This Week's Quote and Commentary

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.

There is some debate over the original source of this quote but that is really not important. What is important is that you understand the underlying message. You need to continually feed your mind new information if you are serious about becoming successful.  It’s really pretty simple - focused, serious people achieve their goals and unfocused people do not.

Reading books, magazine articles, blog posts, etc., exposes you to new ideas. The more you read the more internal knowledge you have to draw from. How can you grow as a person, how you can you get better at your craft, and how can you get better at improving your personal health or the health of your relationships if you do not learn new methods and new ideas.

And please do not try to convince me, or yourself, that you are getting new ideas from watching TV or your phone screen. Sound bites are just not going to feed your mind with many substantive ideas or much new information. We tend to watch shows and read social media posts that confirm what we think we already know (Conformational bias). That is no way to expand your horizons.

Read as much as you can and about as many different topics as you can. The more you read, the more you will begin to connect dots between subjects and that my friend is where the advantage comes from. The more you have exposed your mind to a variety of information, the more able you are to “see” options when confronted with a challenge.

True success comes to those who really want it and are willing to put in the focused time and effort to learn all they can. You will get achieve more in each of the five Success areas as you read and learn more. What you learn (Head) will help you deepen your relationships (Heart), improve your overall well-being (Health), become more productive and valuable to the marketplace (Wealth), and be a wiser philanthropist as you give back (World).  

Books are easy to come by. Libraries are everywhere as are bookstores (brick & mortar or online). Take full advantage of what's right in front of you to help develop yourself to your full potential. You and the world will be a better place for your efforts.