Atreyee Poddar
Read the way some people doomscroll. Compulsively, defensively, and with mild judgment toward those who claim they “just don’t have the time.” Wanting to read more books is rarely about time or intelligence. It’s about habits quietly being mugged by your phone. Here’s the honest listicle—no monk-like discipline, no literary guilt, no pretending you’re moving to a cabin in the woods.
Reading doesn’t need mood lighting and two uninterrupted hours. That fantasy is why books lose. Read like you check messages: in scraps. Ten pages while waiting for coffee, five more before bed, a chapter on the metro. The book does not care about your mood.
“20 books a year” sounds inspiring until February eats your soul. So aim smaller. One chapter a day, five pages, even a paragraph if it’s been that kind of week. Momentum is built on showing up, not showing off.
Life is short and publishers are prolific. If a book feels like unpaid labour, drop it. Finishing bad books doesn’t make you noble, but it makes you tired. Avid readers aren’t loyal, the trick is to be selective. That’s why they read more.
Put books where your phone usually lives. Keep one in your bag, one by the bed, one in the bathroom if you’re into that. Make scrolling inconvenient and reading obvious. Willpower is overrated and mild manipulation definitely works better.
The secret of people who read a lot isn’t superior focus or discipline, it’s a trick. They’ve made books the easiest option when boredom strikes. Once reading stops competing with everything else in your life and starts filling dead time, the habit locks in. And suddenly, finishing books feels like what it always should have been: a reward.