1 - "Bookend" the day. Reading first thing in the morning (especially before going online in any fashion) and then reading at night before sleep.
2 - Decide how long you'll read for, set a timer, and read until it beeps. Even if you're getting distracted and feeling the pull to go do something else, looking at the timer and knowing you've got just a few more minutes can help you resist that pull.
When you get used to that you'll also feel less of those little distracting thoughts. You train your mind that it's reading time, and all the things will still be there waiting for you when the timer goes off.
3 - Have multiple books going at once, ideally different genres and topics. I recently started this and it's been fantastic. If you encounter resistance reading something because you're just not in the right mental space, there's no need to force it. Just pop over to another book which feels smoother in that moment.
Also if your day is busy like you mentioned, some books are more suitable for short sessions than others, so it helps to have at least one of those on hand. If you have 5 or 10 minutes to spare you can more easily pop in and out of a fiction book than something like, "Introduction to General Systems Thinking." Doesn't have to be fiction though, some books just lend themselves better to short breaks throughout the day.
4 - Highlighting and rereading. I want to digest the material and maybe hold it up for scrutiny - to decide how, why, if and where it fits in to the knowledge and models in my head. But I don't want to get bogged down every other page in analysis or detailed note taking.
When I find a passage that deserves some attention, I'll just highlight it or take a quick shorthand note and keep moving. Because I've built the habit of circling back to these highlights and doing a deeper read later, I trust that I can safely move on.
1 - "Bookend" the day. Reading first thing in the morning (especially before going online in any fashion) and then reading at night before sleep.
2 - Decide how long you'll read for, set a timer, and read until it beeps. Even if you're getting distracted and feeling the pull to go do something else, looking at the timer and knowing you've got just a few more minutes can help you resist that pull.
When you get used to that you'll also feel less of those little distracting thoughts. You train your mind that it's reading time, and all the things will still be there waiting for you when the timer goes off.
3 - Have multiple books going at once, ideally different genres and topics. I recently started this and it's been fantastic. If you encounter resistance reading something because you're just not in the right mental space, there's no need to force it. Just pop over to another book which feels smoother in that moment.
Also if your day is busy like you mentioned, some books are more suitable for short sessions than others, so it helps to have at least one of those on hand. If you have 5 or 10 minutes to spare you can more easily pop in and out of a fiction book than something like, "Introduction to General Systems Thinking." Doesn't have to be fiction though, some books just lend themselves better to short breaks throughout the day.
4 - Highlighting and rereading. I want to digest the material and maybe hold it up for scrutiny - to decide how, why, if and where it fits in to the knowledge and models in my head. But I don't want to get bogged down every other page in analysis or detailed note taking.
When I find a passage that deserves some attention, I'll just highlight it or take a quick shorthand note and keep moving. Because I've built the habit of circling back to these highlights and doing a deeper read later, I trust that I can safely move on.