Debunking My Own Myths As A Non-Reader

Growing up as a GenY individual, I used to associate reading with this emotion, “Boring”. Everything today is already fast and instant. Purchase can be made in 3 clicks, delivery can be done in minutes. Why would I spend 6 hours with hundreds of clicks on my E-Reader device just to finish one book?

Reading was a very hard thing to start, especially when I had a whole bunch of excuses at my back. As time went by, I became a reader, and these are some of my realizations toward my top 3 excuses:

Myth 1: I Can Just Read A Summary

Before I got myself into reading, I used to subscribe to book-summary service with my mobile application which I could finish a book in 20 minutes. As soon as I developed a habit of reading an actual book, I never go back to it. It is just not the same.

Let’s look it in this way. If you are into football, would you be satisfied to see the result announcement of the match alone, or would you want to watch the full match? As for myself, I love playing video game for the sake of the storyline, but I still want to play even if I can simply go to Youtube and check a 3-minute video of someone summarizing it.

“Books are the training weights of the mind.” — Epictetus

Summary is not the same with an actual book. If you are fine with being shallow in intellectual muscle, then go for it.

Myth 2: I Can Ask My Friend Who Read

I said this often myself. But guess what? If I did not even bother investing time in reading, why would I bother investing time with someone who read?

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” — Jim Rohn

If you do not read, chances are that you are spending most of your time with the people who do not read as well.

I read a lot in the past two years, and a lot of my friends know it. But guess how many times someone approached me last year to request a summary or highlights of a book? Not any I can remember.

Myth 3: I Do Not Have Time

When we look at people who read 52 books a year (or, 1 per week), we are like “Wow, how can you do that?”. Actually, it is not hard.

If I had to print all the pages I read on social media and print it out as books, that would be a very huge pile. I am pretty sure that it was more than 52 books.

We all read, somehow. It is just a matter of whether we are reading something useful for our lives. Think about it, two hours are the average amount of time spent on social media alone.

If you are reading at an average speed (200 words per minute), you could finish a book in 5 hours. That means you only have to read about 40 minutes a day to be able to finish a book per week. All you need to do is to cut the time reading crappy stuffs on the internet.

“How long are you going to wait until you demand the best for yourself” — Epictetus

Reading is a timeless method for our personal growth, and it is what we all have known and learned since the early days in our lives. Oddly enough, as soon as we learn how to read in school, most of us forget why we read — the sole purpose is only to pass the exam. We can read any words, but do not have any reasons to read.

A book is sacred. It gives more life to our years, and more years to our lives.

“Reading is an honor and a gift, from a warrior or a historian who — a decade or a thousand decades ago — set aside time to write. If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you’re functionally illiterate.” — James Mattis