How I Developed the Habit to Read 52 Books in a Year
Make reading books a ritual. The good thing about rituals is that they don’t break easily. Starting to build a ritual could be painful at the beginning, but it becomes a part of you once you repeat it for some days.
Initiating a ritual is the most difficult part. According to the book “The Power of HABIT”, developing a habit is a 3-step process.
- First, you need to find a cue
- to initiate an action/response and finally,
- you receive some sort of reward for your act.
Some habits are easy to develop, while some are hard. Why is it so?
Developing a bad habit like smoking cigarettes is easy because you get an instant feeling of relaxation (reward) which compels your brain to repeat the action of smoking cigarettes. In the case of reading a book, you don’t get an instant reward for your action. It takes some time to develop a sense of accomplishment (reward) system within you.
Developing a habit of reading a book is not as lucrative as watching TV series or movies. If you have a sense of control over your instant gratification, then developing this habit will become easier for you.
Here is a simple exercise that can help you develop the habit of reading. Before going to bed, decide on a book you want to read and imagine yourself reading it the next morning at the predetermined time. This method is much more effective than reading a book at night before sleeping. The next day, you won’t waste time deciding which book to read. You have saved energy and time that you can now invest in reading the book you have chosen.
I do not advise reading before going to bed, even though it is a popular habit among many people. Falling asleep while reading a book, trains your brain negatively and develops a habit that will ultimately impact you negatively. Your brain works on cue, action, and reward. Repeatedly exposing it to the same pattern creates a habit. With enough training, seeing a book (cue) may make you feel sleepy (action) and wake feeling refreshed (reward). So, it’s best to avoid reading before bedtime.
It is important to read material that is not just entertainment if you want to make progress in your life. Reading books that add value is key. A study found that
“An Average CEO reads about 52 books a year” while “An Average person in the US reads only 2 books a year”.
The likes of Warren Buffet, Satya Nedela, and other great personalities have a good collection of books in their reading space. You can browse through their best reads on their blogs, including Bill Gates and many other habitual readers.
Reading a good book is like experiencing the world through the author’s eyes. Most good books in the non-fiction category are written by Nobel laureates, Ph.D. holders, and experts who are well-versed in the field. Imagine how much you can learn from reading their life’s work. Consistency in reading can lead to significant learning gains every year, transforming your ability to see and think in ways you never thought possible.
It is also important not to get carried away with reading. Many people read as if they are reading a textbook, line by line, word by word. On average, a person can read 300 words per minute or one page per minute. To finish a 100-page book in a week, you will need to study for approximately an hour a day, not including the time it takes to absorb the material.
There are specific techniques for reading a book a week or reading quickly, which can be found through a Google search. However, here we will discuss how to start reading a book in the best possible manner.
Before starting a book, read reviews about it on the internet first. Is this book really what you want to read about?
To get a general idea of a book, start by looking at the index, introduction, and conclusion. Avoid reading the first page, which can often be too enticing and cause you to start reading the book right away. Consider whether the book will add something meaningful to your life before diving in. If you’re convinced, read through the chapters in a summarized manner, stopping at the ones that interest you the most. You can always go back to the bookshelf if you need to reference it again, allowing you to finish the book while maintaining your interest.
While reading, avoid using a highlighter as it can distract from the concepts you’re trying to grasp. Instead, focus on understanding and internalizing the concepts in your heart. You can take notes or highlight important points during a second read.
After finishing a book, summarize it in a blog, essay, or audio recording to reinforce the concepts you’ve learned.
Warren Buffet once said in an interview that the rich are getting richer not because the system is unfair, but because making money in the modern world requires specialization. In this data-driven world, where knowledge is everything, it’s essential to read and enhance your skills.
Buffet credits his success to his habit of reading. Since his early 20s, he has been reading every day for 3 hours, anything he can put his hands on, such as newspapers, magazines, books, articles, etc.
Reading can be done in breadth, where you study a wide variety of subjects, and going into depth requires specialization. Consider your college degree, where you had open electives that gave you a chance to explore fields that might be of interest to you. At the same time, you completed your major, making you an expert in that field. Society, or more precisely, corporations, likes experts. CEOs have teams of experts who do the job for them, and in turn, earn a handsome amount. The economy runs like that, and your expertise matters. Now you understand when to read in breadth and when to read in depth.
So, what types of books should you read?
Biographies — If you haven’t read one, you should read biographies. They are not just a medium to learn about a person, but to see the world around you from their perspective. Reading different biographies can give you many viewpoints about a single thing and help you experience many lives in a single lifetime. They are a great source of information about your role model. You can learn more about them and follow their footprints. Biographies guide you through the journey of your life.
Audiobooks — You may have been wasting a lot of time in your daily commute. Use that time to listen to audiobooks or podcasts. If you’re not a book lover, audiobooks can be of great help. You can also combine both and read while someone pours the words into your ear.
How can you make your reading stick to your memory?
Don’t just read it; feel it, relate it. Your brain forms new neural connections when you are learning, and you only remember details when these neural connections are strong enough. Imagining and revising are two ways in which you can accomplish this.
Here are a few selected books that I found interesting. You should read them too:
