How to read more without forcing yourself
Five simple habits that bring books back into your life. No 100-books-a-year challenges.
Most reading advice sounds like a training plan: so many pages a day, so many books a year. What helped us was the opposite — taking the pressure off.
1. Always have a book with you
Paper in your bag, an e-book on your phone. Ten minutes in a queue are ten pages, and in a month that’s a whole book.
2. Allow yourself to quit
If you’re not pulled in after fifty pages, close it. An unread bad book steals time from a good one already waiting on the shelf.
3. No more than three books at a time
One serious, one light, one for the mood. Any more and you won’t finish any of them.
4. Read before bed instead of the feed
Phone in another room, a lamp over the bed. The first week is hard, then you notice you fall asleep faster.
5. Write down one sentence
After each reading session, write one sentence in a notebook: what stayed with you. A year later it’s the most interesting diary you own.
Reading is not a race. It’s a conversation you can pick up at any time.
