◇note
A reading practice that survives the week
The small set of habits that actually let me read seriously alongside making things.
A note for me, written down because I keep relearning it.
The shape of the practice that actually works:
- Two long reads per week, not five. Five is performative; two finish.
- A single physical notebook. Not Notion, not Obsidian, not a tablet. Pen-on-paper for the first pass, and only the first pass. The digital follow-up happens in Margin (or, before Margin ships, in a plain text file).
- No “system.” Outlines, kanban, PARA, etc. — every system I’ve imposed I’ve quietly abandoned within a month. The closest I have to a system is write notes in the way that makes sense for the thing you’re reading right now.
- Re-read after a week. Most of what I thought I learned at the time evaporates; the re-read is when the actual ideas land.
A consistent failure mode: starting a fourth book before finishing the third. Solution, found the hard way: leave book three on the desk, open to where you stopped. The visual anchor is enough.