How to Build a Lifelong Reading Habit

Reading daily isn’t a habit you’re born with ー it’s something you learn, and it takes time and perseverance, but it is so rewarding.

Luckily, my mother instilled in me at a very young age the habit of reading books. At 6 years old, I was already reading novels at a pretty fast pace. By 10, I was reading classics and made my way through the family’s vast collection of children’s books — reading almost a hundred of them in just a few years.

At the age of 11, I was a savvy writer, way above the level of my peers and my writing skills were excellent. French isn’t an easy language to learn, and most native adults still have issues with grammar and spelling. Reading helped me become a good writer.

Eventually, I realized that the reading bug wasn’t given to everyone. As a kid, most of my peers found reading the lamest activity on Earth, but it was, and still is, part of my daily routine. It’s like brushing my teeth, I wouldn’t go one day without it. If you‘re looking to develop this habit as well, here’s how you can become an avid reader starting now:

3 pages a day.

That’s all it takes.

I used to read 3 little pages a day for a few months, which developed not only the habit but the taste of reading. This tiny habit led me to read at least one book per month for the rest of my life. If you already came across books, podcasts, or blog posts about developing lifelong habits, this won’t be a secret for you: start small, but be consistent. Do it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. That’s the big secret. Reading 3 pages is so easy that it doesn’t matter how busy you are, you’ll manage to get it done. Maybe you’ll end up reading 100 pages or just 3, but the most important fact here is that you’ll be reading every day. This will make you a reader.

Make it part of your routine

It sounds easy to incorporate this tiny habit into your routine, but sticking to it is actually harder than it sounds. I recommend doing it first thing in the morning for a few weeks so you’re certain to stick to it for as long as it takes to actually want to do it. Later on, you’ll need to pick a moment where you have time to read more than a few pages if you wish to, so you can make progress and slowly go from 3 pages to 20, 30, 50, or even 100.

Daily goals are the most effective

When you’ll start wanting to go bigger and eventually read a book per week or per month, remember to keep breaking it into daily goals. If you’re planning to read a book every month, it’s too easy to postpone your daily reading to tomorrow. That’s how you lose the habit of doing something, and then you’ll have to do the hard work all over again. You need to create a sense of urgency. If your book is 510-page long, then aim to read 17 pages per day for 30 days.

Don’t like a book? Ditch it

When you don’t like a book, it’s difficult to keep reading it every day and the temptation to just “read more tomorrow” is higher. And once you stop reading every day, it just becomes harder and harder to come back to it. Don’t force yourself to read a book if you’re not interested in it or if you don’t like it.

The goal is to have fun reading your book and learning new things, not to make it a painful activity. Assuming it’s not a college-required reading, then nobody is grading you. This isn’t an assignment. Just ditch it and pick a better book.

Join a community of readers

This will contradict my previous advice but it’s a step that’s necessary for some of us. If you need to be held accountable in order to achieve your goals, or if you thrive within a community, then joining a book club or another sort of reading community can do you good. A reading circle will hold you accountable and you’ll find pleasure in sharing your thoughts about the books you read with other people.

Reading will make you a better writer and a better person. What are you waiting for?