The 7-Step System to Actually Read Every Day

Summary

The presenter argues that reading habits often fail not because of laziness, but because it can be hard to re-enter a book after a break. The goal is to make returning easy and inviting, rather than relying on motivation or ambitious page targets.

Key Strategies

• Stop while you’re still curious. Don’t always end a reading session when you’re tired or bored. For fiction, pause at an intriguing moment; for nonfiction, pause after an idea worth thinking about.
• Leave a “curiosity bookmark.” Write a short question or prompt to help you remember where you left off and give you a reason to return. Examples: “What happens when she opens the door?” or “How could I use this idea?”
• Make reading easier to start than scrolling. Keep the book where you naturally spend time, such as on your pillow, beside your tea, or in the bag you actually carry. Put your phone a little farther away or face down.
• Match books to your energy. Keep a small reading menu: a challenging book for focused moments, an easier novel or practical book for ordinary days, and a comic or poetry for low-energy days. Choosing an easier book when tired still counts as reading.
• Use a gentle restart after missed days. Don’t try to “catch up” with a long session or punish yourself. Open to your bookmark, read its question, set a five-minute timer, and stop when it rings if you want. Five minutes is a successful return.
• Track returns, not performance. If tracking helps, draw seven circles on a bookmark and fill one in each day you return to a book—even briefly. Don’t worry about pages, speed, or how educational the reading was.
• Try the seven-day reset:
  1. Choose a book you genuinely want to read.
  2. Make a curiosity bookmark with a question or note.
  3. Put the book where you plan to read.
  4. Make your phone less convenient to reach during that time.
  5. Keep options for different energy levels.
  6. Use the five-minute rescue when restarting feels hard.
  7. After seven days, review what made returning easiest and keep that part of the routine.

Becoming a reader isn’t about finishing a certain number of books; it’s about returning to the next page.

Presenter and Sources

• Presenter: Aleena Rais, Aleena Rais Live
• Books mentioned as examples: The Brothers Karamazov; The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee; Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.