Reading Habits

In one of his speech, Mr. Harsha Bhogle said that a lot of people believe that they are ambitious. All of us are convinced that we practice excellence. We all are working for excellence, isn’t it? What is the true definition of excellence? If you are waiting for my definition then my answer is I don’t know. I guess we all have a different definition of excellence. Now the main question is that how to achieve excellence. You may reply, it comes from experience, and how we will get best from experience because experience also goes with two types of people. I.e., Successful and unsuccessful.  If we are talking about successful then your answer may be knowledge. A successful person gains experience through knowledge. Now again, if I ask, how to get knowledge then the answer is Reading…Reading and Reading. To make things more simple and straight as failure is a stepping stone to success, similarly reading is the first step to excellence.

Someone nicely said that, “Not reading any book is like to live a life like a blind”. Everyone knows that; and some people also started reading at one juncture of life. It is also a fact that they also quit the same. Fortunately I met this type of people in my life. After listening their reply, I was amused. I received replies like, “I like to read, I also started the same, but when I pick a book, after some time I feel drowsy”. In reply I questioned them that how many times you read the book.  And the predictable reply was, “Only Once”. You can ask to yourself also.

Now the main question is that why it is happening with many people. Why they fail to convert it into a habit? The answer is giving-up at the earliest and not knowing the right method. Just observe any person or yourself, how you develop other habits like dance, cricket, singing, traveling, etc.  Answer is “Interest” and how you develop the interest, your reply would be whenever you are observing your near and dear ones is enjoying their life with that habit you will automatically get inclined to do so. So as you also want to experience the joy and pleasure that others are enjoying you too start thinking over it. And gradually you develop the interest for the same. My friends, as you read about how you develop interest a question may arise in your mind that developing sporty habits like cricket, badminton, dancing, singing, traveling is very easy as they are more appealing but reading!!! Reading is a hobby of handful of people and in addition reading is a boring task indeed. Friends, we live in a country where billions of people live. But only a handful of them have tasted success! If you want to be amongst that handful, you have to stop following the crowd and develop yourself. If you are worried about how boring it will be then I have a small but life changing thought for you which comes from Vedas “Yatha Drishti Tatha Shrihti”. If you look at books only for the sake of studying then it will undoubtedly be boring for you but if you change your vision from studying to “Learning” you will live your life to the fullest. Well I think knowing this fact has completely changed your attitude towards reading. But only right attitude won’t create loud applause. You need one more thing to applaud louder I.e. right skills. My friends you are now standing on “I want to” let’s move one step ahead on “how to”.

Let’s see the process:

1.Start with vernacular language: It has been observed that as the English is ruling over other languages, so, everyone wants to start with English book. It’s advisable that if you are Gujarati and lacking proper command on English then start with some good Gujarati books. Now days, many English books have been translated in vernacular languages. So, you can start with it. 

2. How to start? We always are in dilemma that we want to read but the main question is that how to start. It has been observed that generally we are selecting any books referred by others and after reading one or two pages we stop to read further and next time we never try again. So we can start with Novel or we can go with our interest. If our interest is in finance then we can start with book like ‘Rich dad Poor Dad’, if your liking is motivation then you can start with ‘You can win’, ‘Think and Grow Rich’, ‘Over the Top’, and there are many more books available in motivation, If you are a businessman then you can read ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’, ‘Idli orchid and will power’ and others.

3.Know your ‘On’ times: When a person is focused and energetic, one can make anything possible. Read your book when you are most energetic and focused. At this time you can grasp better and implement better in your daily routine.

4.BREAK DOWN YOUR READING TASK: If you don’t have a habit of reading then do not force yourself to read hundred pages a day. You can start with one or two page daily and gradually you can increase the pages. This will give you a sense of satisfaction and also keep you goal oriented.

5.FIND YOUR IDEAL ENVIRONMENT: Fetch a place where you can gather all your energies and stream it in a proper direction. So that all your concentration is only into the book.  When you do this you will literally find solutions to your daily life problems. You will also practice it in your daily life.

6.BREAKS ARE A MUST: Your concentration and comprehension will improve when you read for 30 minutes with a break in between. You will feel more focused and enthusiastic when you add this to your reading time.

7.Summary: It’s better to make summary of chapters or books. It will help you to increase your level of understanding and will be stored in your mind for a long while. Even if sometimes you feel low or down you don’t have to read that book again you can find your motivation in the summary which you had written.

At the end, I would like to correlate the reading habit with nature. When you sow a seed into the soil the seed has to face many obstacles that detain it from reaping. Sometimes the seed does not get fertile soil. Sometimes birds or other animals destroy the seed which enable it to grow. Moreover a heavy rainfall also damages the seed completely. But the seed that has overcome all these obstacles in the beginning has to reap and harvest good fruit at the end. The small seedling then nurtures further into a sapling then a plant and finally into a strong and tall tree. Not only this much but under this tree many people find their rest, many birds find their shelter, and animals find their food. People who are beginners of reading are just like the seeds. In the beginning you will feel this work to be tiring and difficult. You will also have a battle with your own mind when it comes about concentrating on the book or you may also decide to drop this idea and get into your daily habit but hold on! Adversaries come to make you and not to break you! Just have patience with yourself and carry on your daily reading habit with a new enthusiasm and strength. Once you got over it, you will be like a tree –happy within and a source of happiness to others also!   SO KEEP READING AND GROWING WITH LIFE !