There are people who always seem to have a book on their nightstand and somehow actually finish it.
Then there are the rest of us.
We buy the book, put it beside the bed, read 14 pages, fall asleep, move it to the coffee table, pack it for vacation and bring it home mostly untouched. Six months later, we’re still telling people, “I’m reading this great book…”
For busy professional women, the problem usually isn’t a lack of curiosity. It’s a lack of uninterrupted time.
Between work, commuting, children, caregiving, exercise, errands and everything else required to keep a life running, finding an hour to curl up with a book can feel like a luxury.
But there’s another way to keep books, stories and ideas in your life: Listen to them.
Audiobooks aren’t a lesser version of reading. They’re simply another way to experience a story, learn something new or spend time with an interesting mind. And perhaps their biggest advantage is that they fit into parts of your day when a traditional book can’t.
Turn the In-Between Moments Into Something Better
Think about how much time you spend doing things that occupy your hands but not necessarily your mind. Driving to work, walking the dog, cooking dinner, folding laundry, getting ready in the morning, waiting in the school pickup line or sitting in an airport.
Those little pockets of time add up.
Instead of automatically filling every one of them with news, social media or another work call, try a book. A 20-minute commute becomes 40 minutes of listening each day. A Saturday morning walk becomes a few chapters. Dinner prep becomes time with a fascinating memoir.
You’re not creating more hours. You’re using some of the hours you already have differently.
Let Someone Tell You the Story
Some books may actually be better in your ears.
Memoirs narrated by their authors can feel less like reading someone’s story and more like having that person tell it directly to you. A great narrator can transform fiction by giving characters distinct personalities and making a story come alive. Humor can be especially good in audio when the author’s delivery, timing and personality are part of what makes the material funny.
If you’ve dismissed audiobooks because you love the physical experience of reading, don’t think of it as either/or.
There are books you’ll want to hold. And others you’ll want someone to tell you.
Use Listening to Keep Learning
Your audiobook library doesn’t have to be filled exclusively with business books. But audio can be an easy way to expose yourself to ideas that make you better at what you do.
Leadership, history, psychology, money, technology, biography, negotiation, creativity, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship. Pick a subject you’re genuinely curious about and let someone teach you while you’re driving to work or taking your morning walk.
You don’t need to retain every statistic or remember every chapter. Sometimes one idea changes how you approach a conversation, a problem or an opportunity.
That’s enough.
But Please Don’t Turn Every Walk Into Professional Development
There’s a trap here.
High achievers can turn almost anything into another opportunity for optimization. Suddenly your morning walk isn’t a walk. It’s a 47-minute leadership seminar. Your commute becomes an MBA. Your vacation becomes a chance to finally get through six books about productivity.
No.
Sometimes you should listen to the ridiculous mystery. The celebrity memoir. The romance. The sprawling novel everyone has been talking about.
Or nothing at all.
Learning is valuable. So is entertainment. You don’t have to improve yourself every minute you’re awake.
Give Yourself Permission to Quit a Book
This rule applies whether you’re listening or reading: You are allowed to stop.
Somewhere along the way, many of us developed the idea that abandoning a book represents some kind of personal failure. It doesn’t.
There are more wonderful books than you could possibly consume in a lifetime. If you’re 90 minutes into one and find yourself dreading pressing play, choose something else.
Reading for pleasure shouldn’t feel like homework you assigned yourself.
Find the Speed That Works for You
One of the advantages of audiobooks is the ability to change the playback speed. Some narrators speak slowly. Some material is easy to absorb more quickly. Other books deserve a slower pace.
Experiment and find what works for you.
The goal isn’t to race through the largest possible number of books so you can announce an impressive annual total. It’s to find a pace that keeps you engaged and allows you to absorb what matters.
This isn’t a competition.
Don’t Forget Your Library
You don’t necessarily have to purchase every audiobook you want to hear. Many public libraries provide access to digital audiobooks that you can borrow using your library card.
It’s worth exploring what your local library offers before automatically buying your next title.
And yes, there may be a wait for a popular book. Consider it the modern version of someone else getting to the library shelf first.
Listen With Your Kids
Audiobooks aren’t only for your commute. They can turn a long family drive into something everyone shares.
Choose a story together and suddenly the inevitable “How much longer?” has some competition.
For children who love stories but struggle with traditional reading, or simply enjoy hearing characters come alive, audio can also be another way to build enthusiasm around books.
And a shared audiobook gives families something increasingly valuable: something to talk about together.
You Can Listen and Read
You don’t have to choose sides in the great book-versus-audiobook debate.
Keep the beautiful hardcover on your nightstand. Download the audiobook for your commute. Read on your tablet on the plane. Listen while you’re walking. Return to the printed version when you want to underline something.
The point isn’t how the words reach you. It’s that they do.
Build a Reading Life That Fits Your Actual Life
We often imagine reading happening in perfect circumstances: a quiet room, a comfortable chair, a cup of tea and an entire uninterrupted afternoon.
Lovely.
But if you’re waiting for that afternoon, you may be waiting a while.
Your reading life doesn’t have to look like someone else’s. It can happen in the car, at the gym, on a plane, while making dinner or while walking through your neighborhood.
Twenty minutes at a time still counts.
Because the real gift of books isn’t how many you’ve finished. It’s what happens when someone else’s story, experience or idea gets inside your head and stays there.
So if you keep saying you wish you had more time to read, stop looking for more time. Try listening instead.
Pink POV
Not every empty moment needs to become productive. But it can become interesting.
The next time you instinctively reach for your phone in the car, on a walk or while waiting for something to happen, press play on a book instead.
Listen to something that makes you smarter, braver or more curious. Or something that makes you laugh so loudly at a stoplight that the person in the next car wonders what’s wrong with you.
A good book doesn’t care whether you turned its pages or pressed play. It just wants to take you somewhere.
