn was to abandon a book mid-way through that didn’t capture my interest.

But the vast majority of the books I read are easy for me, not because I’m a great reader, but because I have a simple process for finding great books.

It’s not a complicated formula. In fact, it can be summarized in three points:

1. Build a personal reading list
2. Only add books recommended by people you trust
3. Choose the book that excites you the most

Step 1: build a personal reading list

Personal is the key word here.

Don’t rely on the NY Times, Amazon, or Oprah to curate a list of books for you.

The problem I find with reading off these lists is that they require no upfront planning or investment on your part. I concede that the books themselves are probably pretty good. After all, they wouldn’t be on the list if a lot of people didn’t enjoy them.

But I don’t think you’ll get as much pleasure out of reading if you choose your books after an offhand Google search.

When the time comes to choose reading a chapter of your new book or watching another rerun of The Office, I think you’ll find greater motivation to pick the book if it’s one that you’ve picked out yourself.

From my experience, the small act of maintaining a personal reading list has given me an extra ounce of discipline to read the books on it. It’s as if once I write it down on the list that I have a small obligation to eventually read it.

It’s not a big idea, but I definitely believe that building your own reading list can go a long way towards fueling your habit to read more.

Step 2: Only add books that come recommended from people that you trust

Books make their way onto my list only when they’re recommended to me by people I know and trust.

The reason for this is simple. If someone I trust has invested the time to read the book, and after doing so thought it was good enough to recommend, then it’s probably worth considering.

I get most of my book recommendations through podcasts and from asking new people that I meet.

Podcasts

I was a little bit surprised to realize that the largest source of recommendations on my book list had come from the podcasts I listen to.

Tim Ferriss and Craig Groeschel are my top two sources, specifically.

Both of these podcasts, and others like them, often interview authors and thought leaders to discuss (and promote) their work. In this case, I may not know the Tim or Craig personally, but they have earned my trust through the quality work that they do over time.

So when they use their platform to promote a specific book, I usually take note.

Ask people you meet

My second channel for finding good books has been by asking the simple question, “What books have you read recently that you would recommend?”

Asking this question is a habit I developed during the first 3 years that I worked for a large manufacturing company. Due to the nature of a company program that I participated in, I often had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with members of the executive leadership team.

At each meeting, I made a point at the end to ask them for a book recommendation. Not only did it add a title or two to my list, but it gave me a good reason to reach out to them again in the future when I had finished reading it to thank them for the suggestion.

Try asking the next person you meet for a good book recommendation. The best leaders will be quick to give at least one or two. And it’s a fantastic way to start an interesting conversation, learn more about the other person, and quickly grow your reading list at the same time.

Step 3: Choose the book that excites you the most

Building your personal reading list is a never ending process. Don’t be afraid to let the list get really long as you collect a preemptive library of books you intend to read someday.

But at some point you will need to choose which one to read next. And for that choice my advice is simple: Choose the book that excites you the most.

That means right now. Today. What sounds interesting at this moment in time?

Sometimes I pick a book off my list because I know it will teach me something that is immediately useful.

Two years ago, when I still worked as process engineer, I devoured Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation in a week because I needed to learn how to improve a value stream.

Other times I’ve picked books off my list just because the topic sounded interesting.

Getting to Yes, Getting Past No, and Dealmaking are three books on negotiating that I read back-to-back in the same month. Now I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever been in a position where I’ve used anything I learned in any of those books, but the psychology and theory behind negotiating was just interesting to me at that time.

The bottom line: Don’t restrict yourself to reading the books on your list in any order other than what excites you the most.

That might mean you should read the last book you added to your list, and ignore the 40 others that have been on your list for over a year.

It doesn’t matter.

The only thing that does is finding the next source of inspiration or idea worth sharing.

What books have you read recently that you would recommend? How do you find books to read that interest you?