Reading to Feed Your Mind and Soul
4 Techniques to Make Reading a Keystone Habit
Exercise is to the body, as reading is to the mind. A consistent reading habit not only grows our knowledge base, introducing us to new perspectives, but always can help us to think more cricidalling and efficiently. However, as there are useful and harmful ways to exercise, so there is to reading.
We could workout in dangerous and harmful ways, and expose ourselves to injury, in the name of exercise. Or we could choose an exercise program with the wrong application to our goals. Running for miles a day in hopes to grow muscle. Or lifting heavy weights in hopes of becoming more agile or flexible.
Misapplication of exercise programs are more intuitive to us than misapplication of reading programs. Most tend to think, reading is an inherent good. If I’m reading, I’m becoming more knowledgeable and intelligent.
To be honest I believed this for a long time myself. However, over the years I have come to understand there are ways of approaching what, and more importantly how, I read, that makes all the difference in what I get out of my reading practice.
I say “reading practice” not to sound pretentious. But to emphasize an approach to reading that isn’t simply for entertainment or pleasure, although these are important aspects of reading. As we can plan an exercise program to accomplish certain goals, so can we program our reading practice to do the same.
For the past few Monday’s we have been discussing the importance of habit formation, particularly keystone habits: habits which lead to a cascade of other actions because of them. We have been looking at the benefits of, what I have found to be, the most useful and life changing keystone habits.
We have covered: mediation, exercise, and journaling so far. There are links to all these articles in the notes. Today I want to perceive reading as a keystone habit.
Personally, this is the newest habit I have been establishing in my life. Like all of my keystone habits, and I’m sure you can relate, I have been wanting to make this a regular habit for years, but started to stopped many times.
I finally resolved to make reading a daily practice after coming across a simple quote by Samual Jonhson, “Never trust a man who writes more than he reads.” I have been writing more than any other point in my life this year. I wanted to “put the horse (reading) in front of the cart (writing).”
I have managed to stick to a daily reading program for about two months now, and its positive benefits have exceeded my expectations. I would like to suggest a few techniques I have found very helpful in making this habit stick and getting the most out of it.
Techniques for Sticking to and Getting the Most of a Reading Habit
Surround your environment with books.
This may sound like a “no brainer” but I would say it’s made the biggest difference in my reading life. At any given time I have a book by my bed on my nightstand, one at my kitchen table, and one in my backpack that I bring to work everyday.
James Clear, the author of Atomic Habit, often talks about the importance of “making it easy”, when it comes to establishing new habits. Reducing the friction between your daily routine and the new desired activity. Simply having the books out where you can see them and easily pick them up, can make all the difference.
Also having them in places you go everyday can help to couple the daily activity with reading. When I pull my work computer out of my backpack, I see the book and it reminds me to read a few pages. When I sit to eat dinner at the dinner table, I see the book and read as I eat. And as I lay down to sleep every night I see the book by my nightstand and read, instead of scrolling my phone. Which replaces an undesired habit with a much more desired one.
Also, I keep the Kindle app on my phone open at all times, so when I see it I am reminded to read a page. Kindle is where I keep my “page a day” books, which are Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy.
Finally, the other app I keep open on my phone at all times is the Audible app. Audiobooks are something I have listened to religiously over the years, finishing over 75 audiobooks in the last 5 years. While I would agree with most avid readers that paper books are ideal, audiobooks are a great option while driving, working out, or even cleaning and doing dishes.
Again, the idea here is to be surrounded by books. By easy, good, decisions. This will do wonders for making reading a regular part of your life.
Make and stick to a reading schedule.
If we don’t put it on the calendar, it doesn't get done. This is true for almost everything which isn’t already an ingrained habit. Simply put, in the context of reading, have scheduled times throughout the day that you will read. Examples could include: while eating breakfast, during lunch or coffee breaks, as soon as you get home, after dinner, or in bed before sleep.
It helps to put a block of time on your calendar which is set aside for reading. i.e. 6pm-6:30pm. If you need to go shorter or want to go longer you can, but if you simply start reading during your predetermined time, you will be casting votes for an identity as a reader. And like all habits, it gets easier and feels more natural with time. You’ll even start looking forward to it, and feel that something is missing from your day if you didn’t get your block of reading time in.
Interact with your reading: Highlight. Underline. Write in the margins.
This may seem like more work, and lead one to think that it will make it harder to read. I have found the opposite. Interacting with the text helps reading to feel much more engaging.
Instead of passively consuming information, we are engaged in a conversation with the text. Sometimes a debate. But always invested in what the author is trying to communicate, and reflecting on what we think about their points and perspective.
Highlighting our favorite quotes can be very helpful for the next technique we will cover. I have also found that looking for “highlight worthy” pieces heightens my attention and appreciation of the texts as well.
Create a Commonplace book.
Commonplace books have been used by many of the greatest thinkers and most effective people in history. Marcus Aurelius, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, and Bill Gates all used commonplace books, to name a few.
In the future, I will write a whole article on the benefits of keeping a commonplace book, but for now I will introduce the concept. A commonplace book is one place where you keep all of the best information you come across, while reading or any other form of media. This can be either a physical journal, box of index cards (as Robert Green taught Ryan Holiday to do), or an electronic version, such as a google doc.
Keeping a commonplace book is a tangible way to see how all of your reading is growing your knowledge and understanding in a given field, or in life in general. You can see connections between many great writers, as well as important distinctions. All this can lead to you honon in on your own views and values.
Approaching your reading as a way to add to your commonplace books in a meaningful and valuable way, can motivate you to keep on track with your reading program. It can also be motivating to see that all your reading and interaction with the books is not going in a black hole, but growing your knowledge and wisdom in a real way.
Conclusion
In the area of Tik Tok and other social media platforms offering quick, cheap, and easy forms of entertainment, picking up a book and reading is more essential than ever. Resist the “empty mental calories” of mindlessly scrolling social media, and reach into the mental and soulful nutrition of the greatest wisdom in history which books can offer.
Reading is an indispensable practice for living a good life. Many of the wisest thinkers in history have distilled their knowledge into the most valuable wisdom in the form of books. There is almost no other practice which gives a greater, exponential, return on our money and time investments. Read and engage with books. Life is too short not to.
Resolve to approach reading as essential to the health of your mind and soul. It is a gift you can give yourself that no one can take away.