Things to Improve Your Life Series - Read Books

Even though this was one of the basic skills that we were taught in school, it truly is the most important and underutilized. We live in a time where bloggers, newspapers, and most media design what they write to grab your attention so you can read it briefly and move on. They are not concerned with deep content, research, and the impact that it will have on you. They are concerned on traffic, and advertising, and it is written to be sensational for that purpose, and often tailored in a way to get the best search engine optimization so they can make more money.

Many people may not even finish the first paragraph of this, saying to themselves “I don’t like to read” and click the next wildly interesting article on Steemit. If you’ve made it this far congratulations and I hope this series changes your life.

If there is so much information out there digitally, then you may ask yourself why would you need to read books? Here’s why:

1. Because you’re a grown-up and you need to know shit
   Honestly, this is the most important reason for me. I’m not going to sugar coat it. There are things in life you just have to know about to be successful. It’s what separates the average person from the above average person. The happy person from the miserable. Are you poor? Do you want to figure out how to not be poor. Read a book about it. Are you horrible at communication? Do you always want to suck at it? Then read a book about how to improve it.
   It amazes me when I talk to people about their lives, and their dreams and their goals and then I ask them “Wow, sounds like you’re really interested in this. What books have you read on it?” And then I hear crickets. You are not the first person that wants to be the thing you want to be, you are not the first person to do the things you want to do. Learn from people that have done it or do it currently. They will show you how they did it and what you’re in for!
   One book that will honestly improve your life (if you actually read it and apply it, read it again and make sure you’re applying it) is Steven Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, or if you’re not old yet then 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.

2. You will become smarter
   Look around at your five closest friends. Are they successful, creative, and empathetic? Do they read books? Reading still has a social stigma attached to it and many people don’t want to be perceived as nerdy, bookish, or an introvert, so they don’t set time aside to read or make it a priority in any way. The thing is that by reading you will be smarter, and that’s actually a good thing. You will know more about something and become an expert on it, which will make you valuable. Your vocabulary will improve. Your memory will improve. You will be able to expand your analytical brain and make better choices because you have better information then that Huff Post article it took you 2 minutes to read.

3. You will become more empathetic
   Reading puts you in situations that unravels a story from a perspective that you would have no exposure to. It may come to a shock to you, but I am not living as a 6 year old blind girl from France during World War II. But while reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr I might as well have been. The author puts you in the shoes of this girl as she found herself alone during a war trying, and what she had to do to survive. Even though I am not blind I could really empathize on how scary that would be for me, how chaotic, how dangerous it would have been. When I see someone with a cane, or a service dog, I can’t help but to feel those same feels and have more respect for what they have to go through on a daily basis.

4. You will be more creative
   Good books open your mind to possibilities that you have not imagined. In a lot of cases they don’t follow the same old tropes that TV shows and movies do. They are far less predictable and rewire your brain to the search for possibilities of where the story may go, allowing you to be more creative. There are also self-improvement books that will open up your creativity and allow you to fail, and push yourself to be more creative, and fail some more, until you create something new. Sometimes it just takes a different viewpoint on something to make a creative solution. Check out Thinkertoys

5. You will be less stressed out
   Books are immersive. You will get lost in a book, engulfed in the setting, or time period. There is a reason that readers always are disappointed in movie adaptations (for the most part, and yes I know Harry Potter movies were amazing and I totally agree). It’s because they got the story from ground zero. You get to know the characters intimately and that betrayal hurts more, that climactic ending is more climactic, and at the end you had a really great time not stressing about bills or your relationship or bills.

So here are a few ways to get that habit in.

• Make time! Even if its one chapter a day then do it. But even if you schedule a single chapter you will find yourself not stopping and reading chapter after chapter, which is what we're going for.
• Start off small and read something easy. Don't start off by trying to read the entire Discworld series. Short and sweet. Novellas like John Steinbecks 'The Pearl' as an example. Or something off the bestseller rack will do. But make sure its something that you're into.
• Have a couple books on hand at all time. Sometimes you need to mix it up, so having a couple books will allow you to make sure to read every day.
• If you're not having a good time reading and its a chore, then ditch it. It's okay to stop reading a book. On to the next. You can always come back to it later. No DVR required.
• Listen to audio books. I love audio books. I listen to them all the time. They are great for the ride to work, the walk around town, doing the dishes or laundry.
• Get recommendations. There are groups all around that have lists, or groups that you can join to ask them what you should read.

If you don't create this good habit of reading, life will be exponentially harder and less fulfilling. Try it out and let me know how it helps!