I recently read a BBC Capital article on why ‘microbreaks’ when working can have a powerful effect on your body and your mind – basically tiny breaks that help to ease your body and reboot your brain. What was interesting is that I read this article during such a break when I spent a few minutes just searching the internet for anything educational and ‘quirky’ (not gifs of cute kittens quirky). The same article then led me to another article (it became slightly longer than a ‘microbreak’) on the power of reading.
I’m a reader. I get panicky if I don’t have a book close to me – either on my work table or in my bag. A while after setting up Eternal Landscapes I noticed that my reading time was getting less … I was no longer reading on public transport or at the end of each day before turning off the light to sleep. I was no longer incorporating reading time into my day and this had to change – I had to find time to embrace good old-fashioned reading again.
I’m not a business mentor or guru so this is only from my own perspective but I feel that reading helps my personal and professional development. Reading is a source of inspiration as well as knowledge. But, this isn’t about being elitist in your reading or a book snob. This is about embracing the joy of learning that comes with reading. It is about becoming like a sponge and soaking up knowledge and inspiration from written sources – whether that’s a book or article or printed or on a screen.
The information and words I take through reading help me inspire and motivate my beloved team. Through reading, I learn and through learning, I can grow and develop my team as I grow and develop myself through the knowledge I soak up. I also get access to new ideas, new ways of thinking and new insights and perspective on business through the failures as well as the successes of other entrepreneurs.
Reading is part of my own personal manifesto – part of my core values and beliefs. But it is also part of my professional life. Here’s a shout out to the power of books.
