There are times when a book can make even nerds confused reading it. Whether you're reading a book for school, a book club, or just simply being interested, there are times when you'll find some chapters (or pages) that are difficult to understand. Still, it's important to finish a book (even if you don't enjoy it that much) because it can provide knowledge, an escape, or just to make your day. Keep reading while you find ways to maintain focus and attention until the book is finished – you'll be satisfied afterward.
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Part 1 of 3: Maintaining Motivation and Focus During Reading
Step 1. Make a list of tangible accomplishments
Having clear and tangible goals can increase the success rate in any activity. You may not realize what you want to achieve when you read a book. Even so, these achievements can be made as you read.
- You can use pages or chapters as a benchmark when reading textbooks. That way you can clearly know when to stop reading.
- If you read as a hobby but find it difficult, try setting a daily reading goal. You can use the number of pages or chapters as a barrier and will still feel motivated because you only need to read part of the book in a day.
- Challenge yourself to learn something new from what you read. You can learn a lot from reading boring works of fiction, nonfiction, or even history.
Step 2. Divide the reading into smaller pieces
When reading a difficult book, imagining the book as a work of hundreds of pages will dampen your spirits. Try to avoid reading marathons and read the book little by little, say one chapter per day. Take a break every time you manage to read one or more passages to refresh your mind and eyes before continuing.
- Taking time to rest will help you stay focused. Even so, make sure you have determined how much and often you can rest.
- Don't rest just because you want to. Challenge yourself by completing a specific reading goal (such as completing a long chapter or two relatively short chapters).
- Place bookmarks at the end of chapters or chapter groups. This way you can find out how many pages you have left and feel motivated to finish reading until the break point.
Step 3. Reduce or eliminate distractions
Reading a boring book might tempt you to reach for your phone, check social media, or turn on the television. Even so, doing these things will break your concentration and the book you are reading will become even more difficult. Force yourself to read without interruption until the goal for the day is reached.
- If possible, find a quiet place away from distractions.
- Try turning off or turning your phone into vibrate mode. Turn off the television and stay away from the computer or tablet.
- If you don't have a quiet space or enjoy reading on the bus, try wearing earplugs when reading.
- You can use earplugs to reduce noise or use headphones to listen to something less distracting. Instrumental music is the best option – try listening to something relaxing but fast-paced, like jazz or some classical composers.
Step 4. Read the next text with a clear head
Sometimes a boring book will seem even more boring when you're feeling tired, distracted, or out of focus. Try to have a good reading mindset before reading a book. This will make it more difficult for you to lose interest or reasons to stop reading.
- Try to read when you feel refreshed. Reading a boring book when sleepy is an ineffective activity.
- There are times when writing can help clear your mind and clear distractions. Try doing this before you start reading.
- Take a few deep breaths before starting. For some, this activity can calm and clear the head.
Part 2 of 3: Approaching the Text
Step 1. Annotate the sides of the page and underline or mark certain sections
Underlining or marking sentences is a good way to approach a text and will make it easier for you to return to that point if needed. Annotating at the side of the page with notes, questions, or observations is also a good way to keep reading motivated because it forces you to write down questions and look for important sentences. Here are some points you can look for when reading something::
- definitions of relevant terms (especially ones you don't know)
- methods and results (for textbooks)
- causality.
- previous reference material. References in previous works may be important concepts.
Step 2. Synthesize what you read and write it down in your own words
Another way to help maintain focus is to absorb important material from reading and rewrite it in your own words. In this way you will be forced to pay attention and process what is read rather than just passively speed reading.
- In active reading you have to put together the pieces of information contained in the text. By doing this, you may find a sentence in the middle of the book that connects directly to the previous section that you may not have read.
- Try rewriting in your own words when reading difficult sentences. This method has been proven to help students retain information.
Step 3. Force yourself to come up with comprehensive questions
After synthesizing the material, force yourself to make questions from the text you have read and seek answers to those questions by continuing to read or returning to the previous page or chapter (at times like these underlined/marked/annotated sentences are useful).
- Try to guess what the author of the text is trying to do with each chapter you read. How does the text stand alone, what is its role when linked in the context of the purpose of writing the book?
- How does each chapter you read relate to the previous chapter? Is there a relationship between the two? Did the author do this on purpose?
- Ask yourself “Can I learn anything from this text?” Since the answer is definitely yes, think about what you could learn.
- Ask yourself questions or passages that are difficult/confusing. Try to answer these questions before continuing to read by thinking about what you just read or looking for answers from the underlined passages or previously made annotations.
Part 3 of 3: Finding Reasons To Keep Reading
Step 1. Know that all efforts will pay off
Even though the books you read feel very boring, there is always something valuable in them. Keep in mind that all published work was once considered important, interesting, and well-written by someone who personally edited it. If you haven't found anything interesting in a book, maybe you should just keep reading.
- Interesting things will appear sooner or later. While it may not appear until the end or around the end, in general there will always be something interesting at some point.
- Reading a book through to the end will give you something, whether it's in the form of suspense as the story turns unexpected, new knowledge, or a deeper meaning than you thought the book would bring.
- You probably won't know why a book is considered a classic by many if you don't read it through to the end.
Step 2. Think about how much money will be wasted if you don't read the book to the end
Not reading a book until it's finished can basically be called a waste. While this may not be a problem if the book you got was borrowed from a friend or library, not finishing the book could be considered as not taking advantage of the investment you've already made.
- When buying a book, you may have spent an investment of IDR 100,000, 00 to IDR 200,000, 00 (or maybe more for hard volume books)
- If you've only read the first few chapters of a book, it's safe to say you've wasted most of the money you spent on the book.
- Try to compare money spent on books to other forms of entertainment. Of course you wouldn't buy tickets to a show or sporting match and leave the room after the first 10 minutes. The same mindset can be used when deciding to buy a book.
Step 3. Learn dedication as a life skill
Reading a boring book will definitely produce something, and the result will be more than just reading satisfaction. Think of reading a book to the end as an exercise in maturity and self-discipline.
- Think of reading a boring book to the end as a life exercise.
- There will be times when you have to do something unpleasant in life.
- Your career won't last long if you don't do the work you do just because you don't want to.
- Your grades will decrease if you don't do schoolwork.
Step 4. Reward yourself when you finish reading
Give yourself something tangible when you finish a particularly difficult book. Reward yourself with something you like when you finish reading or hold yourself back from something you like until you're done reading.
- Rewarding yourself with something fun as a "bait" is probably what you need to finish a book.
- You can buy dinner specials, ice cream, or a bottle of wine (if you're old enough) to celebrate the end of a book.
- You may also have to try to refrain from unnecessary celebrations/activities until you've finished reading the book. For example, you may decide not to eat dessert until you have finished reading a book.
Tips
- Keep food, water, and snacks in an easy-to-reach place so you don't have to stand and be fooled by something.
- If you can't get rid of distractions while reading, set up a special “study time” and keep things quiet, at least in your room or where you usually study. Let your family or roommates know about any times you can't be bothered.
- Give the books you read a chance. Maybe you will enjoy it.
- Do not stop! If you're reading a book for school or a book club, stopping reading will require you to read more than usual the next time you read.
- SparkNotes and CliffsNotes can help you understand what you're reading, but they're not the same as the original book. You will get far more from reading the original books than from the conclusions they draw. Use the services that both offer only to help understand the confusing part.
