How to Read One Book Per Week (Even if You Read Slowly)

Reading more books is one of the best investments you can make in your life. Every book you read increases your knowledge and motivation and, contrary to popular opinion, makes it more likely you’ll take action (not less).

Last year, I read 105 books. I have some advantages that helped me hit this number: reading is part of my job, I’ve already read a lot and, while I don’t speed read, I do read at a decent pace.

But even if you don’t have those advantages, I do believe that anyone can read one book per week if they make it a goal and put in the effort. To that end, I’d like to offer nine strategies that have worked for me:

1. Always have a book. Preferably a good one.

You can’t read a book you don’t have. We have at our fingertips an inescapable flood of videos, news, text messages and social media posts. But for most of us, the number of books within arm’s reach that we’re genuinely excited to read is usually zero.

The first way to fix this is to install an e-reader app on your phone and load it with books. Borrow them from your library or pick public domain books if you’re worried about cost. If you prefer paper, then resolve to lug around a paper copy in your bag as you go about your day.

Having a book doesn’t guarantee you’ll read it, but it is a prerequisite.

2. Keep all three book types stocked.

I always have at least one of each of the following on the go: a paper book, an audiobook, and an e-book. Sometimes multiples of each.


While listening to a book differs from reading one, and screens and pages don’t feel the same, the advantage of multimodal reading is that it allows you to read in more situations. I can listen to an audiobook while I’m doing the dishes, but can’t easily read the same book as a paperback while doing chores. I can read a few digital pages in while waiting in line at the bank, but I’m unlikely to whip out a hardcover.

3. Don’t finish every book.

Often, the biggest obstacle to reading more books is a book you’ve lost interest in, yet still tell yourself you’re going to finish. It lies on your nightstand, collecting dust, while you binge a Netflix show instead.

Let go of the need to finish every book and instead focus on reading books you’re genuinely eager to read.

4. Delete social media apps from your phone.

Most people I’ve shared the “always have a book” strategy with have struggled to get much reading done on their phone. The reason is simple: they have too many other options that have lower cognitive effort: social media, news and more.

If you ditch those apps and stick to Kindle instead, you’ll get more reading done in those spare moments when you have your phone but not a book.

5. Read before bed. (You’ll sleep better too.)

Many of the people who took on our Foundations challenge last year greatly improved both their reading and sleep through one habit: aiming to read for fifteen minutes right before bed.

This automatically creates time every day for reading (which adds up), but it also encourages you to sleep a little earlier than staying on a screen.

6. Build an “antilibrary.”

Most people have shelves full of books they have read. Italian scholar Umberto Eco instead kept an antilibrary—shelves full of books he hadn’t read yet.



Having a large list of books you haven’t read, but would like to read, can spur you to read more. This can be a physical bookshelf full of interesting books you haven’t read yet, but it can also be a digital “to read” list full of suggestions.

7. Design a reading project.

If I read books purely because I found each one interesting, I’d read half or a third as many books as I do. Instead, most of my reading is project-based. I decide what topic I want to deepen my knowledge about and then craft reading lists around it.

Ask yourself what you’re interested in. Then find a good list online of books about that topic (or ask AI), and aim to work through several of the titles from that list.

The advantage of a reading project is that the motivation to master a topic is often greater than the motivation to finish any particular book. Additionally, only reading one or two books on a topic often leaves you with a fairly shallow understanding of it. Deeper insights often emerge only after reading several books that examine the topic from different, credible angles.

8. Talk about books with friends.

Sharing what you learn from books is one of the best ways to motivate yourself to keep reading. Formal book clubs are an obvious way to make use of social motivation, but so are informal chats with friends who read, especially if your interests overlap. You can swap insights from different books, thus adding to each other’s recommendations.

If you’re not surrounded by avid readers, posting brief notes and takeaways from your reading on social media can be a good habit to cultivate. It keeps you accountable and forces you to reflect on what you’ve read.

9. See yourself as a reader.

Reading a book per week may sound daunting. Depending on how many books you read now, it may even seem impossible.

Ultimately, reading is like any other habit: it begins as a change in behavior, but it is sustained by a change in identity. If you see yourself as a reader—someone who reads a lot of books for fun and for curiosity—you will become one.

The problem of reading books isn’t about how fast you read, how you take notes or the “right” technique. Instead, it’s about motivation and training: wanting to be the kind of person who reads a lot of books and developing the mental capacity to stick with it. If you can see yourself as the kind of person who reads a book every week, you’re at least halfway to becoming one.