20 pages a day will change your life
“Reading makes a full man.”
No truer words have been spoken.
Reading nourishes the intellect and nurtures the imagination. Some of the most prolific individuals of our time read for 80% of the day. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk have all admitted that, at some point in their lives, they’ve read for over 10 hours a day.
As an individual dedicated to becoming better every day, I decided to do the exact same thing on a much smaller scale.
Every day, I dedicate 30 minutes purely for reading and the pursuit of knowledge. I normally do this in the morning where I can fully immerse myself in the reading and reflect on it. In the morning, I am alone. I am focused.
In those 30 minutes, I generally get to read about 20 pages or so.
I’ve found those 20 pages to be life-changing.
Read to Expand Knowledge
First and foremost, reading 20 pages has allowed me to widen horizons and expand general knowledge. Now, reading 20 pages a day is no trivial task. As the average length of a book is around 250–300 pages, that means you’ll be finishing a book every 2 weeks or so.
Think about that for a second, every 2 weeks, you’ll have a new idea to ponder on; a fully formed idea that someone took six months out of their time to form, complete with documentation, research, and counter points and arguments. For context, Bill Gates reads 50 books a year, Elon Musk grew up reading 2 books a day and Mark Zuckerberg aims to finish a book every 2 weeks, This simple habit is something the most successful people do and perhaps emulating it would bring you a step closer to living a life similar to theirs.
The way to get better results in life is to learn constantly.
And the best way to learn is to read effectively, and read a lot.
As we learn to read, and read well, we place ourselves in the minds of the top minds in a given field. Ever wanted to learn how Elon built his companies? Read a book! Learn how to trade stocks? Read a book! Learn about biology? Say it with me: Read a book!
There’s thousands of years’ worth of knowledge that could be found in books. There’s so much knowledge out there that could only be found in books. For all its convenience, Google doesn't hold a candle to an expert librarian’s ability to find answers.
Read to Practice Focus
Now, I’m definitely not a once-in-a-lifetime genius yet this simple task has also allowed me to practice deep focus and strengthen my sense of self-discipline. I believe that this simple act adds deep meaning to our lives. The benefits of this activity aren’t immediate; it’s kind of like building a habit of working out — the benefits aren’t there at first but overtime, people will definitely start complimenting you on your massive brain gains whenever you drop obscure facts that they’ve never heard of.
The thing about reading is that it’s generally not a stimulating task as other people would like. If you had to sit down and read a book or scrolling through Instagram, you’d probably choose Instagram. Why? Because it’s fun — you might still be technically reading but there’s a social aspect that’s present.
Reading doesn’t have that. (And no, 30 minutes of scrolling Instagram does NOT equal 30 minutes of reading a book.)
When you read, you’re alone with you’re thoughts and for a lot of people, that can be quite monotonous; but that’s exactly how you build self-discipline and focus. You see, self-discipline is like a muscle. The more you practice it, the more you’ll have. The more you do the right things, the easier these right things become.
As you continue to build the habit of reading daily, you’ll find that at some point, the task becomes less of a challenge and more of a pastime activity. I begin to view it as less of something I have to do and more of something I just do. In that case, imagine how much more productive of a person you’ll be if you spend your valuable time reading up rather than fill it with shoddy social media posts.
Read to Start The Day
Lastly, reading sets me up for the rest of my day. I’ve managed to turn this reading into an anchor point of my day, it’s a simple act that I do everyday at the beginning of the day to start it right.
I believe that it was Jocko Willink who explained how waking up at 4:30am everyday benefits him. For Jocko, waking up extremely early is a small victory that snowballs into his other activities for the day.
Reading isn’t as extreme as waking up at 4:30 daily but after I read, it becomes easier to say no to procrastination. When the day is done and I’m in my down time, I’ve found myself beginning to say no to social media. I’ve already read for 30 minutes today, why would I dilute my mind with mindless photos of other people who I have no business with? I’m beginning to see that it doesn't add value to my life.
Now, you don’t have to read at the crack of dawn to be a productive person. You could always read on your free time in multiple spurts throughout the day. The important part is getting the task done and being consistent about it. Somedays might just be busier than others and you might not find the time to read as you get out of bed. In that case, you could use your morning or evening commute to listen to an audiobook and finish 20 pages there. I’ve found these to be great alternatives when I’m working out or walking on my way to class. If you’re interested, I’ll leave a link to the audiobook service I use down below.
With that said, I challenge you to read 20 pages for 20 days. Let’s call it the 2020 challenge. It’s a small and easy task that’s perfect for individuals looking to begin reading but are daunted by all the YouTube videos of CEOs and geniuses reading hundreds of pages a day.
Reading 20 pages a day only takes around 30 minutes of your time but if you consistently do this habit, you’ll find yourself becoming a happier, smarter person.
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Now going back to the audiobook service, I make use of Audible. Audible is a subscription service that allows you to buy audiobooks that you can listen to on your phone. It allows you to choose from a gigantic array of audiobooks narrated by amazing narrators, that you can listen to from anywhere. Try audible for free using this link: https://amzn.to/36K6iMy.
