PSYCHOLOGISTS assert that one requires only 12 days to form a habit. If one gets engaged in a particular action or method consistently for 12 days at a given time or given manner, then one forms the habit -- which, then, refuses to go away. ‘Habits die hard’, as they say. It is obvious that the same principle applies also to forming the habit of reading. But when the loud-thinker talks about this to people, many grimace and refuse to believe that such a habit-formation can really take place. They say, in effect, they just cannot read since that is not their habit. There is no need to doubt their version. Yet, it may not be out of context if the loud-thinker suggests a method by way of which the habit of reading regularly can be formed. The word ‘reading’ often has our mental association with engaging with books for hours on end. Most people find a long engagement with books rather ‘boring’, so to say. So, they prefer to stay away from the books. But this issue can be overcome rather easily. There is actually no need for anybody to engage with books for hours on end.

 

The loud-thinker has developed a well-formed belief that reading can be done even in short stints of just a few -- of 10-15 -- minutes at a time with books. The loud-thinker loves reading and believes that that habit of his has helped him like nothing else ever did. There is an interesting, life-changing anecdote in this regard. When he was a child of less than ten years of age, the loud-thinker’s mother declared -- though in a voice wet with love -- that he was a duffer. Disturbed by that epithet, he asked his father what he should do to prove mother wrong. Father said something very simple, and very important -- ‘Read books’. That proved to be a turning point of life. From that tender age, books became an integral part of life, and have continued to be so even now several decades later. But, knowing the little boy’s intellectual limitations, Father told the loud-thinker to read only for just a few minutes at a time. The boy never even realised that how one stint of a few minutes turned into several stints of ever-increasing durations. No book, then, remained a thick and impossible-to-finish kind.

 

Once the habit got formed, there was no looking back. Of course, the loud-thinker does not remember if that habit of his was formed in 12 days or less or more. Never mind that, reading has really become a calling now -- as a great source of spiritual nourishment, and as a source of professional equipment that took the little boy from Nagpur to places around the world. Looking back, banking on sheer personal experience, the loud-thinker, therefore, suggests to his massively big family of readers that if they really want to develop the habit of reading books, all they need to do is to start reading a book for 10-15 minutes at a time. They will soon realise that they are able to finish about 10 pages of the book in that short time. If they continue with this habit, they may be able to finish a book of standard size of about 250 pages in about 20-25 days. And by any standard, that is great. So, happy reading, friends!