Nothing illustrates how little control we actively assert over our lives than our relationship with reading. Oh, I wish I had time to read more. Oh, I’ll squeeze in a few minutes of reading before bed. Oh, when the kids are older, I’ll get back into the habit. Oh, my secret is audiobooks on 2x speed.

Two thousand years ago, Seneca talked about how people mistakenly prioritize a million trivial responsibilities and then give the leftovers to philosophy and reflection. That’s how we treat books too. We act as if everything else is more important, and only when we’re alone or have some unexpected quiet time or have literally nothing else to do, do we finally sit down to read.

It’s preposterously out of balance.

You read on your phone all day–tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram captions, YouTube subtitles when you can’t watch a video with sound. Sometimes you even read articles! At the same time, you read and respond to emails all day—most of which are not remotely important. At no point during this tsunami of garbage, do you say to yourself, “I don’t have time for another stupid meeting, I have to get through this volume of history.” But the opposite? Well, that’s just implied.

If you want to read, you have to make time. If you want to get better as a person, you have to make time for philosophy. Carve it out. Make it non-negotiable. Prioritize it. Give the leftovers to the errands—or see what errands you can avoid. Gladly pay the grocery delivery fee if it means a few more minutes with Marcus Aurelius. Cancel the phone call and savor that audiobook on regular speed. Put your phone in a drawer and sit down with your journal.

Make the time. De Gaulle did. Napoleon did. Marcus did. You can too.