Reading Habit

My monkey brain is in overdrive when I am alone. I can’t read. I can’t write. I can’t watch an entire movie. I can’t code. Well this is all I can do when I can. There is not much else to me.

I used to think that I am a reader. I haven’t completed a book in years. I have purchased and abandoned countless books. Tsundoku, the Japanese word, was coined for me. I feel terrible. I can’t live up to this image that I had created for me.

I am addicted to my phone. The smooth screen is a portal to a world of sleaze, anger, rage, jealousy, desire, and a hundred other emotions one would be better off without. 

The antidote is entering the flow state. Coding is the only activity that lets me enter a flow state for hours. I don’t enter that state doing any other activity. As I start, there is no flow state. I need a small win to get started. Once I get that, I try to get one more win. Then one more. Wins are not literal. I doubt I even register it. A win can be as small as changing the color of a button, fixing the spacing between two elements. 

I need to figure out if I can create such opportunities for wins when I am reading. Tim Ferris advises do less than what you can do. I guess that means start by reading a page a day. I could read more on some days if I want. But read at least one page. From any book. Starting now.