Finding time to read when you have none
Practical advice on finding time to read when life is busy — what actually creates reading time, what does not, and the small adjustments that compound over a year.
Most people who say they want to read more do not lack time. They lack a structure that protects the time from being eaten by phones, work, or housework. Twenty minutes of phone-scrolling becomes twenty minutes of reading easily once you set things up to make it the path of least resistance.
The biggest single change
Charge your phone in another room overnight. Keep a book on the bedside table instead. The first ten minutes after waking and the last ten before sleeping will turn into reading time without effort, because the alternative is across the house.
This is friction, not willpower. Reading and scrolling are roughly equally pleasurable; we do whichever is closer to hand. Move the book closer. Move the phone further.