What is the connection between reading and personal success?

You might have heard that the average CEO reads around 52 books a year.
Therefore, they read roughly a book a week. There is no denying that CEO’s and
executives are indeed exceedingly successful people. How does this statistic
make you feel? Can you recall what your initial reaction was when you heard about this somewhat surprising statistic? Maybe you felt surprised? Perhaps you were somehow baffled by the sheer amount of books that they read? I will have to admit, I felt all of these emotions one by one as I found it hard to fathom how this is indeed possible without one spending most of their day reading. This is a thought that I believe many of us might have had as soon as we became aware of this great number. Thus, we will try to answer some questions by looking more carefully about the benefits and motivations to reading and how it can help one’s personal success. Also, we will discuss what the major barriers to reading are and how to avoid them.

Have you ever wondered how much useful information we are able to store in our memories from what we have gathered through reading books? I am positive that you have perhaps recalled something you have read and it proved to be valuable. Jim Kwik is a well-known and inspirational brain coach. He focuses on memory improvement with an emphasis on meta-learning- not only focusing on what to learn, but also how to learn. I have benefitted a lot from his work! Jim Kwik explains that one of the reasons that he loves reading is that “if someone has decades of experience” in a field of knowledge, and they then put it all in a book, by reading this information, we can essentially “download decades into days.” How phenomenal is this?

Cal Newport is a computer science professor and author. He also has great podcasts which are really informative. In one of his videos entitled ‘Is it possible to read too much? Deep questions with Cal Newport’, Mr. Newport explores the topic of reading in great detail. In answer to the question, ‘does reading too many books dilute their impact’, he explains that he currently reads five books a month and says that “you have more time than you think to do things like reading if you got rid of other things that are taking its place namely looking at your phone.” This really resonated with me as I mentioned in another post that I used to scroll mindlessly for hours on social media. I found that I did not have time to read. Do you also feel like you have a constraint on your time? Maybe swapping some of the time that we spend on social media for a bit of quiet reading is some food for thought? You might be surprised at how much time you can find in your day!

Let’s talk more about reasons and ways reading can help with our personal success. Reading is exercise for our minds. In another video entitled ‘How to read 5 books a month’, Mr. Newport explains that “reading is to your brain what exercise is to your body.” He also says that when we are reading, it enables one to grapple with “complex ideas.” This is really important because reading will enable you to look at a concept in a multi-dimensional way. You will be able to understand and analyse the different angles of a discussion. Also, reading can take us to other places around the world and teach us about exciting countries. This type of reading along with it being entertaining can assist with learning about people from many places around the world. This can always be advantageous because of the potential to learn about so many interesting things from different communities of people. Imagine how much of an advantage you can have when trying to build rapport with others!

We always hear people complain by saying
“I just don’t have the time to read.” I guess what I would say is
that when we see something as important, we will try to find the time for it.
As mentioned, we need to try to find why we don’t have the time to read. I honestly
think that it is social media. Instead of using apps where most of the content
do not help us with our personal growth in the slightest, why don’t we spend
more of our valuable time trying to consume helpful and healthy content? Many
of us desperately need to spend more time feeding our minds with useful
knowledge that will benefit us and help in our journeys of personal success.

The last bit of inspiration is to always try to remember is that readers are
leaders!

Enjoy your reading.

So, what book are you going to read next?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post! I hope you
enjoyed and have benefited. Your support means so much! Please feel free to
comment your thoughts. I hope to see you again.