Reading is a culture which many believe is slowly dying in our generation, but that is not true. Reading takes place almost every time. What is vanishing in this era is reading valuable information.
Anyone will agree that they read either headlines, news bars, text messages, chats or posts on social media daily. While some of these content are put together by intentional influencers to impact readers, market products, pass information about people, events and industries, most internet users abuse their access to information.
This is because they have not discovered and mastered the art of prioritizing what is relevant to their growth and development.
Reading is an action that could be boring or productive, depending on how you view reading. People have traveled the world by reading the pages of a book. People have discovered solutions to problems through the same means. Many more benefits are being tapped into by the people who have realized the treasure buried behind ink on paper.
Assumption is the lowest form of knowledge while information is the highest form of knowledge, and one of the ways to acquire it is through study.
In a book I am currently reading, How To Be Like Women of Influence by Pat and Ruth Williams with Michael Mink, the first five characters that I have come across out of twenty notable women are women who have maximized the habit of reading.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, Anne Frank, Margaret Thatcher and Sandra Day O’Connor are just few of the many men and women out there who turned the habit of reading into a tool for self-improvement.
And don’t forget Ben Carson! He is a world renowned neurologist who used to be at the bottom of his class until he rose to the top because his mother told him to read books.
Reading isn’t just for school students. It isn’t just for professionals like legal practitioners, medical practitioners or writers. The act of reading is for every human being.
When it comes to reading educational materials, especially textbooks, it can be very tiresome for school students, some of whom dread schoolwork and can’t wait to get their first degree and throw their books away.
Most people already have a preconceived notion about reading anything that’s not fiction or bite-sized and withdraw from even the thought of it.
Burying your face in a book to divulge its content is an active way to be informed about new ideas and be updated on current happenings.
It is active in the sense that your brain is processing letters/characters and turning them into words then sounds and then images. Learning new things everyday and learning new things by reading books is a priceless way to exercise the brain and create new memory cells.
When you’re able to become well-informed on a particular topic, you build confidence in that subject matter and you are able to talk about it boldly. That can not happen if all you know is hearsay, an idea or nothing at all.
A wise man said that your decision is as good as the information you have on that matter. If you are not informed, you will be deformed and you will not be able to make quality decisions as one who knows the A to Z on the same issue.
By reading, you have the exclusive luxury of being a mind-reader! When you read the stories of successful people and businesses, you have access to their experiences and wealth of knowledge. If you’re lucky to see how a wise person thinks, you can also restructure your thinking pattern according to wisdom.
Isn’t that amazing? All these amazing benefits just by reading. Books that contain value are your ladders to the top. They say readers are leaders. Information gives you an edge over the average person who doesn’t read at all or who doesn’t read as much.
Ensure you cultivate the habit of reading quality materials and learning from them to take your life to the next level.
