Daily reading
A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
Reading books every day at a set time, often before bed or first thing, at whatever page count is sustainable. Beyond what you learn, regular readers describe it as attention training: staying with a single argument for an hour is the same muscle deep work needs. Several people here publish what they read as accountability.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Ali AbdaalDoes it
Doctor turned YouTuber · author of Feel-Good Productivity
Daily reading, one book a week in depth, and book notes and recommendations published as a standing part of his output.
Source: aliabdaal.com: how to read 200 books a year - Arnold SchwarzeneggerDoes it
Bodybuilding champion, actor, former governor · Arnold's Pump Club
The papers in English and German, plus a script or two, every morning after training.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #216 transcript: Arnold Schwarzenegger Part 2 - Austin KleonDoes it
Writer and artist · Steal Like an Artist
Publishes a list of the best things he read each year. For 2025 he set no quotas and no goals and read to escape writing, then published the list anyway because he is a completist who cannot stand to break the streak.
Source: AustinKleon.com: My reading year, 2025 - Bill GatesDoes it
Microsoft co-founder · Gates Notes reading lists
About 50 books a year. His rule is to finish every one he starts, no matter how much he dislikes it. He told Time that every book teaches him something, and that you do not start getting old until you stop learning.
Source: CNBC Make It: This is the simple trick Bill Gates uses to remember what he reads“On vacation I get to read about 3 hours a day so I get through a lot of books … for a lot of books that is key to my learning”
CNBC Make It: Bill Gates: On vacation I get to read about 3 hours a day (opens in a new tab) · 22 Mar 2021 “I read an hour almost every night. It’s part of falling asleep”
Entrepreneur: Why Bill Gates Washes the Dishes and Reads for an Hour to Get a Good Night's Sleep (opens in a new tab) · 10 Dec 2021 - Cal NewportDoes it
Computer science professor · author of Deep Work
Books daily: high-quality leisure is what makes reduced screen time sustainable rather than empty, he argues.
Source: Digital Minimalism - Chris HemsworthDoes it
Actor · Limitless and Centr
Reads most nights in place of screens as part of his sleep routine.
Source: Fox News: Chris Hemsworth makes major lifestyle changes after learning he's high risk for Alzheimer's disease - Chris WilliamsonDoes it
Host · Modern Wisdom
Ten minutes of reading a day is the floor, which he lists among the highest-return resolutions he has kept, and he publishes a hundred-book reading list.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, 2024 Candidates & Butterflies - Greg McKeownDoes it
Author · Essentialism
Reads scripture and long classic biographies, picked for being as far from the day's news cycle as he can get. He finished David McCullough's John Adams and said it left him thinking about what he wants to do with his son.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #355 transcript - Hugh JackmanDoes it
Actor · Wolverine and The Greatest Showman
Every morning he and his then wife Deb read the same book aloud to each other for at least 30 minutes, splitting it half and half, before they meditate. He nicked the idea from Patrick Stewart, who wakes 30 minutes early to read whatever his call time. The day invariably gets away from you, he says, so doing it first means the time together has already happened.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #444 transcript - James ClearDoes it
Author · Atomic Habits
Twenty pages every morning whatever else the day does, roughly 36 books a year, and he publishes book notes.
Source: jamesclear.com: how to read more - Jocko WillinkDoes it
Retired Navy SEAL officer · Jocko Podcast
History and military accounts, constantly, and much of the podcast is built directly around books he is working through.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcript - LeBron JamesDoes it
Basketball player · NBA all-time leading scorer
Reading before games became a playoff ritual in 2012, when he worked through West by West, The Pact, The Tipping Point, the Hunger Games trilogy and Jay-Z's Decoded during one postseason run. It relaxed him and gave him a break from preparation, he said, so he could zero in once he put the book down.
Source: Shelf Awareness: NBA Champion LeBron James Was 'Reading a Little Bit More'“For me, it's relaxing honestly. You spend so much preparation for the games, sometimes you just need to get away from it for a little bit. The reading has helped me get away from the game a little bit, and I'm able to zero in once I'm done and get ready for the games.”
Shelf Awareness: NBA Champion LeBron James Was 'Reading a Little Bit More' (opens in a new tab) · 22 Jun 2012 - Lex FridmanDoes it
AI researcher · Lex Fridman Podcast
About an hour a day on a Kindle plus roughly two hours of audiobooks, technical material and literature both.
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast: 1984 book episode transcript - Mark WahlbergDoes it
Actor and producer · The 2:30 a.m. daily routine
Reading sits in the pre-dawn block: he told TODAY he gets his reading and his prayer time done after the 4 a.m. gym session, before the three trips up the stairs it takes to wake his teenagers for school. What he reads, by his own account elsewhere, is largely his prayer book.
Source: TODAY: Mark Wahlberg says he's had to tweak his viral morning routine - Mel RobbinsDoes it
Author and podcaster · The Let Them Theory
Gets her book out once she is in bed and budgets that time in when she sets her bedtime. Some nights she says she is too tired to read much and turns the light off; other nights she reads longer. Reading or an audiobook is also how she fills the bath at the end of her evening routine.
Source: The Mel Robbins Podcast: 4 Nighttime Habits to Be Energized & Sleep Better - Michael PhelpsDoes it
Olympic swimmer · Most decorated Olympian in history
One page, or one quote. He mixed in a daily reading to slow his days down, usually from The Book of Awakening or The Daily Stoic, left to sit before the day starts.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #494: Michael Phelps and Grant Hackett, transcript“So for time to slow things down, I tried to mix in more of a daily reading. So Mark Nepo has a good one, The Book of Awakening and then The Daily Stoic”
The Tim Ferriss Show #494: Michael Phelps and Grant Hackett, transcript (opens in a new tab) · 23 Jan 2021 - Morgan HouselDoes it
Writer · The Psychology of Money
Starts far more books than he finishes, and shuts one ten minutes in if it is not landing. He credits Charlie Munger for the idea; the line that stuck was about not letting bad books burden you. A low bar on what to try is deliberate, he argues, since a high one feeds confirmation bias and keeps you on the same authors.
Source: Collaborative Fund: How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong Filter“My reading strategy is to start as many books as I can but finish few of them. Years ago I heard Charlie Munger say “Most books I don’t read past the first chapter. I’m not burdened by bad books,” and it stuck with me.”
Collaborative Fund: How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong Filter (opens in a new tab) · 3 Aug 2023 - Naval RavikantDoes it
Angel investor · AngelList and the Naval podcast
Reading runs constantly rather than on a schedule: around fifty books open on a Kindle, six or seven more in print, every one of them in progress. He says he can give a mini-review of any of them but has not actually finished one.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show transcript: Naval Ravikant - Oprah WinfreyDoes it
Talk show host and producer · The Oprah Winfrey Show
The first thing she does after waking is read something inspiring, she wrote in O, with her favorite teachings kept within reach on the nightstand. Many of them come from people who had already sat down with her on Super Soul Sunday.
Source: Oprah.com: What Oprah Knows for Sure About Finding Daily Inspiration“I love being surrounded by books. For me, they're like art, little pieces of sculpture placed all over the house, reminding me, always, of the power of the written word. Just looking at them brings me the purest kind of joy.”
Oprah.com: What Oprah Knows for Sure About the Joy of Reading (opens in a new tab) - Ryan HolidayDoes it
Writer · The Daily Stoic
Reads hundreds of books a year and insists he reads slowly, on purpose. There is no trick, by his account: he carries a book everywhere and opens it in the gaps.
Source: RyanHoliday.net: Here's Some Stuff Worth Carrying With You Everywhere - Shane ParrishDoes it
Writer · Farnam Street and The Knowledge Project
Twenty-five pages a day is his literal rule, and he says that once he commits to the minimum he almost always goes past it. He worked out that the pace clears roughly ten thousand pages a year, which is how the doorstoppers finally get read.
Source: fs.blog: just twenty-five pages a day“The solution I devised for myself is a simple one: 25 pages a day. That’s it. Just commit to that, and then do it.”
fs.blog: Just Twenty-Five Pages a Day (opens in a new tab) - Steven BartlettDoes it
Entrepreneur · The Diary of a CEO
Preparation for guests means heavy reading, and he frequently recommends the books behind an episode.
Source: The Diary of a CEO podcast - Warren BuffettDoes it
Investor · Berkshire Hathaway chairman
Five or six hours a day, he says in the HBO documentary Becoming Warren Buffett, followed by long stretches of just sitting and thinking about business problems, which he admits is sometimes unproductive. CNBC counts six newspapers a day. Todd Combs recalls him telling Columbia students to read 500 pages a day because knowledge compounds, and guessing that few of them would.
Source: CNBC Make It: Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban agree this one habit is key to success“I still probably spend five or six hours a day reading … I like to sit and think. I spend a lot of time doing that and sometimes it is pretty unproductive, but I find it enjoyable to think about business or investment problems.”
CNBC Make It: Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban agree this one habit is key to success (opens in a new tab) · 15 Nov 2017 - Jeff BezosRecommends
Amazon and Blue Origin founder · Six-page memos and eight hours of sleep
Reads the newspapers each morning, but the case he makes is for books: reading a book is a long-format thing, while most of what a phone does shortens attention spans. He stops short of calling that proven, and says it is important to spend some of your time and some of your life on long attention span things.
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast #405 transcript: Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin - Matthew WalkerRecommends
Sleep scientist · author of Why We Sleep
Reading a physical book in dim light is the wind-down he suggests, with a move out of bed to read elsewhere if sleep has not arrived.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under focus or productivity.
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Early rising
A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
On record from 11 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily writing
Write something every day, published or not
On record from 10 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Phone-free first hour
No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Margin notes
Writing in the margins while reading, especially where you disagree with the author
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Thinking retreats
Blocks of time cleared of the schedule to sit with one hard problem
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Written goal sheet
Goals written down, in numbers, and kept where you see them every morning
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.