The benefits of a life-changing habit.

I’ve read 52 books or more every year since 2018.

This habit started after I experienced a painful breakup of a 5-year relationship at the end of 2017.

I felt so lost and heartbroken that I committed myself to a bunch of random habits to try to make myself feel better.

I started rock climbing, dating for the first time in my adult life, and even experimented with painting.

Most of them I’ve since stopped doing, but reading a book a week is something that’s stuck with me since.

Reading is the one habit that has changed my life for the better.

Reading is the cheat code to living a successful life.

For the price of a dinner, you get access to knowledge and experiences that’s taken someone a lifetime to learn.

Think of all the people you admire who are changing the world. Chances are they are voracious readers. “Leaders are readers” as the old saying goes.

In short, reading books will change your life too.

Yet so few people do it.

The percentage of adults reading books has declined steadily over the last few decades. Some people even hold it as a point of pride of not having read a book in years.

I am always reminded of the Mark Twain quote, “a person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.”

Here are the benefits I’ve experienced since reading a book week. Maybe it’ll convince you to read more books too.

I’ve become smarter and made better decisions.

While not exactly a groundbreaking revelation, being smarter has allowed me to make better decisions in life.

I am 27 years old and come from a working-class background. My parents only have a high school education and have worked in blue-collar jobs their whole life.

In Melbourne, your postcode and your parent’s level of education are huge predictors of your success in life.

Books allowed me to transcend my socioeconomic circumstances and break the cycle of disadvantage.

Through books, I get access to the best minds in the world and another perspective on how to create a future for myself.

I can get mentored by the best financial minds in the world, listen to the inner thoughts of a Roman emperor, and understand what it’s like to be in Elon Musk’s mind.

You can’t be what you can’t see. And books have given me an escape hatch to a better life.

I’ve become more empathetic.

When you read, you are given the opportunity to live another life.

You can be thrown into a life of a gay teenager who is trying to find their way in the world or a civil rights activist fighting for racial equality.

A person who never reads only lives once. A person who reads lives a thousand lives.

Whenever I meet someone, I always try to imagine what their life must be like. Especially people who I might disagree with.

Everyone’s got a history, perspective, and a collection of experiences that make them who they are today.

Reading made me more curious about people and less judgemental.

I’ve become more interesting.

Through reading, I know a little about a lot of things.

With this knowledge, I like to think that I can engage most people in a conversation and have a variety of topics to chat about.

Sports, business, spirituality, personal development.

I can talk about most subjects pretty well or a least be able to ask insightful questions to keep people talking. And as they talk, I tend to learn even more about the topic.

Be interesting or at least be interested.

I’ve become a better learner.

Reading is fundamental to any form of learning you want to do.

I can read faster than I can listen. And reading physical books allows me to highlight, re-read and annotate which I couldn’t do with a podcast.

I find my depth of engagement is much higher when reading a book than in most other forms of media I engage with.

Similarly, when you take the time to challenge your mind, you are able to absorb new ideas more quickly. I can quickly pick out the key principles of a topic and start to apply them.

The laws of learning don’t change when you are trying to learn something new, only the content does.

Learning begets learning. And knowledge compounds over time.

I’ve become better at my job.

Ideas are the lifeblood of any knowledge worker.

The day you start to run out of ideas is the day you die.

Books are like food and water. They provide the necessary nutrients for your brain to be stimulated and create new ideas.

The best ideas happen at the intersection of two different fields. Apple put technology and design together. Amazon pioneered physical retail and the internet together.

The more ideas I am exposed to, the great likelihood my ideas will be better. It’s how I’ve been able to get a promotion and raise every year for the last three years.

Summary

Whether for pleasure or leisure, the bridge between the person you are today and the person you want to be tomorrow starts with reading more books.

It’s the world’s worst-kept secret.

You can enjoy all the benefits I’ve experienced and more with reading. The quality of your life will be determined by the quality of books you read.

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