We tend to think of reading as something we will get back to — on holiday, over the weekend, once life calms down. But the readers who finish dozens of books a year are rarely the ones with the most free time. They are the ones who made reading a small, daily, non-negotiable ritual.

Anchor it to something you already do

Attach twenty minutes of reading to a habit already in place: morning coffee, the commute, the half hour before sleep. When reading rides on the back of an existing routine, willpower stops being the deciding factor.

Keep the book visible

Out of sight is out of mind. Leave your current read on the pillow, the kitchen table, the car seat. Friction is the enemy of habit; proximity is its quiet ally.

Permission to abandon

Life is too short for books that bore you. Giving yourself permission to set a book down is what keeps the habit joyful rather than dutiful. The goal is not to finish everything — it is to keep reading.

Twenty minutes a day is roughly twenty books a year. A decade of that is a different mind.