Simple mindset shifts I see not many readers following.

Each January, people pledge it will be the year they will read many books. Each December, the majority wonders why they didnât.
In 2016, I was among the millions of people who said theyâd read many booksâââbut I didnât read a single one. Yet, in the years that followed, I gradually transformed from a reading-muffle into a book-binger.

Books are the cheapest but most impactful way to gain more skills, meaning, joy, and contentment in your life. For an average of $9, you can receive years of someoneâs wisdom, distilled to some hundred pages that can be read in a few hours.
Reading 50 books a year is way easier than you might think. You donât need to compromise on sleep, relationships, or work. In fact, you can even elevate these aspects by reading more.
Caveat: Reading is often treated as an intellectual status symbol. The more books you read, the smarter you are thought to be. Itâs tempting to focus on reading as many books as possible - but it comes at the cost of depth and enjoyment. This article doesnât encourage you to speed up your reading practice. Instead, it's an inspiration to read more (and yet slow, joyful, and thoroughly).
1) Break Up With Your Perceived Hierarchy of Books
If youâre reading this, you likely grew up with a very narrow definition of knowledge.
The existing paradigm, also prevalent in schools, is left-brain centred. Logic, reasoning, and quantification are more respected than creative expression, imagination, or emotions.
We rate knowledge sources based on this binary scheme. Many people would agree that reading for knowledge is the best reason to open a book.
Of the 102 books Bill Gates recommended over eight years, 90 were non-fiction. And from the 19 books Warren Buffett recommended in 2019, 100% were non-fiction.
But this knowledge hierarchy comes with limits. Social critic Minna Salami wrote: âThe idea that calculable reasoning is the only worthy way to explain reality through is one of the most dangerous ideas ever proposed.â
Books donât exist in hierarchies. Non-fiction isnât superior to fiction.
Again, Salami: âWe need an approach to knowledge that synthesizes the imaginative and rational, the quantifiable and immeasurable, the intellectual and the emotional. Without feeling, knowledge becomes stale.â
Luckily, there are books that can make you feel and know.
When you read Tara Westoverâs memoir, youâll feel how itâs like to grow up in a Mormon family in off-grit Idaho. Elizabeth Gilbertâs latest novel helps you understand what it was like to break free from social expectations in the 1940s.
Through stories, you elevate your levels of empathy for people outside of your cultural community. You learn not only to see the world from the perspective of others but also to share their feelings of pain, fear, and joy.
What to do:
Expand your definition of âknowledgeâ and break up with the fiction versus non-fiction hierarchy.
Pick the book that sparks your interest, and forget whether this book will make you âsmarterâ in a traditional sense.
ââŠ.a good book can teach you about the world and about yourself. You learn more than how to read better; you also learn more about life. You become wiser. Not just more knowledgeableâââbooks that provide nothing but information can produce that result. But wiser, in the sense that you are more deeply aware of the great and enduring truths of human life.â
â Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
2) Read Books You Love Until You Canât Stop Reading Because Youâre In Love With Books You Read
The first book I picked up for my reading goal in 2016 was Kahnemanâs âThinking Fast and Slow.â It was on top of any bestseller list, and my university professors praised it.
Yet, whenever I read a page, I fell asleep. Ultimately, I stopped opening it altogether. Kahnemanâs pamphlet became my ultimate reading killer.
I was too proud to stop. I wish I couldâve told my younger self to stop forcing yourself through books you donât enjoy.
If your goal is to read more, quit the books that slow you down.
You might have to quit several books before you open a book you canât stop thinking about.
What to do:
Knowing what you want to read is essential, but so is its inversionâââknowing what you donât want to read.
Youâre the only person who can judge whether what youâre reading is best for you now. Read the genres you cherish, the content you enjoy, and the authors you admire.
Donât feel guilty to start with the âbad stuff.â A few hundred books in, you will become a more critical reader and anyway gravitate towards the good stuff.
Better to waste 9$ than 4 hours of your lifetime. Books arenât created equalâââmillions arenât worth your time.
As a rule of thumb, remember the following: If you donât look forward to continuing reading the book thatâs on your shelf, skip it.
âBooks are tangible objects of myriad texturesâââaged, hardback, hand stitched and so on. They are mentally stimulating, therapeutic, and they potentially transform your deepest thought patterns. They affect you entirely.â
â Minna Salami
3) Make your phone your reading-ally
Desired behaviour isnât solely tied to your willpower. Self-control and self-discipline depend on your environment, as Nobel-prize winner Thaler discovered.
Phones hijack your self-control: The red notification badges, Apple introduced with its Mac OS X years ago; the pull-to-refresh slot machine mechanisms that we refresh in unconscious hope of a quick dopamine shot; the infinite scrolling design, that in Nir Eyalâs words, is âthe interaction designâs answer to our penchant for endlessly searching for novelty.â
The average person spends over four hours a day on their device. If you spent half the time reading, with a reading speed of 250 words per minute and an average book length of 90,000 words, youâd finish more than two books a week.
When it comes to grabbing your attention, books canât compete with phones.
The equation is simple: The less time you spend on your phone, the more youâll read.
Tristan Harris said: âOnce you start understanding that your mind can be scheduled into having little thoughts or little blocks of time that you didnât choose, wouldnât we want to use that understanding and protect against the way that that happens?â
What to do:
Disable all notifications. Use airplane mode whenever possible. When you start reading, put your phone in a different room.
Keeping your phone away from your bed is one of the hardest habits to break. But the work is worth it. I replaced my phone with an alarm clock and stopped taking my phone to the bed two years ago. In bed, I can either sleep or read.
This is what will give you plenty of time.
Make reading the obvious choice. Put your book on the pillow when you make your bed in the morning. Thereby, reading in bed becomes your default option. Not having to use willpower will set you up for a regular reading habit.
âReading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.â
â Naval Ravikant
4) Have an Antilibrary
Do you ever feel guilty about the book staple you havenât read? You shouldnâtâââunread books increase your motivation and capacity to learn.
When you just read a few books in your life, youâre likely aware of what you donât know. But once youâve read through some hundred books, you tend to become ignorant.
You might be too confident, too sure, and less aware of the things you donât know. Thatâs where antilibraries come into play.
The books you havenât read (and will never read) assemble your antilibrary.
They represent unknowledge and are the best cure for overconfidence.
âYou will never read all those books,â friends say when they look at my want-to-read list. The list grows by 2â3 books every day. They are right. Even if I continue reading 1â2 books a week, I will only get through some of them.
But thatâs the point: My antilibrary is a constant reminder of what I donât know. It helps me stay curious and humble.
Psychologist Adam Grant writes: âNo matter how much brainpower you have if you lack the motivation to change your mind, youâll miss many occasions to think again.â
When youâre convinced you know something, learning something new means you have to change your mind. The best motivator to continue reading your book is a long list of books you want to read after finishing.
What to do:
Donât ever feel discouraged by the books you havenât read. Instead, see them as a reminder to be humble and curious.
Whenever somebody recommends a book (and you should ask the people that inspire you the most for their top 3 book recommendations), add it to your reading list (if you havenât one, check out Google Keep, Wunderlist, ToDoist, or Goodreads and settle on your favourite list).
âRead books are far less valuable than unread ones.â
In Conclusion
Reading is liberating. Freedom means choosing from a set of options. The more options you have, the freer you are. And thatâs where reading kicks in. It helps you explore options you never knew existed.
No therapy session, university lecture, or coaching session has had a bigger impact on my life than reading books. Books change your life; they change the way you think in unimaginable ways.
While each of the above principles can change how you read in one way or the other, they only serve as inspiration, and you certainly donât need to implement every single one.
Choose one or two you like, but screw the rest. Only one person should define your reading journeyâââyou.
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