Audiobooks are a newfound love of mine. Before last year, I was adamant that I couldn’t pay attention and understand what was happening. My listening skills were (are) subpar, making it a struggle anytime I tried listening to audiobooks. I couldn’t sit and stare at a wall for more than a few minutes without my mind wandering and starting to daydream.
My magical awakening was a 20-hour road trip with Sara, one of my best friends. We were both running out of things to talk about, and she expressed how she never finished one of my favorite series, The False Prince. This was an outrage, and I set out to remedy it immediately. Finally, it felt like I found a book I could listen to. I started experimenting with more audiobooks, some massive successes, and others… I had to give up and read hardback.
I started to hit a stride once I realized I couldn’t treat audiobooks as hardbacks, I had to treat them like a new type of media. Audiobooks had to be accompanied by an activity, and that activity had to consume none of my mind and most of my body.
Now, I listen to one to two audiobooks a month. It’s not a great number, but with my other books, it certainly adds up. So, how do I wrangle my attention span into submission? Let’s get into it.
First, why Audio Books?
Audiobooks are a great way to experience a book in a new way. With a good narrator and a lot of time, you become enraptured in a whole new world. As an added bonus, it doesn’t take up your hands, just your time, so you’re free to complete any number of activities while listening to a potential new favorite book. It’s the ultimate boredom killer, allowing you to slay dragons, overtake kingdoms, and fight pirates, all while doing your monotonous work. What type of work qualifies? I’m glad you asked.
1. Driving
This is self-explanatory and one of the most common places people listen to audiobooks. It’s easy to focus on all your driving visual cues while keeping your brain engaged with a good book. I hate listening to audiobooks in only 10-15 minute bites, so I usually save these for longer road trips.
2. Working Out
Please let me explain; I’ve been called a psychopath for this before. I spend hours, HOURS, working out every single week. I have done this for years. I am tired, bored, and annoyed with every music playlist out there, and I’ve tried everything.
Audiobooks solved this problem for me. My long runs are filled with tear-jerking love confessions and brutal assassinations. My lifting hours are spent with Nesta Archeron training with Cassian. I’ve even extended runs and workouts to see what happens next in the book. Audiobooks and podcasts have saved my fitness life, and I have something new to come back to every day.
This could do the same for you. Whether you consistently find yourself in the gym, or struggle to get there once a week, having a motivating factor can do wonders to keep you engaged. It sounds ridiculous, but I promise once you start you’ll struggle to listen to music again.
3. Walking
In full disclosure, I only go on walks to listen to my audiobooks, but it’s dramatically increased my activity level on weekends. Walks are a great way to finish an audiobook because nothing else is pulling you away from the story. Pick a route you know (or don’t if you’re brave), grab a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and get out there.
4. Cleaning
My relationship with cleaning is a precarious one… I love about half of it, but the other half? It’s next to impossible to get done. I found a backdoor method, though, and it’s this: Write your to-do list, pop on your headphones, and start with a mediocre activity—not your favorite, but not the worst.
After my first activity, usually cleaning the bathroom sink, I move on to the toilet. This is still not my least favorite activity. But in the 15 minutes it takes me for the sink and toilet, I’m so invested in the story that I don’t mind cleaning the bathtub. The key is investment; you need to fake yourself out so you don’t think about the activity; you think about the book. Now go forth with your clean home and gratitude (book recs as payment, please).
5. Cooking/Baking
Cooking is a ‘yes if’ scenario. Listen to an audiobook when you’re cooking a recipe that you have made a thousand times, if the recipe is similar to something you’ve cooked a thousand times, or if you don’t mind not being able to hear something sizzle.
No, do not attempt, if you are new to cooking, cooking a brand new recipe and are nervous, have garlic that cannot burn at any cost, or have a track record of getting distracted with audiobooks.
Use your judgment, don’t set your house on fire more than once (flour for grease fires), and stay safe. When cooking and listening does work, the time passes so fast and you have food at the end. It genuinely is one of my favorite times to listen to an audiobook.
In Conclusion...
Audiobooks are fun and a great way to tack on a couple of extra books to your monthly reading, but it’s difficult to listen to a book without anything else in my hands. These are a few ways I’ve found to add daily listening into my life, and hopefully into yours now too.
How do you listen to audiobooks? Leave a comment below and let me know. Thanks for reading, and if you want more bookish and travel content, join my newsletter! I send out reviews, events, activities, and more every month. Stay brave!
Who I am...
I’m a midwestern native and now travel across the United States. I spent my childhood dreaming of living the adventures in my books, and have made it my mission to bring these experiences to life.
5 Things To Do While Listening to Audio Books
Audiobooks are a newfound love of mine. Before last year, I was adamant that I couldn’t pay attention and understand what was happening. My listening skills were (are) subpar, making it a struggle anytime I tried listening to audiobooks. I couldn’t sit and stare at a wall for more than a few minutes without my mind wandering and starting to daydream.
