We all have met a person we judged way too soon. But once we start to know him, we realize how wrong our judgment was. A book, for some people, is just like that person – we may not realize its potential at first, but once we give it a shot, we know what a difference it can create.
- I hate being called a bookworm.
- Bookish knowledge is trivial and won’t be useful in real life.
- I already have a hectic schedule. I don’t have time to read books.
- I like to watch TV at night to relax a bit.
These are some of the excuses people give to hide their indifferent mindset toward one of the most magical things ever created by humans – books.
On the other side, those who are constantly investing even a small amount of their time in reading a good book are reaping immense benefits for themselves.
Elon Musk learned about spacecraft by reading books and created one of the most revolutionary companies today – SpaceX.
Warren Buffet sits in his office and reads books and newspapers for around 6 hours a day!
Bill Gates reads 50 books a year. That’s almost a book in a week.
And not just they read before they started filing their wealth reservoirs. They read while on their journey. They even read today regardless of their hectic schedule or the success they have already achieved.
They believe: –
- There is a lot more useful knowledge out there that went past their wisdom and experiences. And thus they acquire other’s wisdom and experiences via a book.
- Books are not only a companion for financial success but also every other aspect of life – social, spiritual, mental, personal, and physical.
- Reading a book is not a chore but one of the most important activities for success.
Now, let me give you the bitter dose first – don’t expect any miracles to happen by themselves just because you start to read books after reading this post.
But it surely can provide you with the potential to produce miracles just as it did to some of the most successful people in the world.
So how exactly reading books are going to change your life? Let’s zoom in a bit. It is for these following benefits the wittiest and the wealthiest people highly recommend this habit.
1. It plants positivity in your mind
Napolean Hill sees the mind as a garden in his classic Think and Grow Rich. Like weeds germinate automatically in an unsown garden, negativity also starts germinating automatically in an untouched mind.
Books plant positivity in your mind by transmitting the mindset of successful people to you. This enables you to look at life and the world more optimistically and practically.
2. It introduces you to new and better opportunities
In this connected world, opportunities are as common as a pizza. But only if you are aware of them! Reading books introduces you to many opportunities and makes you more receptive to them.
For example – Tim Ferris showed me that is possible to live freely by automating the income as opposed to waiting for retirement in his book The Four Hour Workweek.
Yeah, of course, I am not yet there. But at least I am aware of it, equipped with the tools and tricks provided in the book. Now the ball is in my court. God forbid, if I won’t be reading books, I would have been looking for plans to retire somewhere far down my life.
3. It improves your personality
When you read a book, it is like you are meeting the accomplished person on the other side for a coffee where he speaks and you listen.
In the process, they induce their mindset and personality onto you, whether you realize it or not. You are never the same person after finished reading a book.
I owe a great deal to my habit of reading books for the 180-degree change in my personality. Otherwise, why should I start a blog on personality development?
4. It gives you the power to take control of your life
Tony Robbins has correctly said, “Applied knowledge is power”. When you apply an insight to change your situation, it gives you a sense that you are the sailor of your life and your circumstances are just your own brainchild.
This sense of control turns into the self-confidence to help you conquer come what may. But what is one of the most prominent sources of insights that can help you change your life? Books.
5. It provides you with the clarity to remove unnecessary baggage
The human mind is complex but human behavior is usually predictable. That’s why social media is so successful in showing such posts in your feed that you will be compelled to scroll. That’s why in theatres and malls, a small popcorn bucket is sold at, say, 200 rupees and a large one at 250 ONLY!
This predictability is used to sell you goods and ideas. That’s good for the world economy but not for you if it clutters your mind and closet with useless stuff.
You need to look beyond the displayed importance of goods and ideas to see if pursuing them is worthwhile. That’s where books come into play.
Books help you to know yourself better, giving you a clear thought about what needs to be pursued and what needs to be left out for the attainment of your goals.
6. It helps you to reach your goals faster
After the transition of human civilization from the stone age to the bronze age to the industrial age to the internet age, spanning thousands of years, you can be rest assured that none of your life problems are one-of-its-kind.
Many have faced them before, found a way to fix them, and scripted it in the pages of books. In fact, books may accurately anticipate the situations you are going to face down the line and prepare you to face them beforehand.
This saves you from the painstakingly slow approach of hit-and-trial for fixing problems already solved by others. In other words, reading books move you to the Fastlane to success.
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There are many more benefits of reading books which would fill up the pages to become a book in itself! Some of the most common benefits are: –
- Reduces stress
- Expands vocabulary
- Exercises brain
- Improves memory
- Improves focus
But there is another side to the coin as well.
Few words of caution
The pros of reading books far outweigh its cons. But it is significant to mention the uninvited guests so that they don’t ruin your party and to make this experience far more rewarding for you.
1. Disconnectedness
The human mind is just the opposite of magnets – like attracts like. Since books help you to elevate your mind to a higher position, you may feel a bit disconnected from the rest of your social circle.
Exercise empathy with others and realize that true success is achieved when you have people to share it with. And the feeling of disconnectedness can keep you away from that.
2. Trap of personal development
Reading books may help you to be more knowledgeable and change your mindset, but it is when you use your knowledge and mindset to create something concrete, you reap its true rewards. Just like Elon Musk did with SpaceX.
But reading books is so addictive that you can lose focus away from your bigger goal – the one with true rewards. That is the trap of personal development.
3. The curse of knowledge
The curse of knowledge is an unknowingly biased approach by a better-informed person believing that others can easily understand the out-of-the-world language he speaks.
Ever had a highly educated teacher deliver you a lecture only to make you doze off?
This curse creates a gap between you and the rest which needs to be bridged by empathy. Always keep in mind that if something is obvious to you, the others may be clueless about it.
Conclusion
The most loyal thing you can buy with money is a dog and a book. But books come with less of a headache.
- Dog poops, book doesn’t.
- Dog dies, book lives.
- Dog eats, book feeds.
I love dogs and will adopt one somewhere in the future. But till eternity, I will read books. And I strongly recommend you to do the same, for the reasons mentioned already.
Quick Question: – Which book will you grab first?
Let’s Connect Beyond
Hey buddy, I hope you found this post valuable. But Make in Yourself isn’t limited to this blog. It goes beyond this where I provide you with bite-sized digestible insights so that you can grow on the go.
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