I am not the first to say this, many people have said it before.
If you can read but you don’t, you might as well not be able to read.
Naval once said (paraphrasing) that if you read for just 15 minutes a day you're ahead of most people, and that gives you an edge.
I completely agree, not because I’m a yes man, but because I’ve seen the benefits in my own life.
Growing up, I only ever read what was required in school. The habit of reading book wasn't instilled in me by my parents or environment.
I do remember my granddad reading lots of history books, but that was about it.
Then when I turned 21, something pushed me to walk into a book shop and pick up a stack of books. I read voraciously, diving into psychology, human behaviour, communication, and investing. I discovered Paulo Coelho and The Alchemist. It felt like I'd stumbled into a whole new world.
Over the years my collection of books grew but my reading became irregular.
I became ignorant.
I figured once I'd gained the basics, it was time to stop reading and focus on applying that knowledge in my personal life and in business.
I thought I knew it all.
Now I realise how naive I was.
A decade after discovering that initial spark for reading, I've been lucky to enough to find it again.
It all started with A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, which sparked my curiosity about so many different topics. Since then, I’ve been buying multiple books every week, and I intend to read something every single day for the rest of my life.
I also switched from physical books to a Kindle, from a few good reasons:
- I like to travel
- Much faster to go from the spark of curiosity to being able to quench it by reading
- Takes up far less space
The benefits:
- Increased overall creativity and curiosity
- Better understanding of the world
- A growing collection of strange facts, stories, and curiosities from many subjects.
Someone pointed out on Twitter that it's possible to read too much and neglect your own creative output.
I agree that it's a risk, but it's also possible to find a healthy balance between consumption and creation.
I think for members of modern society, the bigger risk is not reading at all.
And letting social media or television decide what we're “knowledgable” about (ideally nothing).
So, what are you currently reading?
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