Creating systems

Reading is a habit of compounding growth. When reading, you'll learn more, and you'll generate ideas and motivation for making other changes.

Reading books means you're getting more concentrated thinking on a topic. It's also harder and requires patience and attention than reading an article for example.

The real cause of reading too few books is that you don't enjoy it enough.

Don't feel compelled to finish a book that has become boring, predictable or unhelpful. Start a new one. You can have many books through various states of completion. Some won't be finished, and that's okay. Reading less is worse than having a few go unfinished.

An obstacle to your reading habit is not having enough interesting books waiting to be read.

Create a list of potentially good books. If you have a Kindle or eReader, get samples of any book you might want to read — Source your wishlist from suggestions from other writers and authors. When someone recommends a book on a blog or tweet, add it to your wishlist.

Audiobooks tend to increase your overall quantity since listening is possible in situations when reading is not.

Since voice conveys more information through tone and pacing, audiobooks can be great where you want an emotional resonance with the ideas.

Reading takes more effort and attention than mindless scrolling. Don't allow attention-grabbing media to compete with your reading time. Limit your media use to specific times in the day.

When you are weaned from the habit of continually checking in, you'll find it a lot easier to sit and read a book without getting restless.

Set aside 30 minutes before sleep for reading. This habit helps to relax you for better rest. You will also have read a lot of books by the end of the year.

If you read 25 pages a night, you can finish more than 30 books a year with this time alone.

Turn your habit of continually checking for social media updates into something useful. 

Apps on the phone are attention-grabbing. If the apps are removed or limited to only certain times in a day, you can reduce the need to check your phone.

A project that spans multiple books is helpful to really explore a topic in-depth.

What’s a topic that fascinates you? What would you like to know much more about? The science of persuasion? The history of espionage? Pick a topic and make a cluster of books to add to your list.

Change begins with a system. The key to reading more books is to modify your environment to support these habits now.

• Take steps to limit your social media.
• Talk to your family about starting a reading habit 30 minutes before bed.

Take action now, and you'll read far more in the year ahead.