Staring at relegation, Reading will be desperate for three points when they host Liverpool in their English Premier League game.
The Royals are having a miserable campaign, and are currently bottom of the table on 23 points from 32 games, eight points adrift of safety.
Liverpool, on the other hand, really have nothing much to play for, with Champions League qualification for next season well out of their reach.
"It's going to be like stepping stones," Adkins told reporters. "The players are getting accustomed to what we're looking for. We want to change the way we play but we also want to win games of football. It takes a period of time. We keep looking to the future and the progression of the football club.
"We've got to look to move forward. Reading won the Championship last year, we've now had a season in the Premier League and we've got a handful of games to go.
"We've got to keep learning all the lessons from this season and we've got to make sure we build on the previous success and have a mentality to play winning football.
"This is my first season in the Barclays Premier League and I've loved every second of it. It's where I want to ply my trade and it's where I want to be as a manager.
"We'll see where we are at the end of the season, but every desire that I've got is to make sure Reading Football Club is in the Premier League.
"If the scenario happens that we're not in this league next season, we'll be doing everything we can to strive, to push everybody, to believe that we can get back in there."
Reading will be without Jimmy Kebe, while Hope Akpan is a big doubt because of an ankle injury. Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling is sidelined along with long-term casualties Martin Kelly, Fabio Borini and Joe Allen, with Daniel Sturridge again expected to start on the bench.
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Expected lineups: Reading: Taylor; Gunter, Morrison, Mariappa, Kelly; Karacan, Guthrie, Leigertwood; McAnuff, Le Fondre, Robson-Kanu.
Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson; Downing, Suarez, Coutinho.
Prediction: 2-2