One tiny change that helped me read more books | #56

For me, books are a source of knowledge, insights, wisdom and a favorite pass time. I love reading books to learn something new or just to entertain myself with a great novel. But while my list of books to read kept growing in the last couple of years, I struggled with actually reading them. I probably read less than 8 books in the last 2 years. I blamed the lack of time and energy. I blamed my work schedule. I blamed my travels. But deep inside I knew that these are just excuses; I just didn’t prioritize reading books. I wanted to make a change.

I wanted to get back to reading consistently. I wanted to get back to actually reading books on my wish list, not just collecting titles. I want to get back to being an avid reader again. So I made a small commitment - I set a goal to read 10 pages every day.

Reading 10 pages a day is indeed a small commitment. An average reader covers 10 pages in about 10 mins. A slow reader like me might take 15-20 mins, depending on the complexity of the material. In any case, everybody can read 10 pages/day - even during the busiest of days.

While it’s a tiny commitment on a day to day basis, it allowed me to read 13 books in a matter of 200 days. In 200 days I read almost double the amount of books I did in the last 2 years. In this time I tackled the 2000-page, 4-part Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, works of Dostoevsky and Orwell, the almanacks of 3 great thinkers, and several other books. This tiny change helped me consistently make progress on my books and complete them ahead of time. While I set out to read 10 pages a day, I’ve read over 4,600 pages - or an average of 23 pages per day.

Why tiny commitments result in big outcomes

While I set out to read a mere 10 pages a day, I ended up doubling the set goal. There are a couple of reasons why this happens.

First is the activation energy. It's the minimum effort needed to get things going. When you set a big and a challenging objective, you need a lot of activation energy to tackle it. On the other hand, tiny goals like 10 pages a day don't need much activation energy. You can get it done during a short break, during your commute, or right before going to sleep. The task seems small and doable, so we just get it done.

Once the task is started, it's easier to keep it going because of the momentum effect. If you are reading an interesting book, you might not want to put it down even if you achieved your daily goal. You may decide to finish the chapter or even the whole book. There were days when I read over 100 pages because I was hooked.

The third reason is the power of streaks. Once you build a streak of over 10-20 days, you start feeling bad about breaking it. The goal becomes to keep the streak going. But the best thing about streaks is that they turn the desired behavior into a default action. Once you do something every single day, you stop relying on motivation to get it done. It becomes a natural part of your day.

Tiny improvements don’t just add up, they compound.

The downside of a number as a goal

When it comes to books, most people set a certain number of books as an end goal. I've seen people set super ambitious goals like 40 or 52 books to read in a year. No matter the amount, these types of goals might are disadvantageous for several reasons.

First, they push to achieve a certain number of books without taking into account the complexity of the material you are reading. Some books are tougher to read than others. Reading Dostoevsky is not the same as reading J.K.Rowling. And when your goal is to read a certain number of books, you might favor easier books over more complicated ones.

Second is that when you don't achieved your desired amount of books, you feel like you failed. If I set an ambitious goal of 52 books per year and I read 20, I might feel like I failed my goal even though I’ve read more than most people.

But the worst part is that these kinds of goals might discourage you from trying at all. You might decide to prematurely give up on the goal if you feel like you won’t achieve it at the end.

When you set a simple goal as 10 pages a day, it doesn't matter how many books you will end up reading in a year. Your goal is to just read today and that's all that matters.

Make a tiny commitment, achieve big results

When I set out on this journey over 200 days ago, I didn’t expect that I will end up reading so many books or writing this essay. Just like daily writing, reading was a tiny commitment delivered consistently over a long period of time. When delivered consistently, tiny improvements don’t add up - they compound.

Now it’s your turn - what kind of a tiny commitment will you be making today? Comment below or send me an email about your commitment. Beware, it might change your life.