Effects and Consequences of Reading a Book a Week
Forming a habit of reading a book a week is more important than your monthly income. It's not an exaggeration because regardless how wealthy you become, neglecting the enrichment of intrinsic value leaves an unfillable void.
Many people are pretty transparent on avoiding books by all means and there’s nothing wrong. For the ones who get easily distracted by pre-occupied environments, audiobooks and visual presentations are compelling options.
The most archaic form of assimilating knowledge is undoubtedly *drum rolls* - you guessed it, reading. Books are so ubiquitous that even the wealthiest man on Earth gained his fortune by reading – you know exactly whom I am referring to.
I will later share my thoughts, emotions and relief about listening to audiobook(s) ten hours a day. The feelings I had after doing it seven days straight was resurrecting. Maybe resurrecting was too gentle as a word to describe excitement, contentment and exhaustion. I will break it down for you in the upcoming days.
Eye Opening Experience
Literally and metaphorically.
First of all, I sometimes have hard times to keep my eyes open because of the discipline of reading a book within a certain amount of time, and tiredness is never going to be a factor for me to give up. The aversion is only temporary. The most appealing experience comes from the self-awareness of a person’s self-recognition of ignorance and the amplitude of the versality of the flowing rock we are living on.
One book at a time, you will comprehend the earth and its phenomena piece by piece. Do not rush it, every beauty and beast are built with patience and prudence. The frequent apprehension of life and its creations wake up endless amount of questions. All these thoughts will be wandering inside your mind after reading around ten books. You will question details of the most mundane habits - for instance, why don’t we ever use opposite hands instead of the “habitual” one. Try to open a door with your opposite hand and put on a sock to the other foot first.
For the record, I’d like to share a list of my “eccentric-doings” with you that I have written down for experiments of “living on the other side”:
- open doors with opposite hand
- put on socks in different order
- start walking stairs with opposite foot
- switch grip on knife and fork
- gesture with opposite hand
- learn and use new words daily
- learn something new (or) and fun – for me it was history of paintings
- try new cuisine weekly
- say “no” more often
- stop being friendly to people I don't feel like
- seek opportunities to chitchat with the highest leaders of companies
Some of the items are meant to be done daily and others occasionally. For instance, it’s pretty challenging to have daily conversations about your puppy’s new attire with your CFO if you are not in an equally demanding position or simply - couldn’t reach her more than an hour a week.
I highly and warmly recommend experimenting small things like starting walking stairs with your opposite foot and switching the grips of knives and forks. Numerous researches have found that by executing the simplest tasks with only a small tinkering can active undiscovered areas of the brain.
Boost of Creativity
This is a mathematical equation and it goes as following:
New Knowledge + New Vocabulary + Experimentation = Supreme Creativity
The more new information you consume and put them to use, the more and faster your creativity strides. Your mind is comparable to the outer space – looking pretty calm skin-deep but actually tons of matters are happening concurrently.
Creativity not only keeps the person being entertained twenty-four-seven but also enhances optimism, aspiration, motivation and willpower. And a person geared with such efficiencies is destined to succeed in life.
Do you know what is the most important asset creativity provides? -Sarcasm.
Concrete Substantiality
Along the road of massive knowledge consumption, you will find it easier producing documents (for instance, articles and reports), having meaningful conversations with people beyond your imagination, having connections and being able to bond with people from different backgrounds, liking a broad variety of things you didn’t like before and having extreme confident on speaking up your ideas.
Allow me to disassemble the enchantment for you.
Before junior high, I was an insurmountably shy kid. Giving speeches and proposing presentations were terrifying. It’s a feeling that never gets away if you don’t seek a cure and by seeking I mean improving your foundation of knowledge.
Have you ever held back on things that you were confident with? I guess not because everyone of us is filled with passion and adrenaline while talking about our expertise. Feeling the competency is directly proportional to being in the zone - time flies, appetite is lost, weariness is evaporated and your feet might even be trembling.
It’s normal and it’s wonderful. The more it happens the more often you get things done.
So, how can someone be more competent? By reading and implementing what has learnt. Don’t avoid mistakes, embrace them. Mistakes are your stepping stones to your trophy stage. I remember my first speech like it was yesterday...
It was the graduation ceremony of our elementary school. I was 11 years old and presenting a speech in front of the entire school. Nervous, excited, convivial, thrilled, frightened, shaking and filled with indescribable contentment. It was that moment when I realized that sharing knowledge with a crowd brings enormous joy. I got the opportunity to represent the participants who was the vital components behind the speech and I was feeling blessed and grateful. And I strongly believed that the reasons of me being allowed to perform was the efforts I put on school assignments and grades. I’m not telling you to brag but to remind you and myself that being well-read and trying out different things, pieces tend to move into places like an automated jigsaw puzzle.
Now let’s wrap it up. The purpose of this article is not to push the idea of reading into your life but to bring forward the avail and advantages you can profit from. Not continuously developing yourself is not a shame neither indignity but doing the opposite will definitely guarantee a life of great worth.
Thanks for sharing time with me and happy reading. Until next time!
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2019 Davie Chen