You Are What You Read

If you have spent 15 minutes pouring through tabloid gossip, salacious today but forgotten tomorrow, you could have used those same 15 minutes reading an article to become more valuable at the workplace or to relate better with your family.

The former is 15 minutes squandered. The latter is 15 minutes invested.

There are valid moments for sheer reading pleasure, such giving a weary mind a break with escapist literature. But for this article, I will share three principles to make your reading work for you.

Read to support your life goals. What do you want from life? A happy marriage? Then read good books on marriage. A successful career? Then read good books on career. A healthier lifestyle? Then read good books on… you get the drift.

Don’t read aimlessly. Have reading objectives that align with your life objectives. Notice the plural: “objectives.” Our lives have several dimensions: physical, intellectual, social, and so on. Thus, have a balanced book diet.

Personally, I have classified my reading into four major groups: career, spirituality, marriage and self-development. They are like the four legs of my table. Take one out and I’ll wobble. Take another one out and I’ll fall.

Know your peak hours when you can absorb well. For many people, it is early morning, after a good night’s sleep. The mind is clear and sharp. Compare that with, say, slogging through a book after lunch. There must be some truth in saying that blood has gone to the stomach and not to the brain.

Yet there are those whose idea of a nightcap is curling up with a book. Know what works for you.

My usual routine is to do work-related reading in the morning and personal reading at home, after dinner. Instead of vegetating in front of the TV, I reach out for a book that I am itching to read and relevant to my life goals.

What if I am really tired and nothing penetrates my skull? Then that’s my cue to sleep.

Read for quality, not quantity. There are articles that encourage people to read a certain number of books per week, month or year. Warren Buffet is said to devote 80% of his time reading. Yeah, just give me a net worth of about 80 million U.S. dollars so I can quit my day job and have the hours to devour books like he does.

I tried a target of reading so-and-so books a month. But soon I realized that I was covering a lot of ground but applying little of what I’ve learned. I felt like I was just fooling myself.

So here’s my take. Draw up your reading list. Feel free to add to or subtract from the list as the months roll on.

Once you have settled on a book to read, take your time. Scribble on its margins. Go nuts with your highlighter. Then, after finishing the book, distill its key points. Figure out what changes you will do in your routine. They don’t have to be quantum leaps. Babysteps will do.

Yes, this takes time. But I would rather master five books a year than boast of consuming 50 without anything to show for it.

What if there’s this really great book out there but nobody told you about it? Don’t worry about FOMO (“fear of missing out”). If a book is meant for your eyes, it will somehow find its way into your hands.

There you have it. Smart reading makes for smart people.

Enjoy your next book!

Bio: Nelson T. Dy is an author, speaker and trainer on career, relationship, and spirituality issues. His day job is being an Assistant Vice-President running two factories for a well-known beverage conglomerate. Follow him at Linkedin as he continues to share his insights through articles such as the one you just enjoyed.