How to develop a habit of reading every day

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The scheme will help, even if you have almost no free time.

Step 1. Choosing the right trigger

A trigger is the context to which we attach a new habit. After repeated repetition of the sequence "context → habit" when faced with a trigger, we automatically have an impulse to take the necessary action. This, in fact, is the point of creating habits - to teach yourself to perform useful actions on autopilot.

So, start by choosing the optimal trigger for your new reading habit every day. If you have busy workdays with irregular schedules, for example, the morning before breakfast can be a convenient moment to read.

In order for the brain to understand exactly which context a new habit needs to be attached to, the trigger should be as specific as possible. If we simply designate it as “morning” or “before breakfast,” a great deal of uncertainty remains: at what point in the morning should I read? And where there is uncertainty, there is procrastination. Let the trigger be the moment you turn on the kettle when you come to breakfast in the kitchen. If this is a habit that has existed for several years and is repeated every day for you, it is convenient to use it as a trigger.

In other words, now every morning you will perform the following sequence of actions:

• Go to the kitchen and turn on the kettle (this is a trigger).
• Immediately after that, take the book, which is already on the windowsill waiting in the wings.
• Sit down to read (this is a new habit).

Step 2. Defining a small step for a new habit

If you immediately try to read 50 pages a day (especially in the morning), you will not be enough for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to start introducing a new habit carefully. So that the brain, which is struggling to minimize our efforts and conserve energy, does not notice anything. Determine a comfortable volume for yourself at the initial stage. For example, read five pages a day.

Stage 3. Observation and adjustment

Then, for three weeks, you observe whether you manage to adhere to the habit in the form in which you defined it, and whether you need to adjust something in the original plan. You may notice that the comfortable number of pages has increased to seven per day, maybe ten. Track if a new habit is failing and what is causing it.

It may seem that five pages a day is not serious. But 150 pages come out in a month, and this is definitely better than zero.