Books are the easiest ways to increase knowledge. And the importance of reading books can never be undermined. The most successful people in the world, alive or gone, recommend reading books, as books are portals to all forms of knowledge in the universe.
You can acquire knowledge on practically all aspects of human endeavour: technology, history, finance, etc., from books. Unfortunately, most of us never do any reading. Less important things take up most of our free time.
One of the reasons many do not read is because of how voluminous books are. However, anyone can complete most books in less than 4-5 hours of reading .
Warren Buffet is a voracious reader and one of the greatest investors ever. He and his long-time colleagues Charlie Munger share a mutual love for reading.
There are reports that Warren Buffet spends 80% of his time reading. His hunger for knowledge and unmatched reading habit is why he can invest and grow his and his shareholders' wealth.
Everyone cannot be investors; however, if we adopt Warren Buffet’s reading habit, we can do great things in our fields.
A second living proof of the importance of reading is Naval Ravikant, the founder of Angel List. He began reading at a young age and attributes his success to reading and learning from books.
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, is a voracious reader. When an interviewer asked him how he learned about the Rockets, " I read Books' He replied. Elon Musk also credits his success to reading and gaining knowledge from books: a third proof that reading books work.
Ray Dalio, one of the best hedge fund managers, loves reading and attributes his success mainly to learning from books. This is the fourth proof from another most intelligent and successful person.
So, what does it all signifies? That reading books work. We can learn new things from books. We can increase our knowledge about anything in which we have an interest.
How Does Reading Help Us Grow?
I started writing in 2012. I was new to writing and made many mistakes in phrasing sentences. My writing was full of grammatical errors and was hard to read. I needed to improve.
One day, someone recommended a book by Stephen King titled " On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft." Before that, I have never read any book except my course books.
While reading this book, I learned about another book Stephen King recommends for anyone who wants to improve his grammar and writing skills. The title of that book is " The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr."
This grammar book changed the way I wrote. I could construct better sentences within a few days of reading and learning from the book.
My story illustrates how books can help anyone grow. You can apply the same principles to your field, whatever it may be. Experts in every field have written extensively on what they know.
Top Authors You Can Learn From
If you want to learn digital marketing, you can learn from Neil Patel. He blogs regularly about the latest trends in Intenet Marketing and how you can use it for your growth. You can learn from him just by signing up for his newsletter, which is free. He blogs twice or thrice weekly with reliable information you need to grow your online business.
If you want to learn about investing, you can learn from Peter Lynch, one of the most excellent fund managers whose fund had achieved over 28% CAGR for 13 years and was the biggest fund of the 90s. You can only imagine how well he has performed through his easy-to-follow techniques in a fund whose asset under management was close to $18 million in 1977 and which had swollen to $14 billion in 1990 or just 13 years.
If you want to exercise through running, you can read about Dean Karnazes and learn from him how he does it. How can a person run 50 marathons in 50 days without a break? Dean Karnazes achieved this.
You can achieve something if someone has achieved it. What you need to do is to learn from the person. And how can you learn from him? Reading their books or articles is the most accessible and affordable way.
Why Don’t I Have Time To Read?
If you don't have time to read, you may not be passionate about learning or improving yourself. Lack of time is merely an excuse to limit your growth.
Have you ever considered how the busiest person in the U.S., i.e., the President of the U.S., gets time to complete two books weekly? George Bush, the 46th president of the U.S.A., gave time to daily reading.
How does Elon Musk read and still manage to run the most innovative companies of the 21st century?
So, if the busiest people can have time to read and learn, why can't we all do it?
So, if you want to learn new things, improve your skills, and live a good life, there will be no excuse for not reading.
How To Develop A Reading Habit
Resist the urge to pick up a book to read it all in a day or a few days: doing this does not work. You will get bored and quit the book.
Reading is exciting and can be developed as a habit.
Decide what area you want to improve yourself. Doing this takes discipline, as you will find out; focusing on one thing is easier said than done. Once you decide on what you want to focus on, you have already traveled half the path.
Next, research people or experts in what you are interested in learning, and get as many books, articles, and resources authored by these experts.
If it is a book, you can aim to read 2-3 pages daily. If you achieve this number, increase it to 5-6 pages daily.
So, if a book has 300 pages, you can read it in less than 70 days. Once you complete a book, you can read another. And I recommend that once you complete the book, go through the highlighted sections immediately after finishing it to recap what you learned.
You have developed a habit of reading. You will learn the benefit of reading books and their ability to build knowledge.
If you learn from a website, join the newsletter and stay updated on new things.
Does Rapid Reading Help?
No, rapid reading does not work!
We read books to learn from them. Not for the sake of only reading. Fast reading is never going to benefit us. If you read fast, you will miss most of the information you need to absorb.
As Naval Ravikant says, "Reading a book is not a race; the better the book, the slower you should read it. So read slowly!
Conclusion
Successful people read alot. Learning is pivotal to improving our knowledge of anything. And the better we know about anything, the better decisions we can make. So, make up your mind to become a reader today.
What would you love to read today?
