The third point of my speech was about learning (you can find the first two under the Career category). More specifically it was about the fact that we never stop learning.
It is important to clarify that “going to school” or “going to the university” does not necessarily mean learning. One can go to the school for years in a row and do not learn anything whatsoever, and at the same time you can have someone who spent his whole life on the street and learned quite a lot.
One of the most effective things you can do to assure that you are learning is to read. Read as much as you can. And make sure you are reading quality books and not only stuff you print from the internet or magazines.
Now if you do not have the habit of reading daily you will need to work your way up. The most common excuses I hear you I ask people why they are not reading at all is the following: “I do not like reading, I can’t help it” or “Come on, when I get home after a working day I just want to relax”. One could argue that watching television is an easier and more comfortable task to carry out; after all you just need to sit in front of it and from that point the television set will guide your mind. That is true to some extent, and that is also exactly why reading equals learning while watching television does not.
When you read you are forced to interpret words, situations, to imagine characters and places… in one simple word you are forced to think. The brain functions just like other muscles in our body. When trained appropriately the brain will grow stronger and faster, and reading is one of the best training sessions you can have. So yes, reading will require an extra effort compared to watching television, but it will also produce enormous benefits.
I guess it is just like exercising physically. Going out for a jog or lifting weights will require much more effort than just sitting on a couch and drinking some beers, but it will also produce much more benefits on the long run. There is no surprise in the fact that people who exercise regularly are also more likely to read regularly.
So, that is the message I wanted to pass with this point. Read as much as you can. It is one of the few things that surely will create a positive impact on your life.
“Live as if you would die tomorrow. Learn as if you would live forever.”
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