Heyo, Nik here!
This book is called The Daily Stoic:
This year, I'm reading this book for the 4th time. How many books have you read four times? Me, zero.
You know what the best part is? I only read one page a day. It takes me even less than 4 minutes.
This book is a stroke of genius for many reasons.
For one, the wisdom of ancient Stoic philosophy is timeless. I change every year, but values like rationality, hope, and patience never go out of style.
For another, it debunks yet another pervasive reading myth: "You must read books cover to cover to unlock most of their value." This is nonsense.
You can jump straight to chapter 8 of The 5 Second Rule, understand what the rule is, and start trying it. Forget the other 250 pages of fluff. Often, those are just noise.
Finally - and this is the biggie - The Daily Stoic gave me permission to read only a little each day. I can't stress enough how important and powerful that is.
You are allowed to read only 4 minutes a day. You are allowed. It's okay. You're not a bad person for not reading a book a week.
In fact, you're probably smarter than all the power-readers who only do it to brag about it. You're efficient. You read, you extract, and then you apply.
When I started my writing journey, I set a simple goal: Write 250 words each day. At 100 words per minute (my typing speed is fast), that's 2.5 minutes if I don't stop to think.
Of course, I often did. I spent 5 minutes on it. Or 10. But then, even more importantly, I often kept going. I ended up writing 1,000 words instead of 250. That's the power of low expectations.
When you chunk the work, set the bar low, and make your daily commitment laughably easy to live up to, you'll find yourself exceeding your limitations.
Thus is the science of habits, and that's why shooting to read 4 minutes a day is a fantastic place to start.
Here are some more tips I've picked up over the years:
- Use unit bias. Humans love to think in units. We want 1 burger, 1 stock, 1 week off. Use this to your advantage. Start by reading 1 page a day, and then later increase the unit to 1 chapter if you feel like it.
- Set a timer. Put yourself on the clock. Set it to 4 minutes, then hit the button. Time tends to fly by when you can hear it ticking. Make this the only noise coming from your phone at that time.
- Block space in your calendar to read & implement. If you spend 4 minutes a day reading + 11 more trying to take action on what you've learned, that's a solid 15 minutes you dedicate to your personal growth each day. It's also a big enough commitment to deserve space on your calendar. Don't let anyone invade that time. Take it!
- Check a box every time you complete your 4 minutes of reading. It's easy, it's satisfying, and the visual cue of a growing chain of successes will propel you to keep going. You can do this with a habit tracking app, like coach.me, or on a paper calendar.
If you read 4 minutes a day for a year, that's 24 hours - a full day - of reading.
If you add 11 minutes of implementation, that's more than 1 hour each week dedicated to your future.
Never underestimate the power of small gains. By the way, we provide a ton of cannon fodder for your daily reading habit in our Four Minute Books Lifetime Membership, but more on that tomorrow.
For now, I'll let you play with the implementation of reading 4 minutes a day. Trust me, it's enough to change your life. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to read my daily page.
Happy reading,
-Nik from Four Minute Books
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