What happened when I followed reading habit of “uber-rich”

 

 

 

It is one thing to get inspired by the reading habit of highly successful people and converting the “learning” into “actions”.

It’s quite another when you are a lazy bum (like me), know it in your bone that you’re never gonna build a rocket by reading books, and yet aspire to emulate their reading-patterns.

Recently, I got quite knee-deep into reading, taking notes and analyzing them.

After 1 month and 7 days later,  I came to a few conclusions-

 

1. Reading is a “lonely” hobby

 

My love for books has officialized my status as a ‘social hermit’,  and the more I read, the more of an anomaly I become.

It’s highly possible that you read half-an-hour a day and still get time for the

• weekend brunch,
• post-office-hour hangout or
• binge-watching Netflix.

 

But I found out, the kind of intense reading every alternate productivity-hacks article list about, leaves little room for other equally dope stuff.

 

 

2. Reading made me misanthropic

 

How can you internalize “Crime and Punishment” and not see right through the warped social justice prevailing?

Isn’t pondering over “Anna Karenina” makes us question the duplicity of traditional conjugal life?

 

Will liking Michael Shermer and believing astrology in real life, ever go hand-in-hand?

 

In case you are open to absorb, get shocked and ponder via books, over time, it bounds to convert you into a cynic.

 

Post-Script:

In an eco-system which puts obedience on a pedestal, reading can be lethal. It makes you doubt your parents, religion, and society at large.

It also teaches- picking your battles carefully doesn’t prevent you from dying a little over the ones, you ‘chose’ to lose.

 

3. Reading can be compulsive/meditative

 

 

 

Reading is highly addictive.

It turns people into vocabulary-hoarder or a self-improvement junkie, who pig out but implement nothing.

It’s better to take a pause between two books and smell the roses for a few days.

On the same breath, I find reading highly meditative.

I’ve been hankering after meditating 10 minutes a day for years.

But the sparrow-like attention span never helped me much to concentrate, until I found that immersing yourself into reading is also concentrating on one point.

Yes, even if you’re reading demon erotica!

 

4. You feel guilty about reading for pleasure

 

“It is one of the chief ways that I learn, and has been since I was a kid. These days, I also get to visit interesting places, meet with scientists and watch a lot of lectures online. But reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.”

-Bill Gates

 

Describing their reading habits, very few of ‘super-achievers’ speak about reading for pleasure.

Heck, even among my voracious reader friends, most prefer ‘serious’ stuff over fictions.

But there are few exceptions to the rule. Issac Asimov, Dostoyevsky, Neil Gaiman, Murakami (and Tolkien leading the pack) are some of the authors who are equally adored by non-fiction junkies.

 

Where Warren Buffets of the world attributes their respective success to reading (investment on stocks).., you might feel guilty while liking Sarah J. Maas.

 

5. “Reading challenges” might chip away the fun

 

 

Lastly, the reading challenges set up by Goodreads and being cheered upon by Quora, chip away the notion that:

if nothing else, reading should help you to loosen up.

 

What makes me scratching head that speed-reading  is now revered. rejoiced and made goo-goo eyed at.

How the mighty has fallen. Excuse me, if suddenly I feel terribly old.

 

 

Have you ever get inspired by “How uber-successful ones” read? If yes, what did you discern from it? If you no, what’s your opinion on the hoopla surrounding how/what the  Elon Musks of the world read? Let me know in the comments.

 

 

 

 

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