I frequently ask folks what their preferred learning style is and the answer I most frequently get by far is ‘I like to learn by doing, I like to learn from those around me.’ Well, I like to learn those ways too, however they have huge inherent limitations: 1) the skill set of those around you and 2) what is available for you to do. This restricts you to a VERY small subset of human knowledge. Thus, I am a huge advocate of voracious reading as a learning style; it allows you to inhale in a few hours the lessons it took others a lifetime to learn.
On occasion I get: ‘I’m not a big reader.’
Yes, there are other methods of learning including audio and podcasts however most folks read 2.5 to 3x faster than they speak and for me, with a physical book I have the power of underlining and reviewing (and yes, skimming and skipping forward to the parts most relevant to my knowledge search). Interestingly, I frequently will listen to a book a few months after reading to drive critical points home deeper and I find it a distinct experience, different parts stand out in a fascinating way.
Success has multiple pathways and different minds certainly choose different tools and the world rewards results, not how you acquired the necessary skills and knowledge. However, while you can certainly advance and achieve without being a reader, usually non-readers face a steeper climb in rejecting the most proven climbing gear available. Furthermore, a related issue is that non-readers fall behind by avoiding all forms of focused, disciplined input, not just books.
Reading is intellectual exercise, the strengthening of your mental muscles. And just like with physical exercise, everyone wants the benefits: health, fitness, energy, longevity, yet few want to sweat. Folks want prosperity, advancement, knowledge and wisdom—but are less enthusiastic about the inputs that make those outcomes more likely.
Anything challenging or difficult serves as a filter; the easier a skill is to obtain the more its market value moves to zero. With reasonable effort, targeted, intelligently focused reading can become an acquired habit especially once the benefits begin to add up. Successful people do things others avoid; they do not necessarily like doing them either (at least in the beginning) but their dislike is subordinate to the strength of their purpose.
Closing Quotes:
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” – Joseph Addison, 1672-1718
“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” – George R.R. Martin, b. 1948, Game of Thrones
“Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Books are engines of change, windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.” – Barbara W. Tuchman, 1912-1989
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
