Overcoming PTRD, Step Two: Reasons to Love Reading
In last week’s post, we identified the trauma of childhood reading and how it affects many adults in their personal and professional lives. Maybe you had to translate The Count of Monte Cristo into interpretive dance, or give an hour-long presentation on War and Peace. This experience was traumatic enough to make you dislike anything with a verb, a noun, or, heaven forbid, a subordinate clause in it. Sadly, that aversion is preventing you from appreciating reading for what it truly is: An enjoyable pastime and a valuable life skill.
Many people convince themselves that reading is not a significant part of their lives after they get out of school. According to some sources, 58% of adults never read another book after high school. Sure, you’re not going to have to write on the duality of character foils, but regular reading offers many benefits beyond the purely academic.
Better Communication through Understanding
The more you read about the world around you, the more you’ll understand it and those who live in it. This includes clients, friends, associates, and even your family. Reading likewise gives you the opportunity to understand issues that would normally be foreign to you. As Stephen Covey points out in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, seeking first to understand then to be understood is a powerfully effective way to communicate.
“Out of the Box” Problem Solving
If you’ve ever felt like you were running in circles trying to solve a problem, you’ve experienced an issue that many people in business face at one time or another; deadlock thinking. Difficult problems often call for creative solutions, and reading can help you develop the sort of creative thinking to tackle them.
The Savvy to Succeed
Nowadays, it takes more than pluck and moxie to succeed. To get ahead, you also need savvy. Market trends, cutting-edge tactics, emerging philosophies, modern technologies… the playbook is constantly evolving. If you want to stay on top of your game, reading regularly is a great way to do it.
Now that you know why reading is so important, you’ve got two important questions to answer: What should you read, and how much? Come back next week for our final installment and we’ll prescribe a reading regimen to put you on the road to recovery.
