digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Build a daily reading habit by making reading automatic and easy through an if-then plan, a low-friction setup, deliberate book choices, permission to quit books, and a fixed reading time. Joel Snape says the habit matters more than the number of books read, and that it can be built without finding extra time or making drastic life changes.
Key Points
- The if-then strategy, first named by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer, pre-plans a response to a specific cue so the behavior becomes more automatic.
- Making reading the default is more effective when books are easier to reach than distractions, such as keeping a book in your bag or on a side table.
- Matching book type to time of day helps: self-help or inspiring reads suit mornings, while classic or fiction suits bedtime.
- Quitting books is fine; tracking unfinished books on a separate "DNF" list removes the guilt of leaving them half-read.
- Scheduling reading time, as with workouts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is described as the most powerful strategy and was the biggest factor in Snape's own reading increase.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Use an if-then rule with a specific cue, for example: "If I'm in a coffee shop queue or waiting for a train, then I'll read instead of browsing social media," or "If I'm bored at home, then I'll open a book instead of turning on the TV."
- Mentally rehearse the if-then plan to make it more effective.
- Remove non-essential apps from your phone's front screen and keep your preferred reading app there, or keep your phone in your bag with a Kindle or book easily accessible.
- Keep a physical book on the side table where you have your morning coffee, and keep a book in your bag. Snape says these can be different books so you don't have to move them between places.
- Keep at least two, and maybe three, books in progress at once, ideally from different genres and writing styles.
- Keep a DNF list for books you stop reading, with an optional note on why it wasn't working, to get closure.
- Schedule a fixed reading time; Snape chose 10:00 p.m. every night.
- Pair the reading slot with enjoyable habits, such as lemon and ginger tea and quiet classical music.
- Snape read 57 books in the last 12 months and says the number itself matters less than the habit.
- He notes the early sessions were hard and required willpower to resist more fun activities such as video games, but the habit became something he looks forward to.
- He mentions a seven-year-old at home in the mornings, which is why he reads self-help then and fiction at night.
- He says that if he reads inspiring or self-improvement material late at night, it keeps him awake thinking about what to act on.
Bottom Line
A reading habit comes from design, not discipline alone: make the cue specific, the book easy to reach, the schedule fixed, and the permission to quit clear.
