When a very successful and inspirational friend of mine shared that she was starting a new health and fitness challenge for 75 days, my FOMO senses lit up and I was curious to find out exactly what the challenge entailed. Along with diet and fitness aspects, one part of the challenge was to read ten pages of a non-fiction book every day. Given how many half-read business and personal development books I have on my bookshelf, I knew this was a challenge I needed to do too! 

So, with some minor tweaks to the original ’75 Hard’ program to suit my current goals, I created my own version of the challenge and instantly fell in love with reading ten pages of non-fiction every day! 

Over the first three days, I pondered on why stopping at ten pages felt so good to me. I realised that it was because of these three things:

• It was easy to fit into my current routine (15-30 minutes).
• It gave me a sense of accomplishment (which is brilliant for dopamine-craving ADHD brains).
• It kick-started my creative juices and boosted motivation and productivity for the rest of the day.

That’s a winning habit right there! 

In this article, I want to dive deeper into these three areas, share more of my personal experiences and the benefits of reading non-fiction on a regular basis. 

The power of small, consistent habits 

It’s so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. – James Clear, Atomic Habits

I’ve spent 50 years on Planet Earth and over that time I can categorically say that when I make small changes on a consistent basis, I feel far more accomplished and motivated to continue, which means I go on to achieve the results or outcome I desired. 

Working for 25 years as a freelance nutrition coach and personal trainer gave me the opportunity to not only use the ‘small, consistent habits’ concept for myself in my health, fitness, nutrition and lifestyle, but gave me the chance to share my knowledge and experience with my clients and wider audience online and watch them succeed too.

For example, I always used the mantra ‘eat more plants’ long before plant-based eating was a trend, and definitely long before ultra-processed vegan ‘foods’ became popular. Encouraging people to #eatmoreplants meant showing them simple ways they could add one piece of fruit to their breakfast, or add a side of raw vegetables (carrot sticks, green salad, cherry tomatoes) to their sandwiches at lunch, or add some grated carrot or courgette to a home-made bolognese sauce. 

In every nutrition consultation, I always focused on these small, simple changes to help my clients succeed in a way that felt easy and improved their sense of achievement, which of course meant they were more able to stick to a nutrition program long term. 

Of course, the same was true for exercise programs. As a personal trainer, I encouraged my clients to not just come to the gym twice a week, but to incorporate small, micro workouts into their everyday life: take a 20 minute walk during their lunch break, do squats in the kitchen while waiting for the kettle to boil, get up from their desk every hour to move around the office, or get off the bus a stop early and walk the extra 10 minutes home. 

Science has now proven the benefits of being more active every day – which of course we all knew intuitively, but had forgotten (or chosen to ignore) in our modern, comfortable world. 

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. A slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different destination. – James Clear, Atomic Habits

Dopamine – our natural reward system

As someone who experiences life in a very similar way to someone diagnosed with ADHD, (thanks TikTok and YouTube for helping me realise this!), I now understand my own habits far better and can see that my past ‘failures’ were not failures in the negative sense, but simply a failure to set myself up for success in the correct way. 

Without any ‘reward’ for my actions, I’d quickly lose interest and revert to old behaviours that pushed me even further from the success or results I craved. 

We see this all the time when we look at the traditional approaches towards diet and weight loss. Instead of focusing on small goals for today or this week, we set a huge, audacious goal like ‘losing 2 stone in 2 months’ or ‘dropping 3 dress sizes before my best friend’s wedding in 3 months’. And while some people with crazy amounts of willpower can make those kinds of goals a reality, the vast majority of us (ADHD or not) simply get derailed, lose interest or ‘make do’ with a smaller amount of success than our original goal. And the knock-on effect is that we feel like a failure which makes us even less likely to try again. 

Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-lifetime transformations. James Clear, Atomic Habits

But when you start with smaller daily goals and make them a consistent habit, these compound each week, each month and each year to catapult you to a place you never even dreamed was possible for your physical and mental health. 

For example:

• Doing a 10 minute meditation before bed
• Stretching for 10 minutes every morning
• Walking every day for at least 15 minutes
• Getting sunlight for 20 minutes a day
• Spending 20 minutes learning a new skill, subject or hobby

The ‘reward’ in these situations isn’t a physical reward like chocolate cake, a G&T or a new item of clothing, but the physical and mental rewards that automatically accompany our positive, consistent habits. 

We feel so much better almost instantly when we get out in nature, walk through the countryside or stride along the beach. And that’s compounded if we also feel rather smug that we chose that activity instead of sitting on the sofa watching Friends for the 17th time! 

Plus, having achieved anything on our to-do list is dopamine-fuelled anyway! So start the day with a 10 minute walk, 10 minutes of reading and 5 minutes of meditation and you’ll get a rush of happy hormones that propel you forwards with motivation and enthusiasm for the day ahead. 

Reading non-fiction books gets your creative thinking juices flowing

Most non-fiction self-development books (or ‘business books’) have some element of exercises to do or action to take during the process of reading the book. These might be journal prompts, a quiz or specific actions to take to achieve your goals, such as: to grow your business, discover your personality type or create better boundaries in relationships. 

When I was in my 20s and early 30s, I loved reading personal growth books, but I actively avoided doing the deeper work that was contained in those little end-of-chapter exercises! Perhaps I was afraid of what I might uncover, or maybe I was just too overwhelmed with everyday life and the pressures of bringing up two young children, or maybe it was my uniquely wired brain that just wanted to get to the end as fast as possible!

Thankfully, at some point in my life I landed on the notion of slowing down to achieve more; to live smarter not harder; to appreciate the journey instead of focusing on the destination.

(I definitely credit daily meditation in helping me to calm my mind and clear space for more focused creative flow. I’ve now used meditation consistently for at least 10 minutes every day since 1 January 2021 and I couldn’t imagine life without it.)

In this current 75 day challenge of reading ten pages of non-fiction daily, I’ve noticed that from Day One, my creative juices were stimulated and the amount of ideas and new business strategies and concepts that flowed through my mind were off the charts! (I’ve currently only bought one new domain name though, so I think I’ve been very restrained!! 🤣#adhdmind #iykyk)

How does reading non-fiction stimulate creativity and put us into a flow state?

Reading improves our cognitive function and makes us better thinkers. Reading someone else’s perspective on a particular aspect of life or business allows us to consider our own point of view and whether we’re open to that being challenged. 

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new. – Dalai Lama

When you take 10-20 minutes to sit and read a few pages of a non-fiction book, you’re also allowing your body to physically rest and you’re taking time away from a screen which is absolutely a good thing in today’s mobile phone addiction era! 

I like to think of this as intentional reading. I leave my phone on silent and well out of reach so that I can focus on reading, learning and journalling. It’s time I carve out for me to enhance my wellbeing and learn new skills or understand a new approach or perspective. 

After reading and journalling, my mind feels alive and excited for life! That possibly sounds a little dramatic but as someone who sometimes struggles to get motivated to work despite having a positive outlook on life and a list of big juicy dreams and goals as long as my arms, (yes, both of them!), committing to reading ten pages every day has truly transformed my life.

I retain more of what I read when I take the additional time to record what I discovered. – Michael Hyatt

Observations on my flow state:

• New ideas flow into my mind much faster after reading than at any other time of day and could potentially be formed into new products or services, new business strategies or entire new business ideas! Even if only a few of these actually become a reality, it’s the action of creative flow and idea generation that is so motivational and compounds over time. It becomes our new normal.
• It’s not just the reading that’s powerful, but the integration of those ideas into something new. My fresh perspective or creative take on a specific situation or challenge might lead me to write a social media post or a blog, or share this experience in a conversation that creates a ripple effect across the world. You can’t just read a book and expect it to change your life. You have to integrate, take action, share your thoughts and spark new interesting and engaging conversations. 

And finally….

• Ten pages is 100% doable for everyone! 
• Self-development, personal transformation and business books are usually written with short chapters and have ‘exercises’ throughout, making them the perfect choice to practice the ‘read, journal, integrate, share’ model. (Ooh! I like that! *goes off to create a whole new program*) 
• Creating a tiny habit like reading ten pages a day is just the start of a compound effect that grows exponentially over time. Suddenly you realise you’re exercising regularly, drinking more water and making time for the things that light you up! #winningatlife

Have you tried reading non-fiction books for a short period every day? What did you notice about your creativity and productivity? Did it lead to new job opportunities, new enlightening conversations or new friendships and connections?

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Lorraine xx

Ps. Every Sunday I send a ‘Love Letter’ to my beautiful circle of email subscribers that shares exclusive content designed to inspire you to live a life more connected to your dreams and more aligned to your truth. Pop your name and email address below to join in the fun! 

TL:DR 

(Too long, didn’t read – it took me a long time to figure out what TL:DR meant, so if you were ‘today years old’ when you learnt this… you’re welcome!)

• Reading ten pages of a non-fiction book every day will change your life! 
• Why? Because the compound effects of consistent daily habits is phenomenal. 
• If you want to increase your creative flow, productivity and focus while simultaneously enhancing your physical wellbeing and boosting your prowess as a critical thinker, reading non-fiction and taking action by journalling and integrating your learnings is the way forward.
• Reading ten pages is a short time commitment, just 10-20 minutes of your day.
• Committing to just ten pages a day and achieving that goal gives the ultimate dopamine reward of ticking something off your to-do list! 

Book recommendation: Atomic Habits by James Clear

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Lorraine Pannetier is a multi-passionate 50-year-young woman who feels like she’s only just getting started in life and business!  Her happy place is sitting in the (mild, British) sunshine with a bright blue sky, a book, a journal and a cacao-banana smoothie, or walking in the countryside surrounded by ancient trees, butterflies and huge fluffy bumble bees. 

Lorraine loves to travel to new places as often as possible, observing the world from 30,000ft before landing somewhere new and exploring on foot, sharing these experiences with others through her social media presence, blog and as an author. 

Raising Wild Birds – a book about learning to live from a place of love not fear, in alignment with our inner truth – will be published in summer 2024 by The Unbound Press.

In her work, Lorraine loves to help people to shine brighter through her intuitive copywriting skills and creative strategy sessions, and inspires others across the internet and in person through her love of plant-based home cooking, nature, walking, wellness and travel.