How hard is reading these days? Super hard!Our attention spans are so used to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds, 15 seconds andI am on to the next post.What if my job requires me to read a lot of articles? What if my business mentors recommend time and again to pick up some books at the bookstore and read one finally?And the hardest part - how do I fit it into my busy schedule?With my new job as an inbound marketer and content writer here at eClincher this became a serious challenge.So here are 3 easy that I took that helped me add 1 EXTRA HOUR of Reading into every business day.
Step 1 - Get the Zest Chrome Extension (15 minutes)
Zest is an incredible Chrome extension that allows you to see curated articles every time you click new tab on your chrome browser. Instead of that boring blank page, or recently viewed tab, you get brand spanking new articles about social media, online business management, content writing, analytics, you name it. The best part is these people are super picky, they only approve 1% of all the articles that are sent to them. So you know that their stuff is going to be good when you click to open that new tab.You can choose which subjects you would like to view on the right tab, and you can easily share each article on your social media, send it to your team on Slack, or make a Trello card with it.
![zest chrome extension tab](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66997e96fa2595f5ecfc86a3/669a9ade4462feb6d866ec99_665657474198f5bfff2b4146_Zest-Snapshot.png)
Step 2 - Use a Book Summary App (15 minutes)
My second favorite tool is to use a book summary app. There are scores of apps out there that offer you to read a summary of the book, with its key points and best tips, in a matter of minutes. This way you don't have to actually have to read the whole book, you can get the curated summary and become an expert in the subject matter.One of my favorites is an app called Blinkist, it provides you with a written or audio 15 minutes summary of the book of your choice. It has over 1 million users and a variety of nonfiction categories. And it allows you to easily buy the book if you like it.
![how to use blinkist to reading more book summaries](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66997e96fa2595f5ecfc86a3/669a96236de610dd0cb37b05_6657614833f1ebadb21ba745_blinkist-screenshot.png)
Step 3 - Switch Out Your Smartphone for Reading a Book (30 minutes)
My book reading went way up when I decided to not use my smartphone before I went to sleep. A lot of experts say that keeping your smartphone in your bedroom when you go to sleep is a bad idea. It actually makes your brain generate arousing neurons in the brain that prevent you being sleep, did you know that?So you could either decide to not bring your phone into the room, or even get a "mobile curfew" app if you are having problems with your will power. Regardless, when I did this I started spending at least 30 minutes every night reading books.And that's the story of how I add another 1 hour of reading time into my busy day.Did you enjoy the read? Please let us know!