I’ve noticed that I have some reading materials that I devour, finishing them practically on the day they arrive, and others that sit there in the “should read” pile gathering dust. I realized my problem was that I was considering “reading” as one activity when really it should be two: work and entertainment.
My reading materials have the delivery method in common – all are words printed on paper – but beyond that they cover a wide spectrum of brainpower required to absorb them. Lumping Systems Thinking for Social Change into the same category as Seinfeld’s Is This Anything? doesn’t make sense. Of course, I will reach for the easy read at the end of the day or pick up Real Simple to pursue over lunch instead of diving into Time’s account of the coup attempt in Myanmar.
By putting the educational reads in the same pile as leisure reading, I never seemed to get to them as frequently as I would have liked. Meaningful reads that come over the internet fall even lower as they are easier to ignore.
Leisure reading is a fabulous outlet for entertainment and I gleefully partake as a form of relaxation, but I acknowledge that I must treat other books or documents as tasks and schedule time to read them. Bill Gates is known to read 50 books/year and Warren Buffet famously spends 80% of his time reading. I doubt they are only picking up fiction and instead see reading as an integral way to get ahead.
Think about the content you absorb and evaluate whether your input includes material to inform you as well as delight you. Never feel guilty about scheduling time to learn.
