Chances are you come home after a long day at work.

You rest a bit. Maybe you go to the gym or take your dog out for a walk. You have your dinner, and then… the day is over, finally.

You sit comfortably on the couch, turn on the TV, and there you go, Netflix on!

But wait a minute. Before you press play on that Netflix show, or start scrolling on your Instagram, let’s pause for a moment.

Have you ever thought of swapping it all with…

Reading a book?

Now you would think: “Come on man, why would I read a book after a long day?”, or maybe: “If I really want to learn something, I could just watch a YouTube video!”.

Oh well, who am I to tell you what to do. I’m just an average college guy who writes from time to time and loves books. But listen, I was in the same situation as you. I used to neglect reading books just because of those ideas.

The Lost Art of Reading

Maybe you were a massive reader as a kid. Thousands of hours reading Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, or whatever sparkled curiosity in that little mind.

Well, I was one of those kids.

What was better than coming home from school, playing outside with your friends, and then spending hours entering those immense universes? Nothing. Then time passes by. You grow up. You enter the sacred teenage years. That was the time when I received my first smartphone, and I realized this:

It all ended.

As a teenager, priorities changed. Reading turned from being an act of magic to just a waste of time. I went my entire teenage era reading anything except school books. That young kid who used to travel to thousands of different worlds and stories vanished. It was all an old memory from the past.

If you can relate to this story. If you want to re-find that spark for reading, or if you just want to know how to develop a reading habit, I’m going to explain the same framework I used to rediscover the lost art of reading.

How To Start (Again)

When you want to create a habit, the first thing you do is thinking about the benefits. Imagine you had 30 minutes a day just for yourself (I hope you have). These are your golden minutes.

Now think about the opportunity cost of this short period:

1. You can scroll Instagram, read online news, and reply to a few emails while pretending to finish the work you’re supposed to do.
2. You can allocate time to make yourself better and enrich your mind.

In the short term, scrolling and playing around is far more exciting. But in the long term, you’ll realize that investing time in learning something new and improving yourself is a different kind of satisfaction.

Now, here’s the only framework I recommend when starting out:

Read 20 pages to start (or finish) the day.

As with everything in life, compound interest is real. 20 pages a day adds up over time, and this is how the great books get read: 20 pages at a time, day in and day out.

Naturally, the number 20 is arbitrary. I recommend it because it’s not an intimidating number. Everyone can read 20 pages within 30 minutes. And the cool thing is that the more you read, the faster you become. I’ve also found that when I commit to a minimum of 20-25 pages, I always read more! This is how you enter the reader flow’s state. A state of curiosity, excitement, and deep focus.

Before you get too caught up in that specific number, that’s not the main point (though for me, 20 pages is the magic number). It could be 20 pages, 10 pages, 30 minutes, an hour, or even 2,000 words. Regardless of how you measure your reading, the benefits are still the same:

In six months, a year, or more, you’ll have absorbed an impressive % of human knowledge.

3 More Practical Tips

Congratulations, you now know the foundations of the good reader. But you know, starting a habit is always hard. There’s a few more suggestions that has helped me developing this habit.

Here’s some more practical advice to get the most out of your reading adventure:

(1) Read what excites you

You should never force yourself to read anything unless there is a very, very specific reason (maybe to learn a specific skill for a job). This key approach is not only way more fun, but it works really, really well. It keeps you reading. It keeps you engaged.

The number of pages you read is not as important as the fact that you enjoy it.

A book must be interesting to the specific reader at that specific time. Trust me: the right book at the right time in your life will completely rewire your life perspective and thoughts.

Oh, and if you don’t like the book, don’t worry. You won’t be seen as a failure or a quitter just because you can’t keep going with your reading. I have a simple rule: if I’m not enjoying a book after reading 10% of it, I stop and find something else to read. Life is too short and there are so many good books out there.

(2) Take a book everywhere

Your day is probably filled with dead time. That’s why I bring a book wherever I go. I can have it on my phone, on my Kindle, or just a phisical copy, but I always carry some readable stuff with me.

If you don’t want to block a specific hour or less to read, just split up your reading time. Finding time to read is easier than you think, by the way. Waiting for a train? Read. Waiting at the mall while your girlfriend can’t stop trying clothes on? Read. On a bus ride? Read. Waiting for a plane flight?

Read that book.

Reading must become like brushing your teeth:

• You know it’s easy because the toothbrush is always in the bathroom near you, in the same spot. Keep books nearby, ready for whenever you want to dive in.
• Brushing your teeth is dental hygiene: you keep them clean to avoid major issues. Reading is mind hygiene: you keep it sharp to avoid decay.

If I know I have only a few minutes, I’m not going to read something that requires a lot of mental energy. When I’m waiting around, I also tend to read magazines or articles online. These are much more shorter, at your fingertips, and easily digestible.

(3) Mix your reading between fiction and non-fiction

I love novels. Classics are great because they’ve surpassed the test of time. Shakespeare, Dostoevskij, Charles Dickens, Hemingway… The world has seen hundreds of amazing authors, and their works get me every time with their uniqueness. But on the other hand, I’m also interested in history, philosophy, productivity and a lot more.

If you are like me, the best thing is to vary your reading. Choose a novel and read it, savour it. Then, focus on a non-fiction work. Mixing it up allows you to blend awesome stories with key guiding principles. Often the two mix up (I learnt more about human psychology with Dostoevskij books than effective psychology books!).

With this hack, I keep myself more interested, and I ensure my reading remains diverisified and enriching.

At the end of the day, the concept is simple: read smartly and regularly, week after week, year after year. Before you know it, you’ll have read hundreds of books. Before you know it, you’ll be a completely different person. Read stories to feel alive, read books that your future self would thank you for in 10+ years. The most important part is enjoying it. If you don’t like it, you won’t be interested in the words, and you might stop reading altogether. Don’t let that happen. Make an effort to find ways to enjoy reading. It’s always worth it in the end.

Congratulations if you’ve read this article up until now, that means you can read for a sustainable amount of time! So what are you waiting now?

Go read that book!