How to Read 5 Books a Month | Cal Newport’s Method

Cal Newport talks about how he reads 5 books every month. Cal gives 5 tips to accomplish this. The first tip is to read more interesting books. The second tip is to schedule reading like you would exercise. The third tip is to put rituals around reading. The fourth tip is to do closing pushes.

The final tip is to take everything interesting off of your phone.

0:00 Cal's intro
2:25 Choose more interesting books
3:57 Schedule reading like exercise
4:51 Put rituals around reading
5:50 Do closing pushes
6:45 Take everything interesting off your phone

Connect with Cal Newport:

About Cal Newport:
Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University. In addition to his academic research, he writes about the intersection of digital technology and culture. Cal's particularly interested in our struggle to deploy these tools in ways that support instead of subvert the things we care about in both our personal and professional lives.

Cal is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including, most recently, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work. He's also the creator of The Time-Block Planner.

The videos are considered to be used under the "Fair Use Doctrine" of United States Copyright Law, Title 17 U.S. Code Sections 107-118. Videos are used for editorial and educational purposes only and I do not claim ownership of any original video content. I don't use said video clips in advertisements, marketing or for direct financial gain. All video content in each clip is considered owned by the individual broadcast companies.

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[jakealden]

I work long hours, but I'm able to read 2, 300-page books per month by reading 10 pages of one book in the morning and 10 pages in the evening. It's not much, but that's 24 books a year or 125 books in 5 years. The pace is slow enough that I can really absorb what I'm reading rather than trying to impress people with how many books I read.

[trent]

5:52 In addition to closing pushes, I think a starting push is also really important. I try to have a good 60 to 90 minutes available when starting a book. It definitely helps build momentum.

[NickSiekierski]

"How to Read a Book" by Van Doren and Adler is a good starting point. A few things I learned: different types of books require different approaches to reading, scanning quickly through a book to start gives you an overview of what to expect, most books aren't worth reading in their entirety, don't feel guilty about not finishing a book if it's not

[devakinandan]

1.pick Interesting books
2.shedule reading time
3.build good rituals around reading or habit bundling
4. do a speed run at the end of the book.
5.make your phone boring so that reading becomes your default activity.
the reading life is a deep life and the reading life is a good life, give it a try....

[nitin_puranik]

Might I add another suggestion - Drastically reduce or eliminate the time you spend reading newspapers and redirect that time toward reading books. I'm now old enough to look back upon all the years I spent reading the newspaper. When I think about what I got out of all that, I really have nothing to show for. After a while, once you've gotten old enough and have a good understanding of the world you live in, any further newspaper reading will add no additional value to your life anymore.

[TheVCRTimeMachine]

I used to worry about how many books I read each year and each month, but eventually I just began to focus on getting the most out of one book at a time, even if it took me a whole month to read it. The number of books read in a year usually just becomes a trophy case with little knowledge or wisdom gained in the process

[gallantry]

I really liked the idea of making "Reading " your default activity, I've always thought, alright now I would actually delete all interesting apps/social media, in my free time what would I do, so I end up relapsing in a few days/weeks, but this opened up a whole world, great idea Cal!

*Note: I've deleted all interesting apps and social media, and also formatted my pc (it had bunch of games) for almost 2 weeks now :D

[tahirisaid]

Ryan Holidays book, “the obstacle is the way” got me through one of the hardest moments in my life. I would listen to it over and over on Audible for days. I recommend it. Hearing the quotes from stoic philosophers makes me feel strong and limitless. And it got me to realize that the secret to making a million is making better investment.

[hypcro]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

00:55 📚 Reading is crucial for those in knowledge work, as it exercises the brain and provides a competitive advantage.
02:33 📖 To read more, choose a wide variety of interesting books, mix audio and written formats, and always have one in progress.
04:07 🗓️ Schedule dedicated reading sessions just like you schedule exercise to prioritize reading.
05:04 ☕ Create enjoyable rituals around reading, like having a drink or setting up a comfortable reading space.
06:43 📵 Remove distracting apps from your phone to make reading your default leisure activity, boosting your reading productivity.

Made with HARPA AI

[lanaya]

oh finally!, a short focused video with NO sponsor commercials ...in les than 10 min. PERFECT !

[tuzubpz]

I. Regarding Point #2 Schedule reading like you schedule exercise. A typical book is between 300 to 350 pages. So, if you read 12 pages a day, you'll read about 360 pages in a month (12 x 30 = 360). Can easily be done in 30 minutes. Call it The Daily Dozen! Double The Daily Dozen and you've read two books and so on. II. Regarding Point #3: Put rituals around reading. Whenever you begin reading, reread the last one or two paragraphs of where you left off before beginning the next section or chapter to refresh your memory and establish momentum. III. Last, with books that have difficult or tricky names for people and places, make it a point to grasp their correct pronunciations at the beginning of a book so that when you later encounter those names and places in the book they are not frustrating momentum killers.

[anthonymwanje]

Greetings from Uganda, East Africa
. Thank you for the show. My biggest insights are two: scheduling reading sessions for each day of a week and getting off social media

[iparagonepersonalvlogs]

That first one is SOOOO important! I later found out the reason why I HATED reading in school is because I was forced to read certain books or genres from my teachers. I can understand that they have certain requirements to build other skills important to reading like concentration and long-term memory, but MANNN was it such a drag to read some awarded book that I could not understand, especially in elementary school. Now I find myself buying books that are just energizing me so much that I almost can't sit 😅

[sajash]

When the student is ready, the teacher appears, thanks a million for appearing in my life, Cal!

[sandraelder]

I take a book everywhere I go. I can drive to a pretty spot and read or while waiting for a train, bridge, laundry, doctor, grocery line, etc.

[EmmaSolomano]

I have three types of books on the go at any time. The only way I can be as productive as I want is audiobooks, and about two-thirds of the books I read are in this format. I have a paper book to read at bedtime, and then I've always got an ebook sitting on my phone ready if I have a couple of minutes of downtime, although I do usually get distracted by social media instead.

[tage]

Yayy! Finished 4th book already in the first 10 days of this year. Those are all solid books, on self help, workouts and fiction. I am loving reading once more. I did not know that reading can be broken down into smaller tasks for each week and the idea of pushing hard when finishing is coming up actually helped me to finish some of those books. Thank you so much. Just now I deleted goodreads from my mobile phone too, as I found that I update status of my reading more often. Big big big thanks!

[stephaniehopkinsartist]

Great tips. My average read per month is 8 to 10 books. Love reading so much.

[brookamos]

Hey Cal, great post! Thanks for sharing. Two questions and a comment. Questions: first, what biography did you read on Daniel Boone, and second, what books that you've read, which have had the greatest impact on you, would you recommend? Comment: from my youth I always envisioned myself as a reader; however, reality for me was far different than was my imagination, I never lived up to the ideal. As I got older, I thought I'd push myself and become the reader I wanted to be, and even though I read a lot throughout the years, my actions still did not match my expectations. And the reason was simple, I had a life to live, raising five children and trying to keep a roof over their heads and food in their mouths. It was not easy and it took most of my time. Not until I fully retired ten years ago was I finally able to become the reader I always dreamed of being. Today, I follow several of your recommendations for achieving my goal of reading at least 60 books per year, and that is setting aside each night, from about 7 pm until 3 or 4 in the morning, reading a variety of things that interest me, all while enjoying a couple of fine cigars on my porch (I live south of Tampa, so I can do this virtually all year round). But the only reason I have been able to accomplish this is because I no longer have other obligations (no kids, no job) to distract me from what I enjoy most. And for that, I am grateful. I look forward to hearing from you.

[johannes_]

Solid tips, I just personally don't like the idea of having an arbitrary number of books in a timeframe as my goal, seeing as books differ significantly in length, and in "reading difficulty". So I simply have the goal of reading minimum 2h per day, a non-fiction book I feel curious about that day. Usually that means I'm reading around 10 books at once.