9 Reasons You Need a Book-Reading Plan
In our fast-paced and entertainment-saturated culture, it\u2019s easy to let book-reading fall by the wayside. In fact, many studies show that after college, the average person only reads 3 more books for the rest of their life!
And don\u2019t be tempted to think that the reading of books is old-fashioned and no longer relevant. There is power in the written word. And whether you\u2019re an entrepreneur, business person, or simply someone who wants to continue to grow, reading books is an effective way to continue your personal development. \xa0
\u201cYou will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.\u201d \u2014 Charlie \u201cTremendous\u201d Jones
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Tip of the WeekSince developing Parkinson\u2019s in 2011, I have been receiving deep-tissue massage therapy as part of my treatment. I started with once a month, then once a week, and these days I get 3 massages a week. Here\u2019s what this has taught me: your body is the frame through which you see the world. If the frame is bent, twisted, or in pain\u2026 you will experience the world that way.
Get over your hangups, and go get a massage from a reputable massage therapist. Try it at least once per week for a month or more and let me know the difference it makes in your life!
Spiritual FoundationsPray Prayers of Proclamation. When you have a need, do you pray or do you plead? Do you begin your prayers with words like, \u201cPlease God, please! God, I beg You to have mercy!\u201d Prayers that plead and beg imply that your heavenly Father is not willing to help you. Yet, He is far more gracious and willing to give to you than you are willing to ask, think or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) He desires above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. (3 John 1:2)
In fact, long before you have a need, God has already met that need. Long before you knew you needed a Savior, He sent His Son to be your Savior. This is your God! He is a good God. So when you beg Him for something, you are actually saying that He is reluctant to give and needs to be persuaded strongly before He will move. Yet, He is not like that.
Jesus knew the heart of the Father. When He saw the woman bound with a spirit of infirmity, He did not pray, \u201cOh Father! She has been suffering for 18 long years! I beseech You, Father, have mercy on her. Please, please heal her!\u201d No, when Jesus saw her, He immediately proclaimed, \u201cWoman, you are loosed from your infirmity!\u201d He spoke this way because He knew the heart of the Father. He knew that the Father wanted her delivered from her crippling condition.
At the end of a church service, I don\u2019t stand and pray, \u201cOh God, please bless Your people. Oh God, do keep them. Oh God, be ever so gracious to them!\u201d Instead, I proclaim, \u201cThe Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you!\u201d
Beloved, when you pray, proclaim your healing, protection and provision because your Father\u2019s heart overflows with love for you. And when you declare it, He sanctions it. When you declare it, He establishes it!
Feature Presentation \u201c9 Reasons You Need a Book-Reading Plan\u201c Here are 9 reasons you need a book-reading plan:- Reading helps keep you current. Books can help keep you current on business trends and strategies. You can either spend thousands of dollars flying around the country going to seminars and masterminds or spend a few dollars on a book! Consider reading Michael Hyatt\u2019s book, Your Best Year Ever \u2013 A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals.
- Provides material for your own writing and podcasting. Reading books offers you fresh information, strategies for presenting that information, and great stories to share with your readers. Read Chris Ducker\u2019s book, The Rise of the Youpreneur.
- Reading books exercises your brain. Joseph Addison wrote, \u201cReading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.\u201d Believe me, in this competitive environment, you don\u2019t want a \u201cflabby\u201d brain! \xa0I challenge you to read a book like, Miracles by Eric Metaxas. I guarantee that book will give your brain a workout.
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- Expands your worldview. Let\u2019s face it. Most of us live and work within a fairly small bubble of relationships. Our market is defined by what and who we know. Reading can broaden our perspective. Consider reading, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W Chan Kim.
- Stimulates new ideas. Frequently, I\u2019ll be reading a book and the content I\u2019m reading launches me into a totally new idea. Reading does that! If you need some fresh ideas and new thinking for your business, read a book. Try reading, The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss.
- Increases your vocabulary and conversational skills. Whether you realize it or not, when you\u2019re reading, your mind assimilates new words and phrases. These new modes of expression become part of your vocabulary and find their way into your conversation without your conscious effort. Read Perry Marshall\u2019s book, Evolution 2.0.
- Makes you a better writer. When you read a book that\u2019s well written, your own writing begins to take on the qualities that you admire in others. Here\u2019s a book that focuses on writing skills, but also features writing at its best: On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
- Corrects and/or corroborates your thinking. Reading what others think about a topic can either correct our misconceptions or confirm what we\u2019ve held to be true. A best-selling classic that will either challenge or confirm your beliefs is Lee Strobel\u2019s The Case for a Creator.
- Enriches your life. So far, we\u2019ve been talking primarily about growing our intellect and our business. But reading for pleasure offers many benefits as well. Reading a book before bedtime is a great way to wind down and relax. Recreational reading opens a whole world of history, intrigue, humor, adventure, and fantasy. Reading kicks the borders off your imagination. Patrick Rothfuss\u2019s epic novel, The Name of the Wind, is sure to provide you with an enriching experience.
Creating A Reading Plan
- Commit to read a book a month.
- Create a list of books that you want to read.
- Read on an e-device or paper. (Consider the option of highlighting and scribbling notes in the margins of a printed book.)
- Find a reading buddy.
- Listen to audiobooks. (The retention rate for listening to a book drops significantly over reading it.)
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