How I got into the habit of reading

In 2020 I read a grand total of 4 books. In 2021, 4 became 40, and it wasn't really that hard. In case you're struggling with getting into reading or developing another healthy habit, read on.

At the beginning of 2021, I realized I was wasting too much time playing FIFA on my PS4 so I decided to run an experiment. For a month, every time I felt like playing FIFA, I would instead read some pages of a book. In order to have something that would interest me at all times, I kept 3 different books on rotation: a book about my industry (tech), another on psychology and something that was very light reading and easy to read (for when I was not in the mood for anything serious).

At the end of that month, I realized how much dropping an unhealthy habit (FIFA) and changing it for a healthy one (reading) could improve my life. Since, then, the PS4 has remained disconnected from the power supply. I realize my approach might be a little extreme and might not suit everybody. However, there are takeaways and things I learned during this journey that probably would help most people:

1. It's essential to have a good variety of books to read, and not get hung up on a single one. You probably won't always be on the same wavelength for a particular genre or sort of book. Having variety to choose from removes excuses and makes it a lot easier to get reading.
2. You don't need to finish every book you start reading. Books are repetitive, some are just not a good match for you, and some are plain bad. If halfway through a book it stops catching your attention or you don't look forward to reading it anymore, don't be afraid to put it away and apick another one.
3. Forcing yourself to read a single page per day goes a long way. Once the novelty effect of switching the PS4 for reading died off, there were times when it was hard to sit down and read. At the end of the day, it does require mental focus and energy. In order to make reading a habit through these tougher days, I set myself a very simple and doable goal: read at least 1 page per day. That way, every day I could make some progress towards my bigger goal. And even if you're tired and completely out of it, it's very hard to read just 1 page. By setting a very simple goal, you trick your mind and end up doing a lot more than you thought possible.
4. Having easy access to your books creates more opportunities to read. For me, that meant switching most of my reading to Kindle so that when I don't have the actual Kindle device, I can still get some reading done on my phone. This ended up proving super useful when taking the tube, taxis, etc. If you're not into e-readers, making your books always accessible might mean always having one in your backpack or purse.