Reading makes the difference

Dear friend,

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, ten years ago, two friends graduated from the same high school. They were very much alike, the two friends. Both had been solid students, both were personable and both were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these friends returned to their high school for their 10 year reunion.

They were still very much alike. Both had played college athletics. Both were happily married. And both, it turned out, had gone on to work in sales for similar companies after graduation. From the outside, all seemed equal.

But there was a difference. One of the friends was struggling to make ends meet. The other had made noticeable leaps in their quality of life.

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

What made the difference?

Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives? It isn’t a natural intelligence or genius or hard work. It isn’t that one person wants success and the other doesn’t.

The difference lies in each person’s reading habit and how they apply what they read.

And that is why I am writing these words to share the power of reading with you. For that is the one difference between these friends: one decided to make reading a daily practice while the other couldn’t be bothered with this activity.

A habit unlike any other

You see, reading is a unique differentiator. It’s the only thing you have complete control over. Each day, it either serves or restrains you from becoming the person you want to be.

Each day, reading compounds until it unlocks the hidden potential to your best life. Or a lack thereof causes you to spiral out of control until merely existing becomes a losing battle.

Reading is power

Right now, I am looking at the libraries each of these friends has accumulated. One of them has a bookshelf filled with books on topics like philosophy, business, diet, exercise and science. The other shelf has become a makeshift closet filled with dirty underwear and sweaty socks.

A personal library is the single best indicator of how an individual’s life will turn out. If it contains authors like Marcus Aurelius, Nassim Taleb, and Matt Ridley then I can guess their life trajectory with extreme precision 📈.

If you have been neglecting your personal library, you cannot imagine how useful it can be to you.

A life-saving decision

Put my statement to proof by committing to buying AND reading one new book a month for the next year. For just a few dollars this is among the cheapest and most impactful changes you can make in 2023.

Or you may prefer to take advantage of this often overlooked practice by buying twelve books all at once, you daredevil you. So they are stacked up on your bookshelf giving you a piercing glance every time you walk by. They will act as a friendly reminder that there is a better choice you can make rather than checking your email for the hundredth time.

Simply open up your online bookstore of choice (I prefer BetterWorldBooks.com) and select a few titles that catch your eye. Add them to your cart and click the buy button. And here’s my recommendation: should none of the first few books measure up to your expectations, you have my permission to toss them out the window at any point and never be forced to open them again. Fair enough?

If you feel as I do that this is a fair and reasonable proposition, then you will want to find out what you’ve been missing without delay. Discover if reading can do for you what it is doing for millions of bookworms around the world. So please order a book or two now, and see if they start serving you immediately. If not, order a few more until they do.

About those two high school friends I mentioned at the beginning of this essay: they graduated from the same school and together started their paths on the serious business of living. So what made their lives different?

Wisdom. Useful wisdom. And it’s application.

Drink deeply from good books. - John Wooden’s dad

An investment in yourself

I cannot promise you that success will instantly be yours if you start reading today. But I can guarantee that you will develop the one habit that reaps continuous rewards for a lifetime. You will become healthier, happier, wiser and wealthier.

Warm regards from your fellow bookworm,

Arman

P.S. It’s important to note that it doesn’t matter what you start reading at the beginning, just that you do start. You will get tired of reading the junk and eventually be drawn to the books that will make a difference. Observe any of your heroes. They read more than you realize.

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