Most attempts to read more begin with a target: a book a week, fifty books a year. Targets can help, but they often turn reading into homework. A more reliable approach is to change the environment so that reading becomes the easiest available option.
Make the book closer than the phone
Friction decides more than motivation does. If your phone is within reach and your book is in another room, the phone wins. Reverse the distances. Keep a book where you naturally pause: by the kettle, on the bus, beside the bed.
Give yourself permission to quit
A book you dread opening blocks every other book behind it. Quitting is not failure; it is curation. Read the first fifty pages honestly, then decide.
The goal is not to finish books. The goal is to keep being changed by them.
Write one sentence afterwards
After each reading session, write a single sentence about what stood out. Over months, these sentences become a personal index of ideas, and they make reading feel cumulative rather than disposable.
Written by
Fardin Fahad is a London-based entrepreneur, writer and the founder of Studycation, a UK education consultancy that helps international students with education, careers and building a life in the UK.
About Fardin