TEACH YOURSELF TO LOVE READING
The genuine love for reading itself, when cultivated, is a superpower.
-Naval Ravikant
In high school, there was a system to force me to read. It was called the Accelerated Reading or A.R. system. Every book had a numerical value associated with it, and the number value was high or low depending on the length and difficulty of the book. There was a period of time where we had to get X amount of points—the number of points we needed varied with each advancement in grade.
I was not an avid reader when I was younger. You would never find me in a corner just reading, which is ironic because I was actually in a Harry Potter book club when I was younger, mainly because a girl I liked was in it as well. I never actually read any of the Harry Potter books. What I did read was a bunch of small 1 point books to get to the goal. Shout out to the Magic Tree House series; those books slap.
Bonus: If you don’t love the book, don’t force yourself to finish it. Continue to another book, and then come back to the first book if you feel like it.
This system didn’t teach me to love reading. Instead, I despised reading because it was forced upon me. I think the best way to teach children to love to read is to allow them to read anything that they love. Let them gravitate towards their interests.
After graduating college and reading my first self-help book called The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, I realized that there was so much knowledge in the world that wasn’t taught in any schooling that I just went through. At that moment, I knew I still had so much to learn, and there is an endless supply of knowledge waiting in books.
You can learn anything you want to without going massively in debt, just by reading books. You always hear about successful people like Elon Musk and Warren Buffet and how they read a ridiculous amount. Elon Musk supposedly used to read two books a day, while Warren Buffet suggests reading 500 pages a day and spends 80 percent of his day reading. Mark Cuban reportedly reads three hours a day. There is a correlation between successful people and reading.
When you can get to the point where you love intaking new information and are constantly striving to learn something new, you are putting yourself in a class of your own. Especially considering how many hours people spend watching T.V. or scrolling through social media. All the information you need is out there. The question is, how bad do you want it?
Double Bonus: When you find a book that you really like, see if there are any books recommended either throughout the book or at the end and read them. This is how I find the majority of books I enjoy, along with mentions on podcasts.
Creativity and impulses often come from reading.
The beauty of reading is that it brings new ways of thinking to the brain. When you reflect on sentences that grab your attention, this can create new ideas. Whenever I want to formulate new constructs on specific topics, I will find books from some of the brightest minds to help me gain different viewpoints on the subject and create my unique perspective. Reflecting on the text that you read will allow more ideas to circulate your brain. It’s important not just to copy the mental constructs of the artists you read because then you lose your uniqueness. Take only what grabs your attention, not what the most popular take is. When something catches your attention, reflect on it to create your vision.
THE SHORT GUIDE TO 30