Reading is a habit of compounding growth. Learn more and you’ll generate ideas and enthusiasm for making other changes.

Reading books, not just random online articles, is especially helpful. when you read a book, you’re getting more concentrated thinking on a topic than shorter essays.

Books, however, are also harder to read. They require patience and attention that is often in short supply. As a result, I think it makes sense to single out some specific strategies for increasing the amount of books you read.

The habit I’ve had the most success with in increasing the number of books I read may seem like a paradoxical one. Isn’t the goal to finish more books? Why would abandoning them without hesitation be a good thing?

But the real cause of reading too few books is that you don’t enjoy it enough. The worst thing for your enjoyment is to feel compelled to finish a book that has become boring, predictable or unhelpful.

I often have ten or more books through various states of completion that I read at a time. I know I won’t finish some of those and that’s okay.