I used to read quite a lot when I was a kid. I would bash through series like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter in no time. Throughout secondary school, I continued to read other series until I suddenly stopped.
I don’t know exactly why. I think it coincided with my parents getting Netflix around that time, which immediately consumed a lot of my time. From then on, I’d read the occasional book for homework and finals, but seldom for personal interest.
Then, beginning last December, my girlfriend called me out.
Apparently, my Netflix habit was “getting out of hand.” I would turn on Netflix on my tablet when I was cooking or eating (of course, only when I was eating by myself; I’m not that sad). I’d watch shows I didn’t necessarily want to watch. Practically every free minute of my time, I would turn on Netflix on whatever device I had on me.
So my girlfriend proposed a bet. Until the end of the year, I wasn’t allowed to watch any on-demand entertainment, except for social purposes. This meant I couldn’t watch anything for my entertainment unless my girlfriend, family, or friends proposed it. If I lost the bet, I’d have to buy her a Burger King meal (she loves BK fries).
I knew she was right, and since I’d been thinking about giving up Netflix anyway, I agreed to the bet.
It was hard during the first two days. Whenever I got bored, I noticed I would often substitute my Netflix craving with Instagram, so I set a 30-minute daily limit for all social media on my phone. Suddenly, I had nothing to do anymore and got quite bored. With nothing to do in the evening, I took out my E-Reader again.
My girlfriend reads a lot. So much, that I started to wonder if we shouldn’t buy a new bookshelf. (Currently, she’s stacking books on each other like they’re puzzle pieces.) She recommended “The Naturals” series, a young adult book series.
The series was easy to read and immediately captivated me. I think I read the first book in just three days and quickly continued to read the following books in a similar time span.
Reading was not only fun, but it was also deeply satisfying. I loved diving into these other worlds, into the stories.
Since Netflix was off the table, I continued reading other books: the Red Rising saga by Pierce Brown, Deep Work by Cal Newport, and others.
When 2024 started (and the bet ended), I was still reading. I didn’t need to watch Netflix when I got bored. I didn’t even exclusively read when I got bored; I started to look for opportunities to read more.
And that’s where I am today. Since the start of 2024, I’ve already read three books. I know that’s not a lot, but between my other occupations and responsibilities, I think it’s still quite a good number.
If any of you want to quit Netflix or start reading, I suggest: Just do it! In my case, I needed the extrinsic motivation of the bet to actually do it, so if you need that too, ask a friend to make that bet with you and try to stick to it.
Have fun reading!
PS: I don’t plan on making these posts that long in the future, somehow it just happened to turn out this way.
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