Then forgive yourself. And promise yourself you’ll read more because after all, you really do love reading. Or at least I do and I assume you should too.

Then you need to actually start reading. If you don’t own very many of your own books, I find that a good old fashioned library card does wonders in this situation. Just don’t be like me and accrue an inordinate amount of fines even though you live so freaking close to TWO libraries. Get a membership; you won't regret it. (read: free information everywhere, wheeeeee!)

Besides resurrecting my library membership, I branched out this year and bought a kindle, much to my own skepticism. If you couldn’t tell from my library advocacy, I have a thing for books. I love them. I also love information, and information won out in this particular battle. But oddly enough, that library membership was my biggest help here because, ebooks. Free ebooks! So many free ebooks! As an American living in Germany, English books can be hard to come by, and that Nebraska library membership is even more valuable here.

Now Julia loves ebooks, too. 👍🏼

While libraries and kindles are all wonderful and whatever, the most important part of Step 1 is actually taking the time to realize you value reading and what it has to offer you.

How did I read so many more books this year? I realized it was something I deeply valued, and then made it a priority. I bought a kindle so I could read more easily. I stopped playing with my phone before bed and started reading instead. Some nights I sacrificed sleep and stayed up far too late because I needed to know how things ended. I started taking my kindle along when I knew I might have to wait somewhere, and instead of doing something different, I chose to read. I hunted down people's, whom I admired, social media posts about books they enjoyed. When I started to feel sad, I went and found a book instead of checking Facebook to distract myself for the umpteenth time.

Do what you need to make it a priority. You’re never going to stop being busy or have that ‘extra hour’. But as humans, we somehow, miraculously, manage to make time for the things we truly value. Make that list of all those books you’ve been wanting to read for forever and really focus on why you want to read them. Do you want the adventure they offer? Are you looking to learn something new or add to your existing knowledge about a matter? Are written stories a forgotten haven in the midst of your crazy life?

Whatever your reason is, identify it, and hang it at the front of your mind.
Then just start choosing it, instead of something else.

step 2: learn maths

Getting back to the other reason we’re here: How much more exactly IS 460%?
(Stick with me here, all this math is worth it in the end.)

Let’s put it this way:

x will represent the number of books I read last year
y will represent the number of books I read this year

Let’s use x as our starting point, since we know that x = 100% of the books I read last year.
We also know that I read 460% more books than the 100% I read last year, so we can say that
y (the total I read this year) = 100% + 460%, or:

y (the total read this year) = 560% of x (the total read last year)

Which looks like:

y = 560% of x

Now, lets turn that percentage into a decimal and move that invisible decimal point over two places to the left so it’s a little easier to work with, and we get:

y = 5.6 of x

Which is the same things as:

y = 5.6(x)

So, it looks like that 460% is really just 5.6 times more than whatever I started with. e.g. If I ate one waffle in the morning, and then ate 5 2/3rd more waffles later that day, I ate 460% more waffles in the pm than the am. But I only ate 4 2/3 more waffles? Still 460% more.

How many books did I actually read this year? 28.
How many did I read last year?

(this is a good chance to practice those new found math skills in reverse)

I read 5 books last year. Or at least I think it was about five. If I’m being honest here, I’m optimistically guessing it was five books. Which is what sparked the drive to read more this year than however many books I read last year. So:

Moral of our math lesson? Things will always sound way better on paper and online than they do in real life. Remember to do your research.

Granted, 28 books really is way better than 5, however you write it. (:
Here's to even more this next year!