Leaders Are Readers
How Reading Elevates Your Leadership!
Knowledge is power. The most condense form of knowledge comes through books. Though you can find valuable information through podcasts, videos and courses, books often have an extra layer of depth and complexity that cannot be found anywhere else.
Reading is a true asset when it comes to stepping into your leadership, and growing your business, or simply to improve how you lead your life.
Some of the greatest transformations I have experienced have come through epiphanies linked to specific books.
In this article, let’s explore:
Why reading is fundamental to your own growth
How to build the habit of reading
Which books have influenced my life the most.
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
Harry S Truman
Reading, Learning & Growing
Something magical happens when you fully absorb the content of a book. What could be shared in a few summarised paragraphs becomes anchored in your soul. Books can be life-changing, because of the insights and perspectives they offer.
Sometimes, I only implement one thing from a book I read, and that one thing could be summarised in one sentence. Yet, having spent 10 to 20 hours reading that book supports me to stick with that habit.
For instance, after reading ‘Breath’ by James Nestor and ‘The Oxygen Advantage’ by Patrick McKeown, I became a nose breather - from breathing through my nose at night to exercising & only breathing through my nose.
It would be amazing if you just reading the paragraph above thought: Great, now I’ll also only breathe through my nose all the time. But truth is, it hasn’t stuck with you. You will forget about it, you won’t understand why it matters, you won’t think about it during the day…
Whereas if you’d also read both those books, it would also be part of your system, of how you think, what you believe…
We become who we spend time with. And books are a way of spending time with a certain type of information and a type of thinking.
Even if you only remember a very small fraction of that book, it will speak to you in a different way then if you just heard it briefly in a mini video. The book becomes how you think.
What about fiction? So far, we’ve mostly been addressing non fiction books and how they can shape the way you think. Fiction is also fantastic and has other benefits such as it builds empathy, provides a healthy escape from daily struggles, and expands the imagination.
Reading improves our life by helping us to:
Shift our way of thinking, our beliefs and our perspectives
Develop greater relationships with others, and empathy
Relax and re-connect with our inner world
The Habit of Reading
In the last decade, the habit of reading has declined. People read less and less. This is due mostly to switching from books to the phone. Instead of being immersed in a book, they flip to the phone to watch a video, scroll social media, read parts of articles…
This is a slippery slope. Because, on the moment, scrolling on the phone sends off more dopamine to the brain. It makes you feel aroused, and gets the brain all fired up. And then it quickly becomes addictive. Then, even though, you are no longer enjoying the time on the phone, you can’t seem to step away from it.
Picking up a book suddenly seems difficult, straining, boring and tedious. Yet, you used to love reading books so what happened? Fast tech, phone scrolling has gotten your brain used to quicker dopamine.
The solution? Getting you brain used to a slower pace again. To build the habit of reading is easy: switch phone time for book time (or Kindle time). Each time you want to pick up your phone, pick up your Kindle instead.
Put your phone out of reach in airplane mode in another room, and leave your Kindle in plain sight. Carry your Kindle (or book) with you, and pick up when you’re waiting in queues etc.
Another way to build a habit of reading is to carve out a specific time slot that is dedicated to reading - in the mornings or evenings for instance.
These are core principles to build a habit of reading:
KINDLE: Switch from phone to Kindle
TIME-BLOCK: Carve out a dedicated reading time
ENJOY: Choose books you generally enjoy. Switch to audio books if you prefer that style!
Core Books That Changed My Life
There are many books that have positively influenced my life (LINK). Some of the ones that I often think about and that have truly shapes the way I think, include:
From this book, I realised the magic of taking full responsibility, being proactive, and always sharpening the saw.
Thanks to this beautiful book, I became aware of the importance of full presence, and stopped ‘fighting’ against the present moment.
So much magic in this book. The miracle of life, connection, why we suffer, and how to overcome suffering.
Concepts such as ULP, Zone of Genius and Einstein Time - I think of them often and refer to them a lot in my content
An absolute gem for leading business & life more consciously. This is an amazing book!
On overcoming resistance to creativity, and projects.
Though I have very briefly summarised these books in only one or two sentences, they had a very strong impact in my life, and the way I lead my work.
Creating my own book, The Magic of Focus, was also a beautiful journey of contributing to a field of work I am passionate about, and as an avid reader, it was a great feeling to produce my own book in that space.
There are many other books that have shaped who I’ve become, and changed the way I think and live. Each book leaves a mark (if they don’t, I generally stop reading them). All these small shifts add up onto each other and create transformation.
Thank you for reading,
Enjoy the journey,
Katie