I’ve been reading since I was a kid, but I also spent a suspicious amount of time frying my eyes on a PS2. Now I’ve kept a daily reading streak for a very long time, and the biggest thing I learned is this: most people think reading automatically makes you “smarter,” but reading without processing is basically just page-flipping. In this video I’m not trying to preach—I’m just sharing the way I built the habit and what reading actually does for me. My system was stupid simple: I tracked reading in TickTick and committed to the fact of reading every day, not a page count or a timer. Some days it was literally one or two pages, just to keep the chain alive—because psychologically, once you break it, getting back on track feels like failure. From there, reading became a skill I could build intentionally, like learning Excel, coding, or guitar. Then I get into why I read: to borrow a smart person’s thinking (not some fractional TikTok-level knowledge), to have a real dialogue with the author and reflect on my own ideas, and to get a “vibe upgrade”—imagination, focus, inner world. I also tease Part 2, where I’ll share practical, no-fluff tips to become a better reader.