Have you ever taken the time to think about your reading habits? Whether you’re new to reading or have been a longtime reader, it’s likely you have formed and are forming lots of reading habits in your life—both good and bad. But have you ever wondered what are good reading habits and what are bad reading habits?
We’ve talked before about the good reading habits to cultivate, but today we’re going to talk about the bad reading habits so you can be aware of what to avoid. So let’s take a look at these bad reading habits and how to overcome them so you can start living your best reading life!
What are Bad Reading Habits?
Reading habits can be good or bad, depending on the effect they have on us and on our reading. The small decisions you make and actions you take regarding reading in your every day life add up, and can either be a positive contribution to your reading life or can hold you back.
If the reading habits you currently have are bad reading habits, this means they’re likely causing issues that decrease your reading comprehension, focus, retention of information, enjoyment of reading, or any other number of factors affecting your reading.
And then this can become a vicious cycle—you want to be interested in reading, so you try to start reading, but then your bad reading habits leave you frustrated with reading, so then you don’t want to read, but then you feel guilty because you want to be a bookworm…and the cycle goes on and on if we don’t break it.
If you’re not focusing on making good reading habits a priority, then you might be accidentally creating bad reading habits. And we don’t want that to happen! We want you to enjoy reading books and enjoy being a bookworm, not get stuck in unhealthy reading habits that will bring you down. So check out these bad reading habits to discover if you’re unknowingly engaging in bad habits that will affect your reading!
13 Bad Reading Habits to Avoid
So what are the bad reading habits you need to avoid? There are several poor reading habits that can hinder anyone, but there are also several that will be personalized to your specific needs and temperament. To figure out which bad habits could be affecting you, check out these habits that might be contributing to being bad at reading!
1. Having A Negative Mindset About Reading
One of the most foundational bad reading habits to avoid is having a negative mindset about reading. Unfortunately, this is also one of the most common bad reading habits as well.
Many of us can consciously or subconsciously bring bad attitudes into our reading lives. Sometimes this can look like the stories we tell ourselves about our reading ability—such as, “I’ve never been good at reading,” “I hate reading,” “I’ll never be as good at reading as _____,” “This book is too long. I’ll never finish it,” etc. There are so many negative stories we can tell ourselves about our own abilities and we can get discouraged by this.
Additionally, some of us might be bringing negative mindsets into reading because of our past experience with reading. Maybe you were forced to read in school and struggled with that. Maybe being forced to read in the past has made you look at reading as a drudgery.
No matter what your background is or what story you’re telling yourself about your reading ability, bringing a negative attitude into your reading life is a bad habit you need to kick.
Instead of focusing on your shortcomings, try celebrating your wins no matter how small they are. Maybe you read a few pages every day this week—wow, you’re so consistent with reading! Maybe you just finished a book—wow, look at you completing a whole book! Celebrating the good moments in your reading journey (no matter how small they seem to be to you) can help keep you feeling positive and moving toward a better reading life.
2. Not Setting Reading Goals
In the quest to start a new hobby or discipline like reading, it’s important to set specific and measurable goals to help you stay on track. If you aren’t setting reading goals yet, then this is a bad habit you need to kick!
There are lots of options for reading goals you can set for yourself, but the biggest mistake people make with setting goals is simply not setting them at all. What reading goal you choose should be personalized to your desires and needs, and could be anything from reading 5-15 minutes a day to finishing 200 books in a year. But setting a specific reading goal that you can track your progress toward will help keep you motivated, while not having a reading goal means you’re more likely to stagnate in your reading.
3. Setting Unrealistic Reading Goals
So setting a reading goal is better than not setting a reading goal at all, but the next most common bad reading habit is setting the wrong reading goals or unrealistic reading goals.
What does setting bad reading goals look like? Well, it usually looks like setting a reading goal that isn’t actually achievable for you.
It can be so easy to feel hyped up on life and reading, and feel motivated by kicking the bad habits and trying to set all the new good reading habits in your life. And in cases like these, we can easily overcommit and set goals that are not attainable.
If, for instance, you’ve only read 15 books over the last 5 years of your life…is it realistic to set a goal and think you’ll read 300 books this year? It’s possible, but it’s unlikely. And it’s a “reach for the stars” kind of goal where you have starry eyes when you set it…but when it comes to following through, you’re likely to find yourself feeling discouraged.
Instead of setting yourself reading goals that are wildly out of reach, try to set yourself a goal that is a little bit of a stretch but not a complete one-eighty from what you’re doing right now. By stretching yourself while still being realistic, you’re more likely to be excited about the progress you’re making and continue to be excited about reading!
4. Not Setting Aside Time to Read
Another big bad habit for readers is not setting aside time to read and instead thinking: “Oh, I’ll read when I feel like it.” While it can be a good and pleasant thing to read when you feel like you’ll enjoy it, if you’re trying to get into reading as a discipline or if you’re in a reading slump, then you’re not like to “feel” like reading all that often…which means you might not read all that often if you don’t have a specific time set aside for reading.
Setting aside time to read or creating a reading schedule for yourself helps form reading into a habit—into something you regularly do. It turns reading into a priority, instead of into an “option” for when you feel like it.
If you kick the bad habit of thinking you’ll read when you feel like it and instead start setting a schedule, you’ll soon see your progress toward your reading goals progress and will see your reading enjoyment, comprehension, etc. continue to improve!
5. Choosing the Wrong Environment for Reading
Choosing a poor reading environment can also be a bad reading habit…but what does “wrong environment” even mean?
This is one of those bad reading habits that is highly individual, and might look different for each of us. Some factors that contribute to poor reading environments can be places with lots of distractions, bad lighting for reading, where we’re uncomfortable, or where we have bad posture or other things that divert our brains from focusing on our books.
However, while there are some generally “agreed upon” good places to read, this may also vary from person to person and day to day. For instance, I might find that reading somewhere completely quiet is how I best focus while perhaps you find the noise level of reading in a coffee shop is better for you. This is perfectly okay! We don’t all have to like the same reading environments.
However, if you find yourself choosing places to read that always end up distracting you, then you should definitely look into finding places that distract you less. Or if the lighting is poor and difficult to read in, you might want to find somewhere else to go or look into getting a portable reading light to take with you.
Discovering what distracts and hinders you from reading and then making the choice to fix those issues (or go somewhere else) will make a huge difference in your reading life!
6. Reading With Distractions
While our environments can sometimes cause us to be distracted, another possibility is that we’re not setting ourselves up for success by removing our own personal distractions.
No, I don’t mean get rid of your kids or spouse or family members who distract you while you read 😉 Though perhaps there is a good argument to be made for that…
What I mean more generally is removing digital distractions from your reading time/space…like phones and TV or other things that are likely to grab your attention instead of reading. If your phone is somewhere where you can hear it, or where when you get to the end of a chapter and think “Oh, I’ll just check Instagram real quick,” then you’re much less likely to get the reading done that you planned to and are much more likely to find yourself scrolling on your phone hours later…
The root of this is really not paying attention and letting our minds wander, or thinking we can multitask while reading, or thinking “Oh, I won’t get distracted this time.” But the truth is we really do have short attention spans (most of us, anyway. If you don’t, then congratulations!). And that means we can set ourselves up for failure if we allow our most common distractions (such as phones or TV) to get a foothold into our reading time.
Instead, try setting up a reading space or going somewhere where you won’t be tempted to fall into distractions like using your phone or seeing what’s new on Netflix when you’re supposed to be reading!
7. Reading Too Fast
Speedreading can sometimes be a helpful tool, especially if you’re on a deadline for finishing a book (like for a class you’re taking). However, speedreading these days is often emphasized to the detriment of reading comprehension. And that is definitely a bad habit!
If you have the habit of skimming or reading too fast and are finding you’re not remembering what you’ve read, then it’s probably time to slow down. Reading doesn’t have to be about finishing the most books in a year or being faster or better than everyone else—instead, it should be about enjoyment and bettering of yourself. So it can be a terrible habit if you speedread and don’t take time to enjoy the process or retain the information you’re learning!
8. Choosing the Wrong Books
Choosing to read the wrong books can also be something that detracts from your reading life, so this is another bad habit you’ll want to avoid!
What does the “wrong books” mean? This is another highly subjective bad habit, and one that will be personalized to you. But to give you an example, I generally love reading fiction books. That’s where I have the most fun and enjoyment. So in general, I’m going to have more fun and feel more motivated to read if I’m reading a fun (to me) novel like something by Jane Austen instead of reading a history book about WWII. You might love WWII, so in your case, the Jane Austen novel might be the “wrong” choice.
Now, this isn’t to say that I should never read the book about WWII…there might be other reasons I would be interested in that, or other reasons that would make reading it worthwhile even if I don’t particularly enjoy it. But in general, choosing the “right” books to read looks like choosing ones you’re actually going to enjoy. And, by extension, the books you’re actually going to read.
You might be choosing the wrong books because you think it will give you intellectual street cred (like so many people do with forcing themselves to read “classics” they hate). Or maybe you’re choosing the wrong books because you don’t know how to find books you’ll actually like to read. In either case, making the switch to primarily reading books you actually like will (surprise!) help you actually like reading and want to keep reading in the future.
9. Not DNFing the Books You Hate Reading
If you’re like me, sometimes you feel like if you start something you have to finish it. In the case of a book, if you start reading it you have to finish it…even if you hate it. But this is a TERRIBLE habit to have.
DNFing (aka “Did Not Finish”) a book means deciding to not finish the book, for whatever reason. This can be somewhat controversial in the reading world, but on the whole if you choose to keep reading every book you start even if you hate it that is a bad habit. Because you’re just making yourself miserable and more likely to stop reading altogether.
There can be times that it’s important to finish reading a book even if you don’t like it (I help you determine when to DNF and when not to DNF a book here!), but on the whole reading should be contributing to making your life better. Not worse. And when you have the freedom to choose whether you finish or don’t finish a book, you’re going to like reading more.
And, after all, there are far more books in the world than you’ll ever have time to read in your life, so why would you spend your precious reading time on a book that makes you miserable?
10. Not Knowing Why You’re Reading
There are lots of benefits of reading, from simple things like the enjoyment it brings to health reasons like improving your memory. But while reading itself is good, not knowing why you are reading is a bad habit that means you’re reading without purpose and are more likely to give up on reading.
If you’re reading for enjoyment, then knowing this helps you choose what books you read and stay focused on your goal: enjoyment.
If you’re reading to learn about new concepts, learn about historical events, or learn about yourself, then again this will influence the books you choose…and will help you stay focused on the benefit your goal brings to you even if the going gets tough.
But if you don’t know why you’re reading? Well, then, why are you reading at all? Unfortunately, the “why am I reading?” question can pop up and distract us and cause us to give up on reading, especially if you are new to reading and just trying to become a bookworm now.
So instead of falling into the trap of forgetting your “why”, spend a little time thinking about why you want to read. And then let that inform all of your reading going foward.
11. Reading in Formats That Don’t Work For You
Another huge debate in the book world is about the “best” format for reading. Many bookworms are purists, aka “I only read print books!” while others are more lenient and think reading in the ebook format is fine or even better than print. And even worse, lots of people hate on audiobooks and think listening to books is “not even reading.”
While people can debate which of these formats is “best” until the cows come home, I’m a fan of reading whatever works for you. (Spoiler alert: I think all three formats are reading, and often change between the three depending on my mood.)
Perhaps you love reading in print format and find that this causes you to have less distractions. It’s just you and the book. Fantastic! Do that!
Perhaps you live a busy life and are always on the go, and can’t lug around a million books. In that case, get a Kindle! They’re life-changing and you can have tons of books at your fingertips!
Or maybe you find it hard to sit still and read. In that case, try audiobooks! There are all sorts of things you can do while listening to audiobooks, and I think it’s a fun way to squeeze in more reading time even while you have to do chores.
The point of this is that any reading is better than no reading. Don’t feel like you have to fit into someone else’s mold. You don’t have to do what works for anyone else. You just have to do what works for you.
Want to start reading through audiobooks? Try Audible for free for 30 days and get a free audiobook!
12. Reading Without Tools
Sometimes, especially with more modern books, it’s easy to just read a book. Everything feels familiar and normal. But sometimes—especially if reading older books or classics—not everything feels familiar. The language itself can be difficult, chapters can feel long and hard to follow, and overall the reading experience can feel pretty foreign.
If you want to read works that are unfamiliar to you, it’s important to not try to force your way through without utilizing outside tools. For instance, if a book uses lots of unfamiliar vocabulary, then you may want to keep a dictionary on hand. This could be a physical dictionary or one on the internet. And if you’re reading on a Kindle or tablet, it’s likely your ebook has a built in dictionary function where you can highlight the word and learn what it means!
Additionally, if you’re struggling to follow the plot or understand the book, then using outside resources (independent book reviewers, Sparknotes, etc.) or having friends to discuss books with (like in a book club!) can be an excellent idea.
Trying to brute force your way through a challenging book rarely works and can be discouraging, and at the very least also means you’re likely missing out on at least some key information. So using tools at your disposal to help you understand context and meaning is a much better habit to get into than simply relying on yourself and yourself alone.
13. Giving Up On Reading
And the worst bad reading habit of all? Giving up on reading entirely!
All the bad habits leading up to this one can contribute to a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that can cause you to want to give up reading altogether, or can slowly cause you to stop reading over time. That’s why it’s so important to spend time cultivating good reading habits and root out the bad ones taking over your reading life.
You don’t want to wake up one day and realize that while you still call yourself a reader, in reality you’re not a reader at all…and can’t even remember the last time you really read anything. So join a reading community and get back to reading for the love of it and back to the good reading habits that will keep you a reader for years to come!