This year I’m trying to eat more vegetables, sleep better, do yoga more often, and read A LOT more.
The latter has been bolstered by recent articles in Fast Company and the Harvard Business Review that note the benefits of consistent reading.
From Fast Company:
“If you want to get ahead in business, sit down and pick up a book. Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day reading. Bill Gates reads for an hour each night before going to bed. And Mark Cuban credits part of his success to the fact that he is willing to read more than anyone else.”
Read the rest here.
From Harvard Business Review:
“As readers, we gain momentum with each book we read. The more we read, the more quickly we can understand their perspectives and where they fit into a conversation they’re having with other authors, and the more informed we are when we use their advice or incorporate their perspectives into our work.”
Read the rest here.
In turn, I’ve been making a commitment to read at least 25 minutes a day. Most days I manage more than that, especially when factoring in the number of articles I read for work or on Flipboard while “watching TV”, or waiting for one thing or another.
For me at least, the key has been to establish consistency. This means doing the work when it comes to my Running Book Club, making the most of my Audible subscription, reading on the Kindle App, and physically holding a book in my hand on a regular basis.
All of this plays into a habit that I know brings out my best, that is, learning through many channels, in many subjects and not being afraid to pursue diverging lines of thought. It’s a habit that tends to waiver when I find myself a bit out of balance. A bad night’s sleep, poor stress management and poor diet has a way of making reading feel like a chore.
Thus far, I’ve managed to knock out two books in 2016:
Running With The Buffaloes: A Season Inside With Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, And The University Of Colorado Men’s Cross Country Team, by Chris Lear
The 4 Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book), by Don Miguel Ruiz
And now I’m working my way through several books at once:
Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness, by Scott Jurek
Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work, by Whitney Johnson
Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America’s Greatest Marathon, by John Brant
I didn’t want to focus on counting articles, or even set a goal for the number and types of books to focus on for the year. I just want to read more books, in all their descriptive, intensive depth. If 25 minutes a day is all I can handle, that’s just fine.
No matter how I look at this, it’s a good habit and I’m happy to finally have some momentum in this area.
More to come. At least, that’s the plan!
Image credit: By Riccardo Cambiassi from London, United Kingdom - BlogWalk - British Museum + Power Law, CC BY-SA 2.0
