Reading is a lost art. Now, more than ever, we have strayed far away from the subtle and amazingly powerful art of reading a book. It seems like we only turn to a book when we are flying across country or sitting on the beach. Those are the only occasions we have time to dive into a book.
We live in a fast-paced world. With all that is going on around us, it is really easy to get lost on the Internet, social media, or on quick picture/video based websites like YouTube or Instagram. But I am here to remind you in this blog that there is absolutely no substitute for reading a book. There are so many benefits and so much upside to spending even just one hour with a book in your hand.
You can learn about any topic you want.
You can improve a specific area of your life.
You can get advice from experts.
You can revisit a book as many times as you want.
You can pass a book onto a friend and share a really impactful message.
You can buy a book for little or no money.
You can highlight a book or outline the important points within it.
Books are awesome. I want to challenge you to start reading and I don’t care how you go about doing it whether it is on your Kindle, an audio book, or you go old school hard copy. Every single day. Give yourself the gift of scheduling some time into your day to take a break and learn.
Begin by making a list of books you have always wanted to read. Jot them down and keep adding to your list. Do your best to set a goal of reading one book every two to three weeks. Maybe longer if you are really busy. But keep at it. Scratch that book off your list once you finish it, and then move onto the next. It doesn’t matter if you are reading a self-help book about leadership or communication or the next edition of your favorite fantasy novel. Books can help you learn about new topics, hone specific areas of your life, or just escape and relax. Any one of those reasons is good enough for me.
I have heard successful entrepreneur after successful entrepreneur talk about how they are avid readers, always on an endless journey to acquire information, learn from the experts, and implement these lessons into their own lives. It is a common theme amongst them, so there must be some value in it. As you begin to re-engage with reading books, I think you will find just how enormously valuable it is to acquire lots and lots of new information. Your only downside is a few bucks and a few hours of your life.