There are three ways in which you can read:
- Pleasure – “I like Science Fiction, I read SF books”;
- Random – “I’ll read everything; can I take it? OK, I’ll read it then”;
- Design – “In the next years, I’ll focus on reading only titles based on this criterion: …”;
I like the latter one best; it lacks creativity, it may shape you into something you don’t want to become, but I consider it better than the two previous ones; I don’t think you can become good at something by chance; solution? Pick a criteria and stick to it.
PS, 2018.08.03: Idea via Andrei Pleșu.