Here’s How My Friend is Cultivating a Reading Habit

My friend decided to build a reading habit in 2023.

He hasn’t been much of a reader. In December 2022, his office came up with a novel scheme where each employee got multiple non-fiction books. If you allow me to digress for a minute, I think that is a great move by his office. Leaders, as Ryan Holiday likes to say, are readers. Back to my friend – he decided to give reading a try. He bought three non-fiction books and made a new-year resolution to read books.

He reads 20 pages of a book first thing each morning. Not being a reader, he felt this was slow progress. On the contrary, he had unwittingly embarked on a powerful strategy – building a daily reading habit. Interestingly, the first book he started reading was James Clear’s Atomic Habits. My friend’s approach to reading Atomic Habits is one of the key habits Clear recommends. As little as 5 pages, nay, even 1 page a day is fine. But the rule is no zero days – you can’t skip a day.

Now, there is no one way to read books. I read books in bursts and spurts. Samurai Hetal Sonpal leverages audiobooks to their fullest. It doesn’t matter how you approach reading books. What matters is that you read books. 

Here are eight incredible articles about books from os.me authors.

Highlights of Atomic Habits – Are you late to the new year resolution bandwagon? Worry not – Pooja’s article reassures us that it is better to start late than never. She delivers the promise in her headline – she summarizes salient points of James Clear’s Atomic Habits in this easy-to-digest article. 

The Outcome of Deep Practice with Kids – Rajesh Kodukula provides a succinct look into deep practice principles outlined in Daniel Coyle’s superb book The Talent Code. Rajesh’s daughter applied these principles to learn the flags of the world. An inspiring glimpse into the endless possibilities to learn, for children and adults alike.

The Happiness Project – In the first week of January, Nikunj inspired os.me folks to work on building (or kicking) one habit each month. Gretchen Rubin did this exercise and chronicled her journey in The Happiness Project. Surekha Chandrasekhar provides a beautiful glimpse into this book (which has been on my to-read shelf for a while; maybe I should make finishing this book a part of my 2023 t0-accomplish list).

How Will You Measure Your Life? – What constitutes a good life? How will you measure if you’ve led a good life? Tough questions with no clear answers. Late Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, known for authoring The Innovator’s Dilemma, addresses these questions in this thought-provoking book. Anand Om Sankaran provides a thoughtful summary of Christensen’s How Will You Measure Your Life.

The Power of Now by Echkhart Tolle – The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a modern-day spiritual bestseller. Manojanand Swami distills seven lessons from The Power of Now.

39197 Pages Across 131 Books – Hetal Sonpal talks about some of his favourite reads from the 131 books he read in 2021. You are guaranteed to find at least one book that will pique your interest from Hetal’s list. 

Illustration of the Divine Brahman – Pari Selva Kumar narrows down on chapter 31 in the book Meditation and Spiritual Life by Swami Yatishwarananda of the Ramakrishna Mission. He draws our attention to illustrations from the book that depict the relationship between the human and the divine.  

The Psychology of Money – Vandana shares eight of her favourite takeaways from the popular book The Psychology of Money. If you haven’t read it, Spiritual Leader Om Swami’s article on this book is a must-read.

What are Your Book Recommendations?

Did you read any great books that you’d like to recommend to fellow os.me readers?

If you read some books that gave you ‘aha’ moments, you should consider writing an article about said book. Writing about your favourite books reinforces the important thoughts you read. 

And you’ll be performing a random act of kindness – you’ll be recommending a great book to fellow readers.

Image Credit: Ben White from Unsplash