Years ago I designated time at the beginning of my workday to read and I was as productive, if not more so than days I didn’t. See what this Inc article says.

Just about everyone agrees that how you start and end your days has an outsize impact on your mindset and productivity. Which is why the internet is jammed packed with complex morning routine prescriptions and tales of A-listers’ superhuman start-of-day rituals.

Far be it from me to criticize Tony Robbins’s morning ice baths or Tim Cook’s 3:45 a.m. wake-up time if these extreme routines work for them, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was an impactful routine out there that was also both easy and pleasant?

According to one Harvard-trained neuroscientist, there is, and it’s already in serious contention to be my New Year’s resolution this year. If you’re looking for more peaceful and productive days without any additional dawn hours discomfort, maybe you should consider adopting it too.

The most pleasant daily routine I’ve read about in a while

What’s this miracle tweak? Nothing more complicated than starting and ending your days reading a well-chosen book. On Ezra Klein’s podcast recently, Maryanne Wolf, a UCLA professor who specializes in how our brains learn to process written language, shared her simple morning and evening routine for a clear mind all day long (hat tip to Austin Kleon).

“I begin my day with meditation. And then reading at least 20 minutes a philosophical or theological or spiritual or sometimes political — something that will absolutely take me out of myself and center me, completely center my thinking. Slow it down. It prepares me for, if you will, clearing the deck of whatever detritus from the night or even the day before. And readying myself with a particular mindset for whatever the day brings,” she shares.

She begins the day with a book but she closes the day with one too, usually a classic essay by Montaigne or Marcus Aurelius. “They give me a kind of peace that I find in very few places,” she explains. “So I end and I begin each day with books.”

Why you should bookend your days with books

Counteracting the franticness of most of everyday life with the slower, deeper pleasures of reading something excellent has intuitive appeal. But there are plenty of more scientific reasons to think Wolfe might be on to something.

First among them is Wolfe’s own expertise. As a leading researcher into how reading affects our brains, she has written before about the way deep, focused reading trains us to be able to focus longer, wrestle with complexity, empathize with others, and appreciate subtle beauty. All of which are skills that can feel in danger of atrophying amid the hustle and bustle of daily life and our very online world.

But other experts have also noted how reading can reshape your days. Bill Gates, for one, claims to always read before bed. A variety of studies suggest this habit helps reduce stress and improve sleep.

Other recent research showed that people who take just a few minutes to reflect on their goals at the start of the day experience “a cascade of positive experiences during the day.” By choosing to read something that focuses her mind on larger questions of spirituality and meaning, that’s just what Wolfe’s morning reading does.

You might not have much appetite for Montaigne (though I personally found this book on his writings surprisingly compelling and readable, so don’t let the fact that he was a 16th-century philosopher scare you off). But just about everyone can find some sort of book to pick up in the morning and the evening that helps remind them of what they think life is truly about.