You want to get ahead in your career? You want to be more successful in life, love and livelihood? My advice today is to learn more. To earn more, you must learn more.
Sure, there’s a time when you must take action – that goes (almost) without saying. But even taking action forces you to learn. One thing’s for certain though, sitting back and doing nothing, or letting yourself be carried away with the current of life, gets you nowhere fast. Or at best, somewhere you never intended on being.
It’s a lesson I didn’t really learn or appreciate when I was working in the corporate world. I didn’t read up on business books, or other subjects related to my corporate career. Maybe that was because deep down I didn’t really belong there and I wasn’t passionate about it. Hence, I didn’t want to spend more time doing what I didn’t enjoy.
But recently – maybe 5 years ago, I got back into reading. And reading lots. (And taking action on what I read, naturally). They say all great leaders are readers, and I can see why it could be true. Whether you are leading a company, a team, your family or even just yourself, the secret is to read more.
There’s a phrase I heard which really resonated with me when I first heard it and it’s this:
The person who doesn’t read, is no better off than the person who can’t read.
Think about it for a second. Why have you invested all that time and effort into an education, learning how to read, write when all you use it for is reading trashy mags, tabloid newspapers that you’ll forget about in a week or Facebook status updates!
Is there a place for those? Sometimes, sure. But…. I long gave up reading the daily newspaper or colourful magazines (except for my subscription of SUCCESS Magazine) and took to non-fiction books instead.
I figured, I might as well be my own curator of information. Not be subjected to reading what a media conglomerate wants me to read (or even watch – i.e. the NEWS). By reading book after book after book (about 200 or so in the last 4-5years), I’ve opened my world to so many new and life changing ideas.
Remember
The person who doesn’t read, is no better off than the person who can’t read.
I read almost exclusively non-fiction, but there is a place for fiction and ideally I would have one non-fiction and one fiction on the go at any one time.
If you want to be more successful, it starts with learning more. And books are still a great way to do so. Even in this digital world we live in.
Want to earn more, learn more.
Become a leader, be a reader.
Because
The person who doesn’t read, is no better off than the person who can’t read.
Whatever issue you’ve got. Chances are very good that someone else also had the same challenge and wrote about it somewhere.
So read around your subject, your specialty. Read how to be a better parent, better partner. Read books on cooking, relationships, psychology, health, nutrition, fitness, leadership, science, biographies, spirituality, art, business – whatever interests you, but also read around subjects which normally wouldn’t grab you. If the book is interestingly written, it should make the subject more interesting too. Don’t limit yourself to just what you would traditionally think to read. You might find the secrets to great team building and leadership by reading a book about yoga, for all I know!
Read, lead, learn and earn.
What’s your top three books to recommend? (if you could only recommend 3)
Mine would be How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie, Power vs. Force – David R Hawkins and The pH Miracle Diet, Robert Young
Very difficult! But if you want to know what other books I’d recommend check out http://thethoughtgym.com/shop
