I did two things early on that I think helped me a lot.
- Read with book clubs. By reading with book clubs here on the forums, you have a support network and a schedule. The schedule keeps you reading every week no matter what, and the support network helps you through the hard parts. There are often vocab sheets to help with word look up, and of course people ask questions about grammar and how to break down sentences. I participated in book clubs for both manga and kids books early on, and found it incredibly helpful.
- Read something you like enough to push through the frustration. Even while reading with book clubs, I did read a little bit on the side as well. For me, this was ご注文はうさぎですか. This manga was much harder than the manga we were reading in the beginner book club, but since I like the series so much it was worth the extra effort. Of course, over time and with practice even ご注文はうさぎですか became easy to read. What was once a struggle is now something I can read on the couch and enjoy an entire chapter with (usually) just a few word lookups.
I think doing both of those together is helpful. With the book clubs, you may not always be reading something you like for the story, but it’s worth it for the practice and the support network. With the personal reading, you should find something you like enough that you want to continue reading despite the difficulty.
You’ve probably seen this, but just in case: