Siddhartha Gunti

You can’t read all the books.

I think you should read because you enjoy doing it (Any other reasons wear off in the long run. Any other benefit is a side bonus.)

Your reading and writing rate changes with your phase of life. As long as you are pulling back to it as much as you can, you are already doing better than most. 

If you have a busy life, the only way to read/ write is to figure out the trade. That time you are watching YT video/ are going on a walk/ taking a cab ride/ bored on a flight/ a few minutes before your sleep. You will have to say no to a few things.

If you are a calendar person, try keeping a recurring slot of few mins on schedule called ‘me time’. This slot of time has been on my calendar for 8 years now. It’s a good reminder. Not necessary that I read in that slot but it’s a good checkpoint to remind myself if I did read that week.

Being part of a community helps. Even better, if you can bring what you read into your conversations.

This didn’t work for me, but it did for my friends — You could try podcasts/ audiobooks.

In the long run, what helped me is that I became 'book/reading guy' in my friends and family circle. If someone has to gift me something, they gift me books. I keep one book on me, almost always, even if I am not going to read. It's the sort of persona I wanted to be. The benefit is— when I am reading something, they don't find it 'off' or try to pull me away from it.

Even after all this, it's not like I am a YT booktuber who eats books like chocolates. But hey, you anyway can't read all the books. So who's keeping the count?

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