Reading regularly has been transformational, to say the least. From learning about someone’s lives from their mistakes to shaping your thoughts, reading regularly has immense benefits.
In this article, I’m listing 5 reasons you should start reading regularly. I have included two bonus tips to help you get into the habit. Keep reading to find out!
1. Helps You Write Better
Reading regularly improves your grammar no doubt but also teaches you how to be more persuasive in your writing. In today’s digital world, most of our conversations happen in the written medium.
So it’s a bonus to improve your writing skills just by reading regularly. I have seen a visible change in my writing skills from the time I have started reading regularly and I’m sure you will too.
2. Gain Knowlege
Depending on the type of book you choose to read, this experience would vary. For example, a fiction book would introduce you to new cultures, evoke different emotions within you and make you empathize with the characters in the story.
On the other hand, a non-fiction book would be power-packed with a lot of information, ideas and tips. It will make your blood rush and help you take action. You will also come across certain books that would completely transform your life. I hope you come across that one book very soon!
The author usually pours all his/her life’s learnings into a book. Isn’t incredible that we get to read all of it condensed into a single book.
3. Shapes Your Thoughts
And when you’re at it, all the knowledge that you gain slowly builds and compounds. This helps in connecting different ideas from all the books that you have read and form your own opinions. It shapes your thoughts and gives you a perspective on things.
It adds so much more to your overall personality and helps you become a well-rounded person.
4. Improves Your Conversational Skills
If you have sometimes felt like you have nothing to add to a conversation; reading regularly can help better your conversational skills. Reading books make you think analytically and ask relevant questions.
And the best way to keep a conversation going is to ask relevant questions! It lets the other person feel you’re really interested in knowing them better and more importantly that you’re listening to them.
5. Reduces Stress
This is true especially while reading a good fiction book or a calming non-fiction book on philosophy etc, it helps you relax and reduce all the stress from the day.
I usually get my fiction book reading done just before going to bed. It helps me relax, wind down and sleep better. Trust me! It works.
On the other hand, if you’re reading a book that bores you; it will also make you go to sleep. Isn’t that a win-win situation? :P
If you have been into reading but are struggling with consistency, here are two bonus tips for you!
1. Reduce the Friction
Often we come across a great book recommendation from our friends or the people we admire. However, by the time you purchase the book and it arrives, all of the excitement fizzles out.
The best way to reduce the friction then is to opt for frictionless methods of reading which is most preferably by audiobooks or kindle reads. If you enjoy listening to books over reading; audible and storytel are amazing platforms.
My personal preference however is using the Kindle. If I come across a great recommendation, I immediately purchase the book and start reading it. No friction whatsoever. This has helped a great deal in increasing the number of books I read over the past 3 years.
If you want to learn more about it, I have a dedicated article that you could refer to here.
2. Retain the Knowledge
You may find yourself get into the number game and fall into the trap of FOMO of reading a large number of books. I’m guilty of doing that too!
However, taking the time to summarise a book after you have finished reading will help you retain the knowledge a lot longer. It will serve as a resource to get back to when you want to revisit the book after a few years.
One of the book summaries that I have written is of the book called ' The Courage to Be Disliked'. It’s one of my most favourite books and the learnings from it would stay with me. You can check it out here.
We are towards the close of this blog, I enjoyed writing this article as this topic is very close to my heart. Let me know your thoughts and if you found this useful in the comments section.
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Until next time,
XOXO
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