Train Your Imagination
How many books have you read in the past year? 50? 10? 1? None?! More than half of the people in America haven’t read any books in the past 12 months. Not only that, but fewer than one in five have read at least one book a month, or 12 in a year.
We all know what distractions may cause this lack of reading—we’re tired, we’re distracted by our TVs and our smartphones. Just so you know, there’s a correlation between the number of frequent readers in a country and its economic, cultural, and social well-being. Our speed reading course Denver builds these skills into something you are confident in.
Reading: The secret habit of successful people
Many times we are looking for a secret that can revolutionize our life and make a big change. We look for better techniques and methods, forgetting a simple reality:
“The people with success are accustomed to doing some things that other people are not doing.” Gray
The statistics leave little doubt in this area: Interviews, biographies, and autobiographies of successful people show that the majority of successful people are avid readers.
According to The New York Times, Steve Jobs was obsessed with English poets. Phil Knight, founder of the brand Nike, had a library, and guests were obligated to visit it barefoot. David Rubenstein, founder of the $154 billion (yes, billion) private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is known to read a dozen books each week! And let’s not forget Winston Churchill, the charismatic prime minister of England during World War II. He won the Nobel prize not for peace (as many believe) but for literature.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that all of these people devour books?
There are specific reasons why successful people read. These same reasons for reading turn these people into a successful person.
5 best reasons why people read
- Reading makes you more intelligent. Numerous studies have shown that habitually reading broadens your vocabulary, develops new synapses in the brain, and reinforces your ability to reason. It’s not a coincidence that reading (in particular rapid reading) is one of the instrumental clues to learn to prepare for exams in half the time.
- Reading makes you more creative. The best 10 ideas from the last 10 years have come from reading. The custom of reading allows you not only to learn new knowledge, it also lets you develop creative ideas and apply them in new and different ways.
- Reading makes you more attractive. It may sound absurd, but if you don’t care about being more intelligent or creative, you may want to find ways to be a better king or queen of seduction. Have you even been interested in someone but not found the words to express yourself? By reading more, you gain the words you need.
- Reading helps you fight stress. There was an interesting experiment led by neuropsychologist David Lewis at Sussex University. He showed that reading, even just 6 minutes a day, reduced stress by 68%. Reading is one of the best ways to fight stress.
- Reading is an excellent investment. According to billionaire Warren Buffett, our best investment is that which we make in ourselves. Over the last 80 years, Buffett has been obsessed with going to bed each night a little bit smarter than he was in the morning. Here are the exact words he said at a Berkshire Hathaway meeting: “Read whatever you can get in your hands. Be a sponge. Never stop learning.”
I hope that you’ve read until now and have been convinced of the power of reading more. But there’s one thing not discussed yet: How is it possible to read more? Form a daily habit of it? Here are some strategies that give you a place to start.
How to read more
Here are some simple suggestions to help you read more and more rapidly:
- Follow an Iron Man media diet. You don’t have to burn your TV, but you can pick moments in your day to be without your smartphone and the internet. Liberate yourself from the TV, internet, and social media. Take a few valuable minutes to concentrate on personal projects and to just read. You’ll notice a difference in the number of inspiring and motivating ideas you come across, and you’ll notice a difference in your life.
- Don’t lose out on the chance to read. Our days are full of dead time: trips to and from work or school, waiting at the bank or post office or supermarket, long lines of traffic, etc. Don’t lose these valuable moments of your life…read (or if you’re driving, listen to audiobooks). In place of obsessively checking your Facebook page…read. In place of checking your email once more…read. In place of playing with your phone…read.
- Use an e-reader. If you’re a pure reader, you probably feel a heart attack coming on just by the word e-reader. I was like that too. After a while, I bought my first iPad, and that addition allowed me to develop a second love for reading. I can read anywhere and about anything. My mom had the same thing happen to her during a recent Christmas when she received a Kindle. Give an e-reader a try and watch how your reading habits grow.
Give more reading a try for a better life, and discover more about speed reading with techniques offered through the Genius course.
¡¡Pruébalo‼