Depending on your chosen field (industry, occupation), information is doubling every 18 months to 7 years or so.
If information is doubling every 7 years, then you have to at least double your information every 7 years just to stay even!
Do you love reading? I’d rather download the information and experiential knowledge directly into my nervous system similar to how they did it in the movie The Matrix.
But until that technology exists, we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way: read, listen to audio recordings, watch videos, attend seminars, workshops, and conventions, and/or hire coaches.
I don’t love reading, per se. I love having read. I have an insatiable appetite for knowledge. I love learning the wisdom of the ages from those who have gone before me. I’m like a dry sponge when it comes to increasing my knowledge. I can’t get enough. Why?
“Knowledge gives you leverage—when you apply it in your life.”
I love it when I discover new distinctions that change everything, especially psychological distinctions. I love anything and everything that helps me better master my thoughts, emotions, and actions so I can more elegantly live a happy and successful life.
There are two ways we can learn: from our experience and from other’s experience.
Reading gives you leverage. We only have so many hours in a day. We can’t do everything. Why reinvent the wheel? Learn from other’s experience.
The average person reads less than one book a year. If you want to be average, do that.
If you want to be exceptional or outstanding, read at least one hour a day in the area of your chosen field. According to Brian Tracy, “This alone will make you an expert in 3-5 years. It will make you a national authority in 5 years. It will make you an international authority in 7 years.”
If you read just one hour a day and you’re an average reader you will read about a book a week. That’s about 50 books in a year and 500 books in 10 years.
Do you think if you read 500 books in your chosen field you will be more effective and productive? Do you think it would affect or change your income? Your career? Your life?
Absotively!
Ten years will pass whether you decide to read an hour a day or not. The question to ask yourself is, “Where do I want to be in 10 years from now: having read 500 books in my chosen field or not?”
And remember, knowledge is not power. Only practical knowledge that can be applied toward getting desired results is power. So choose what you read wisely.