As a child I was a terrible reader or learner for that matter. I had a tough time understanding the curriculum or the purpose of learning. My learning was very much practical, while my brother was busy studying and getting 95% for his subjects, I was busy playing outside hurting myself and getting 35% as my results (pass mark in India).
Even though English was the first language throughout my schooling in
India, I actively avoided reading like a plague. Again I found no
interest in reading and couldn’t wait to get out to play with anything I
could get my hands on. The other problem was that our parents never
read to us before bed (or ever) like the culture in first world
countries. We generally never went to bed before 9pm and often we went
to bed at the same time as our parents. So there was never any reading
time before bed, only dinner, play, bit of TV, then bed. From being a
child until I was about 31, I read exactly two books; To kill a mocking
bird when I was in year 10 and ‘Azhar’ a biography of a cricket player
whom I idolised growing up. I never thought reading would ever do
anything for me, I was more of a ‘practical learner’ I said to myself.
And when I read anything it would take me 3 times to read it then
re-read it another 3 times without getting distracted by the pretty bird
outside the window. The bird was so interesting that I would lose
myself in its colours and beautiful wings. Wait, back to this article. I
literally required my full and complete attention for me to read
anything more than 300 words at any time. I also was a terrible email
reader, often missing complete sentences and totally ignoring more than
one question. When it came to reading, it actually hurt my personal
confidence, so rather than getting better at it, I avoided it at all
costs.
Then one day I picked up Tim Ferris’s 4 hour work week. I had read
some intros online and it sounded interesting how he outsourced
everything. So I bought my first book on the kindle app on my phone (I
also hated carrying books, what a waste I thought!). I read the first
chapter and felt totally energised, then kept reading some more. It was
written in plain English and was so interesting that I just got it and
didn’t need to re-read much of the sentences. My confidence grew and I
kept reading during any spare moment I could find. Every page I read I
was learning so much that I started taking notes to try and remember it
all. Then, towards the end of the book I realised Tim spent good part of
three years writing the book and I spent three weeks reading it. Allow
me to say this again, he spent three years and I spent three weeks. I
was able to learn his life experience of around 10 or so years of
learning condensed into a book which I could read in three weeks and
benefit from all the lessons he learnt and not make those mistakes in my
working life. All for under $20.
I was finally convinced that reading could not only change my life
but may be even save my life one day. I then read, E-Myth. Another
simple and easy to read book that is extremely engaging which didn’t
even give me a chance to put it down! I finished this book even quicker.
Learning gives us a sense of achievement, a sense of pride that we have not just spent it on Facebook or watching meaningless shows on TV. Self-development is something we do from the day we’re born until the day we die. As life goes on we tend to slow down our learning and start to develop an ego based on experience. Learning keeps our ego at bay. We become more humble, grateful, and in the process improve others lives. Reading others’ perspectives on various topics of self-development helps us try new approaches on our own strategies. It helps us identify our weaknesses so we can spend extra effort improving in those areas.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn
as if you were to live forever.” If you’re one of the people that find
it hard to find time, read my article – Making time count. Reading is
the cheapest, most effective tool we can use to improve your inner being
to achieve better results in all areas of your life, work,
relationships, health, wealth, and anything between.
