A To-Do List to Exit Your Reading Slump
A to-do list for awakening your spark for literature again.
I’m in a reading slump. Full stop. I hate it, and I don’t know how to get out of it. Here are the ideas I’ll be using this week to get myself back on the literature train.
1. Stop forcing yourself to finish books you hate
Give yourself permission to quit. You’re not in school anymore. There’s no grade, no test, no punishment for putting down a book that isn’t serving you. DNF it and move on guilt-free.
2. Reread something you loved as a kid
Go back to what made you fall in love with reading in the first place. YA fantasy, mystery novels, even picture books—whatever lit you up before you decided reading had to be “serious” or “productive.”
3. Set a stupidly small goal
Not 50 pages. Not even 10. Read one page before bed. That’s it. Lower the barrier so much that there’s no excuse not to do it.
4. Get off BookTok/Bookstagram for a month
Stop letting algorithms tell you what to read. The pressure to keep up with trending books is killing your joy. Find books the old-fashioned way: browse a bookstore, ask a friend, grab something random from the library.
5. Read something “trashy”
Romance. Thrillers. Celebrity memoirs. Whatever the literary snobs would turn their noses up at. Remember that reading is supposed to be fun, not homework.
6. Create a cozy reading space
A corner with good lighting, a comfortable chair, maybe a blanket. Make it a place you actually want to be, not just your bed where you doom-scroll before sleep.
7. Put your phone in another room
Seriously. The book can’t compete with the dopamine hits from your screen. Give yourself 15 minutes of phone-free reading and see what happens.
8. Join a book club or buddy read
Accountability helps. Having someone to discuss a book with makes you actually want to finish it—and keeps you engaged while you’re reading.
9. Listen to audiobooks without guilt
I will be a physical books apologist until I die, but audiobooks are a great, low-effort way to get out of a reading slump. It counts. It’s reading. Stop gatekeeping yourself.
10. Remember why you loved it in the first place
Think about what reading gave you before it became another item on your self-improvement checklist. Escape? Knowledge? Comfort? Connection? Chase that feeling, not the idea of who you think a “reader” should be.
Great, common-sense tips. I am doing some of them already. Like modest goals. ;)
Yasss! Also, I love audiobook, I had to get over that not being a book, chile I bought it, its a book now LOL But another tip I did permanently borrowed my mom kindle unlimited account LOL!!!!