In this article, let’s take a look at how you can stop purchasing books and start reading them.
This is the most comprehensive article you can find online on this topic so I would recommend you to bookmark and save the article on your device and also share it with your friends so without further ado let’s dive right in.
How to stop buying books and start reading them?
To summarise in brief words, firstly I recommend you to either cancel your credit card or disable your online e-commerce app like Amazon where you purchase your favourite books online and you can consider taking subscription of Kindle or any other online ebook platform
so that you can save money by purchasing a physical copy and you can start building the habit of reading everyday by reading at least two pages in a book and create smart goals and also reward yourself when you achieve your goals and this is how you can slowly but steadily stop buying books and start reading them.
Now let’s take a look at 10 best strategies you can use on how you can stop the habit of buying books and start reading them instantly.
1. Buy ebooks, to replace your addiction to buying books
The first and foremost thing you need to do is to get a subscription to online ebook platforms like Kindle and kitaboo, and You should realize that many people have the addiction to purchasing books quite regularly even if they don’t read them Just like how shopping can be an addiction for many people similarily purchasing books is also a type of addiction.
There are a bunch of ways you can use to stop your addiction of shopping and the best way is to identify the trigger moment which means at what moment of time and circumstance when you think of purchasing a new book and when you get these thoughts of buying a new book then
you should immediately download any ebook on your mobile phone and start reading them or you should try to change your thinking and do some other activity as an alternate action for your thoughts & your aim is to keep your mind distracted from thoughts of buying book.
Slowly over a period of time after replacing your action of purchasing a book to downloading an ebook will reduce your addiction.
It is very important to know that ebook platforms offer you access to thousands of books in different genres and languages and authors in very affordable price as compared to physical books so replacing your addiction of purchasing physical book to ebook is a good way because You will continue your habit of reading books without much expenditure.
2. Disable your e-commerce apps
another thing you can do is whenever you get your thoughts of purchasing any new book then you should try to distract yourself by opening any online game application or doing some work or going for some work instead of scrolling for new books on your e-commerce platform like Amazon or Flipkart and making an order of book.
and you should try to disable your e-commerce apps or at least hide them from your home screen of your mobile so you won’t access or open it easily.
This is an important step you need to take for those people who regularly order physical books online on e-commerce platforms and they want to stop buying new books further.
3. slowly build the habit of reading books with SMART technique
Now comes the technique of building the habit of reading books and let me tell you reading is an important habit everyone should develop because it not only helps you gain knowledge but also is a good exercise for your brain and just like other habits building habit of reading also takes a lot of time and consistency.
The best way you can build any habit not just reading is by using smart goals which is, specific measurable attainable relevant and time-bounded goals.
For example if you have a book of 200 pages long and you want to build the habit of reading starting with that book then I would recommend you to start with reading at least three pages of book every day by
spending 30 minutes reading either morning or evening with a cup of tea or coffee depending upon your interest.
It is very important that you keep your goals specific and measurable and also keep a deadline so that you can achieve your goal before a particular time and always try to reward yourself with something which makes you happy like any treat or any food entertainment or
any other option after achieving your goals so that you can feel happy of achieving your goal and train your mind to focus on achieving goals and release the dopamine in your brain which makes you happy.
And slowly over a period of time you can increase your target from reading three pages to five pages and 10 pages every day and spending 30 minutes to 1 hour or 2 hours every day and this is how you can slowly build the habit of reading book and according to many studies, habits take almost 70 days to build for any average person so building a habit of reading cannot happen overnight but you should be persistent with it
4. Know that you can’t purchase every book and understand the importance of money, always keep a record of your expenses
Another important thing you need to keep in mind is you cannot purchase all the books you want if you have the habit of constantly purchasing them and you should realise the importance of money and savings, stop Spending money in purchasing books which is not
really a good investment at all because most of the people who buy & read books, read any book not more than 1 time and most people do not even touch the book that they have bought earlier because of no time, patience, interest of reading book but they buy it due to compulsion feeling so they have huge book backlogs to cover and
for example if you bought some book then it is very unlikely that you will read the book more than a couple of times unless the book is very excellent and of great knowledge and helpfulness most people would like to read new books every time so buying books just to read it once
or twice is not a good investment of money and you should probably either save your money or invest it in stock market instead of spending that money of purchasing three or four books every month and also buying many books can take a lot of space on your desk.
It is important to know that millions of people have lost their job and employment due to covid pandemic across the world and this is why saving money is very important because you do not know what will happen in future so you savings and investments can help you in future emergency situations but you might argue that buying books is not a big expense but in my opinion
every single penny matters when it comes to saving but I am not against reading books but I am against purchasing physical books instead you can get subscription of Kindle and get access to thousands of books online in extremely affordable price.
- You can read whether you should buy books or read books online in detail here.
If you really have a compulsion of reading physical paper books then you can either get the subscription of library or you can purchase second hand books which are cheaper in price or you can lend the book from your friend as well so that you can save your money and
always try to be accountable of your daily expenses In an Excel sheet so that you know where you are spending money and where you can reduce expenses and increase savings which can help you in future situations.
5. Always read reviews, comments before purchasing books
Another thing you should keep in mind is you should always try to read the reviews and comments of the books, look at the credibility of the author of the book online, before purchasing the books on e-commerce platforms like Amazon so that you will know what you should be
expecting from that book and whether it is worth reading or not because many people actually regret purchasing many books online as they will purchase due to compulsion without knowing what the book is about or whether it is worth it or not because there are many bad books as much as good books online so it is very important to select right books for buying.
And This technique will also save you a lot of money and time instead of purchasing bad books and regretting it later.
6. stop moving in the direction of the bookstore
I see many people purchase books from physical book stores when they are coming back to home from office or just casually going for a walk alone or with family and slowly this becomes a habit for many people & eventually addiction of buying books and
what you can do is instead you can change your path where there is no bookstore in your path to home or walk and slowly distracting your mind and doing some other activity whenever you get act thought of purchasing a book can replace your addiction of buying books and this is how you can slowly stop yourself from buying books and start reading them.
7. Read one book at a time and create notes of it in a separate book
The last tip is You should always try to read one book at a time instead of juggling between multiple books and whenever you are reading any book always try to highlight important sentences in the ebook or physical book and also create notes of the book in a separate notebook,
always try to implement whatever you learn from the book in your real life for example you can learn communication and how you can improve your relationships with others by reading books like how to make friends and influence people which is written by Dale Carnegie,
You can practically implement the teachings of the book in real-life conversations with your friends and family members because Just getting knowledge from reading books cannot change your life but implementing the knowledge in your real-life can change your life.
And whenever somebody recommends you to read any book then you can write down that recommendation of the book in a notebook as books to read list so that you can know what book you should read next and you can download the ebook instead of purchasing the physical copy to save some money.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the things you need to know about how to stop buying books and start reading them.
Do comment down what are your thoughts about the books and the book-buying ban in the comments section below.
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