Some notes if you want to build a reading habit

A friend once asked me how I can still find time to read books.

First, reading has become accessible because I have an e-book reader. Though I still read from printed books, I mostly read through my Kobo Glo HD (which has led me to many unexpected conversations with friends and strangers). I am also motivated to read books because of my annual goal of reading X books, where the value of X changes from year to year.

From my observation, the number has declined since I started committing to a reading challenge in 2016. But woaaaah! That was already a decade ago?

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Another reason I can still find time to read books is because it has been a ten-year habit—and what a hard habit to break. I make time because the year feels incomplete without completing a book.

But if I try to go back deeper into my whys, I can go back as far as grade school where my teacher told me that the secret to becoming better at writing is: read, read, read, and write, write, write.

Perhaps that narrative was so embedded deep in my head that I can’t imagine life without spending time reading books (which often puts me into the zone—and this hyperfocused mental state makes me calm and grounded).

So, if you want to build a reading habit, here are some notes (from experience) to help you engage in long-form reading:

1. Acquire books. Hardbound, eBook, use whatever you wish. Only get something you would really like to read, not something you wish to read because there’s a high chance that you never will.
2. Dedicate time. Like other habit-building activities, you have to commit yourself to reading the book you chose to read. Say, you read three pages over the weekend, then another three the following weekend. You don’t have to be so strict about how many pages you should only read for a given period because some books are just hard to put down once you start reading them. At least have a minimum number of pages.
3. Know when to stop. Some books won’t groove your music no matter how hard you try. So don’t feel bad about putting it down and moving on to another book. I’ve done it many times before and have never looked back.
4. Keep the reading cycle going. Remember that I have been regularly reading books since 2016? The smallest count of books I have read to date is six books in a year. And finishing many books isn’t really a competition unless you want it to be. Just remember that you do it for the love of reading, acquiring knowledge and wisdom, and feeding your brain good food.