There are few things, if any, that’ll change your life as much as a consistent reading habit will. Knowledge is power and reading is the best way to acquire and learn knowledge that you never could otherwise. As great as experience is, one man can only learn so much at a time, even a great teacher has limits. But with books you can enter and learn from the minds of different greats for the price of a sandwich.
Reading is the single most undervalued habit that I can think of, they say reading giving you superpowers and I’d say that’s pretty accurate. If you want to lead, if you want to be the best you can be, then you have to read, no exceptions. When you look through the histories and biographies of great men who have made a huge impact on this world, being voracious readers is one trait that’ll stand out over just about any other.
Reading is what separates most millionaires from the average person, but this extends far beyond just money. It’ll change literally every aspect of your life in a positive way. It makes you smarter, wiser, richer, more socially adept, and deepens you spiritually. It has a unique effect that listening to lectures or watching video just doesn’t do. Not that those aren’t valuable but nothing can replace reading.
The Power Of The Book
Again if I could pick one thing I did that had the biggest impact on where I ended up in life, that changed my life the most, it would be reading. It was a habit I had as a kid, forgot about, and picked up again in college. And I wouldn’t be anywhere today without it, seriously. Let me explain. Before picking up reading I was doing what everyone else was doing always feeling like something was off deep down. But I didn’t know any better so I just kept going down the same road.
Without reading I’d probably be a teacher, maybe in a halfway decent marriage but not a great one or dating casually but probably not the girls I truly wanted, and still wondering what I was missing in life. I would never have learned about copywriting, about going into business for oneself, about the richness of self-development, about the proper relations of the world, about the primal cosmic order, or about the myriad of other things that I’ve learned since. I’d be just another average guy grinded down by the modern age.
And to me, personally, that’d be tragic. Reading worked in a way to be a hero for me, to save me from the path that I was on and to give me the tools I needed so that I could be my own hero in my own story, as well as help explain how the world around me works and all the depth and nuance to it. Reading gives you new eyes in many different ways, not just from the knowledge you gain but also from the act of reading itself.
Why You Should Read Non-Fiction
Experience is limited. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for experiencing new things, going for it, and seeking out new experiences. That’s a large part of what life and being a warrior poet is all about and I wholeheartedly endorse and support it. However, experience is also limited. As humans we are very limited with what we can in any one time and place. Because of this it pays to learn from others. Hence the importance of fathers, brothers, wise friends, teachers, mentors, coaches, and the like.
But even then you’re not likely to have the best of all things around you. With books you can peek into the minds of some of the richest, most successful, wisest, and so on people ever. They could be dead, they could speak another language, they could live on the other side of the world and yet with reading you can get a more intimate look at them than you can at some of your family members. And that advice can often be life changing or at the very least life adjusting, which is just as important.
Read in whatever topic interests you, even if it’s considered “taboo”. Read about what your curious about. Is it the dating and mating game? Then read about that. Is it about the human machine and psychology? Then read about that. Is it about making lots of money and persuading everyone with your ideas? Then read about that. Is it learning the truth about history and the world that we live in? Then read about that.
And so on and so forth.
Why You Should Read Fiction
Now the benefits of reading non-fiction can seem obvious. You get knowledge, valuable knowledge, that you can often apply almost right away. But what about fiction? Isn’t that just made up stories about nothing? Isn’t that just escapism for people that don’t want to deal with their lives, just like smoking, alcohol, or porn? No, no, and no. Reading fiction is actually the opposite of escapism and unlike those things mentioned has tons of positive benefits to doing it. First off let’s discuss some of the “hard” benefits of reading fiction.
Reading fiction raises your social IQ, it makes you better able to read people and understand what they want and where they’re coming from. It makes you more persuasive, socially adept, and empathetic. It allows you to see through the eyes of others and understand people outside of yourself. But beyond that it also has other benefits. Fictional worlds, despite popular belief are filled with heroes who are going through horrible ordeals in horrible places, the opposite of escapism.
We go to these horrible worlds because they serve as a sort of problem simulation. We see people in these horrible situations and see how they deal with them and then learn from them on a deeper level than mere facts. We may never go and slay a giant fire breathing reptile but we’ll all need the courage to stand up and go forth against something we think we have no chance of beating. We’ll all have to stand tall when everything is telling us not too.
And this is what fiction provides to us. The spiritual courage, the willpower, to go through the horrible things of this life. When we meet horrible things in real life, a deep part of us goes “I’ve seen this before and I know how to deal with it.” the heroes of the stories imprint themselves on us. Teaching and forging us even when we have no idea they’re doing it.
And that’s the power of fiction.
Reading Is An Essential Part Of The Warrior Poet
Read fiction, read non-fiction, but do read. And by read I mean read books. Social media, articles, and the like don’t count, neither do audiobooks. I know, I know this seems strict and all of those things, with the exception of social media, are great. But they’re not books. Sitting down to write a book is different than an article and holding a book in your hand and reading it is different than listening to it. So be a reader and read books, preferably hard or paperback books you can hold in your hand. You’re life will be the better for it.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
