The reading habit that tripled my pace, and it wasn't reading faster

I used to think slow readers just needed to read faster. What actually tripled my annual count wasn't speed at all — it was always having a book within reach, physically, in every room and bag, so idle five-minute gaps became reading time instead of phone time.

The actual reading speed barely changed. What changed was the number of five-minute windows that turned into pages instead of scrolling, and those windows add up to hours a week that most readers never count as reading time at all.

A book on the kitchen counter, one in the car, one on the nightstand — friction removed, not speed added. That's the whole trick, and it did more for my yearly count than any speed-reading technique I ever tried.

Part of the deeper dive: The Reader's Guide to Actually Finishing More (and Better) Books.