I believe a reading habit will change your life.
As a college dropout, my success is the result of reading books. There is no greater reason I can point to.
Books are how I started multiple businesses and dealt with losing my dad at 18. (Stoicism was foundational)
- Books are how I connect with my kids at bedtime
- Books improve my creativity
- Books calm me
- Books strengthen my resolve
- Books improve my confidence
- Books make me more unique and knowledgeable and interesting
I have been reading 100ish books a year for a few years now. Before, I didn't have any reading goals. I would just read when interested or trying to solve a problem.
It's mind-boggling to me how underutilized books are, and reading and writing for that matter. I know people that try to “think” their way to success. They believe that as long as they "think" about a problem in their life, the solution will somehow appear or that they've "done the work" and deserve a positive outcome.
What a farce. We all do it, so let’s just accept it with compassion and focus on improving.
Writing things down, going deep into research, and thinking and writing through obstacles is what winners do it. Everyone else is just floating through space, waiting for randomness to strike.
What a terrible way to do life.
I can easily say this because I've seen it as the rule with people rather than the exception.
The unfortunate reality is:
- Most people don't write things down
- Most people have not made a pro/con list in their entire lives
- Most people have never spent 2 hours diving deep into a specific problem (and most don't even try googling their problem)
Reading works when it's a habit. If I could give you one piece of advice that will help you for the rest of your life, it would be: to develop a reading habit.
Some ideas to help you with that include:
- Audiobooks (Audible and Scribd, and YouTube): Listen to driving, walking, doing dishes, and work up to 2x speed.
- Kindle paperwhite (so no blue light at night). Read in lowlight before bed, ideally fiction.
- Try a mid-afternoon reading break. Grab a book and read outside, in a hammock, or while walking on a treadmill for 15 minutes.
- Try physical books if you get distracted by screens.
- Read at night on an iPad that you connect to your TV via airplay. This also helps regenerate your eyesight, which is something I’m working on with my new workstation… 43" monitor and two standing desks.
Reading will:
Make you smarter.
Increase your self-awareness.
Improve your people skills since you'll better understand human psychology
Make you more patient.
Make you better at living in the moment.
Reset your dopamine levels that's been destroyed from too much screen use
Make you more productive at work.
And better at just about everything else that matters.