How to Read Books with a Time Limit

So you've been assigned a book for school. And let's say this book was assigned months and months ago and you decided that it would be a SPLENDID idea to leave it until last minute. Whether you have 1 day or 1 week I have some tips to successfully read that gosh-darn book.


1. JUST READ IT DAMN IT

If you have 1 day left to read that book CRAM ALL OF IT IN RIGHT NOW. Don't read this post, just go over to your book and start reading it! However, make sure you pay close attention to the book and avoid daydreaming and stressing about something else. If you start daydreaming and lose track of a sentence, QUICKLY GO BACK AND RE-READ IT.

Also, keep your phone / laptop / typewriter / siblings AWAY! You need to concentrate!! Make sure wherever you are reading your book you are in a quiet environment. Think about setting rewards after reaching 5 chapters and take short breaks if you feel like it's too intense. BUT DON'T GET TOO SIDETRACKED ON YOUR BREAKS!

2. CALCULATE HOW LONG IT'LL TAKE

On average, it takes me 10mins to finish 10 pages so that's 1 minute per page (depends on the book I'm reading). So if you need to cram that book in but you have no idea how long it'll take time yourself reading 10 pages and times it by how many pages you have left. EXAMPLE:

10 pages = 10mins

200 pages left = 200mins (3.3hrs)

3. ADD SOME PRESSURE TO YOURSELF

Now I'm not telling you to stress yourself out of your shoes but personally a good way I get work done efficiently is by setting several timers. So say I had 3.3hrs left of the book but I wanted to get it done quicker I'd set 30min timers.
Given that not all the pages in the book will be filled top to the bottom it may take quicker to finish the book. Plus the timers will encourage you to finish it in a record time! If you prefer, you could set a stopwatch and add a lap whenever you reach 1/4 of the way. So if you had 200 pages left, whenever you reach another 50 pages ADD A LAP!

4. GET INTO THE STORY

I find that when the story gets really interesting I skim through the pages like a wizard! (talk to anyone who's read 'The Da Vinci Code', I swear that book is so readable!). But lets be honest, the book you're reading may not be the most interesting one in the world so the trick is to pretend!

Pretend that you're interested in the story and you might actually get into the story. Or keep thinking about the possibility of the story becoming more interesting towards the end because honestly, it is so satisfying to read the very last page.

5. TAKE IT DAY-BY-DAY

An amazing tip I discovered myself is to get a whiteboard or sheet of paper. Write down:

DATE: 1/1/15
BOOK: 'A Game of Thrones'
READ UNTIL: Chapter 10

DATE: 2/1/15
BOOK: 'A Game of Thrones'
READ UNTIL: Chapter 20

This may not seem like much but it works wonders. By taking it day-by-day you have to read less over a few days or weeks instead of cramming it all in one day. This works best if you have more than 1 book because it ensures that you read all the books equally.

You can also alter it so that you read more of one book in one day and the next you read more of the other. Who knows, if the book is interesting enough you can keep reading it and pass your goal!

This tip worked wonders when I had to read 4 books at one time, I'm not sure what it is but it just works! I even missed some days but still wanted to catch up. I think it was because my white-board was staring into my soul and reminding me to finish the God-damned books.

6. JUST READ A SUMMARY

Worst case scenario, just head online and find a book summary, the Internet is filled with them! The websites listed below are extremely helpful:

- http://www.shmoop.com/

- http://www.sparknotes.com/

- https://www.cliffsnotes.com/

These websites have worked wonders in not only helping me with uncompleted reading tasks, but also adding extensive knowledge in regards to a particular book. I honestly don't know what I would've done without these websites!


I hope that I've helped some of you out there who may have some trouble with reading within a time limit. If you've made it to the end of this post then you have nothing to worry about! As a reward, you get a virtual high-five.

*high-five*

- A.S -