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“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
~ Joseph Addison
Our Minds are like the operating system of a computer
Whether you have a PC or Mac from Apple, they function through an operating system; could be Windows or iOS. I use a Windows operated laptop for my work, so I’ll use the term Windows OS for the purposes of this analogy.
Our mindset is like an operating system (OS), except for two major differences:
Now we come to mindset OS. Most people continue to run their lives on outdated mindset operating systems coded by their parents, society, teachers, friends, and overall environment ages ago!
We daily encounter negative inputs in the form of conversations or a news items that evoke fear, anxiety, guilt, or anger that are equivalent to viruses and bugs; and they are haunting our minds on a regular basis. The more we engage with those around us who are already bitten by these bugs, the more our own OS is corrupted by these mind viruses. We don’t have our inner anti-virus system in place to insulate ourselves from these infections.
Secondly, for the majority of people, upgrading their system is something they can’t even imagine. Why? Because they can’t even fathom the idea that their mindset should even require an upgrade. For them, the need to upgrade their system implies that it currently has flaws. The suggestion of upgrading will hurt their egos because suggestions have the implication that they’ve, so far, been operating with a faulty system. Consequently, they would rather expend most of their energy protecting that faulty system. Sadly, they don’t know or don’t want to know that they are plagued by a fixed mindset. Since you are reading this book about upgrading your mindset, definitely you don’t believe that way.
Now let’s talk about how to upgrade or reprogram the operating system of our mindset. How do we do it? It’s simply through exposing our minds to new set of information by way of reading.
Why reading is like installation of new code to your mindset
Reading provides you with new material to equip you with a renewed perspective, or a different way of looking at things. It helps you broaden your thinking and view things in a new light, to look at things in a way you hadn’t previously considered.
The author of any book, in the process of writing it, distills their knowledge and experience of years of fusing various concepts, and places it in a convenient and easy to consume content form. Therefore, in a way reading a book is like having a conversation over coffee with one of the smart people on the planet. It’s difficult to get an appointment from Tim Ferris or Robin Sharma for a one-on-one mentoring session, but it costs a few bucks to consume the knowledge these authors have put in the form of a book. You can’t meet Stephen Covey personally, as he is no longer on this planet, but you can still pick his brain through his great book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Books make great ideas immortal.
Furthermore, reading provides you with a new set of data-points that develop new neural pathways and connections in your brain to stimulate your thinking, thus enabling you to become more precise in your approach toward handling of life situations.
You can find various articles that tell you that, on an average, CEOs of big companies read 60 books a year. See the reading habits of ultra-successful people here.[18] Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are famous for spending 4 to 5 hours a day reading books. Check out Bill Gates’ blog at www.gatesnotes.com; you will be amazed to see his library of thousands of books.
In fact, Warren Buffett was once asked about the key to success; he pointed to a stack of nearby books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
See, these people are already icons, and at the apex of success, and still they find time to read. Why? Because it helps carry on sharpening their minds with the newest available knowledge, so that they continue to work on their mindsets and adapt to ongoing change. In short, it helps them code their mindsets and make them contemporary and suitable for any changes coming their way.
There is however a notable difference between the reading habits of the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy. According to Tom Corley, author of Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals, rich people (defined as having an annual income of $160,000 or more and a liquid net worth of $3.2 million-plus) read for self-improvement, education and success, whereas poor people (annual income of $35,000 or less and a liquid net worth of $5,000 or less) read primarily to be entertained.
Successful people tend to choose educational books and publications over novels, tabloids and magazines. In particular, they are drawn to biographies and autobiographies of other successful people for the purpose of guidance and inspiration.
What and How You Should Read
Of course, I won’t tell you to read fiction novels be they political thriller, science fiction adventure, or comedy. When we are talking about mindset redesign, you need to read great books about personal development books to understand human psychology and behavior. Reading up on these topics will surely trigger your “action buttons”: they will change your behavior and prompt you to take action.
If you pause for a moment and think what you learned from this very book since the introduction up to this page, you might realize that this book is doing the job of opening your perspective on life through stories, real-life example, science-backed findings and practical ways, you can transform your life by implementing my suggested strategies.
Clearly, books are the easiest form of incorporating new knowledge into your brain. And as you know already, neuroplasticity works to redesign your brain, so you must subject your brain to novel concepts and ideas.
When I say reading, the intention here is to expose your mind to new knowledge, and that includes listening to audiobooks or podcasts and watching online videos or courses.
Use a JUST-IN-TIME reading approach
It’s not advisable to pick any book in general without a specific intention or goal for that reading. Don’t just start reading anything, no matter how good it might be, unless it serves your information needs. Instead, it would be more beneficial to consider what kind of specific issues you might need to focus on. You can make a list of issues like this:
Once you have listed your areas of concentration, go one step further. Consider the area that needs the most urgent attention — the area which, if not tended to promptly, might adversely impact all other areas of your life. Start reading books in that area. The just-in-time approach suggests picking up recommended books in the area where you want to see improvement faster, and then start reading the one that most closely addresses your needs.
I can’t tell you any specific book to start with, as it depends on your personal needs and life situation. But don’t think too much, just make reading a part of your habit. Reading biographies or autobiographies is also a good idea to start with, if you love to get immersed in stories and simultaneously learn life lessons.
I’ve experienced that my entire life, be it personal, professional or as a writer, has been shaped by lots and lots of reading. There was a phase in my life, however, when I couldn’t read, and you know what? Those were not the most productive of times of my life and I was rather stressed, anxious and lacking clarity. But somehow, my old habits of reading and learning reasserted themselves and I started getting positive results again. I have been able to make courageous decisions and effect drastic changes in my life with not nearly as much difficulty as one might expect — thanks to books.
How often should you read?
You should read minimum of 15–20 minutes every day and develop this as a lifetime habit. You cannot get benefits by reading just once in a while. You need to get yourself motivated on a regular basis. As Zig Ziglar rightly said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Today’s generation is the most time-starved generation. So most people might wonder how they can implement reading in their already tightly-packed schedule. Here are a few quick suggestions:
It’s not a matter of a lack of resources or time; rather, it’s a lack of resourcefulness and prioritization that creates the problem of scarcity of time. If you are convinced that by leveling up your mindset through learning from others, you can design a high-quality life; then the question of finding time for reading will not arise, and you’ll squeeze in every opportunity to fit reading into your schedule.
Learning and implementation
However, it’s important that to receive the maximum benefit from reading, you must try to implement the teachings as quickly as possible or else you will lose the learning. Let me explain it through one more analogy.
Most of us know that turmeric has positive therapeutic effects in treating various conditions. But some research shows that if you add a little bit of black pepper to the medicinal preparation, it will dramatically improve the results.
So, if you are putting time, energy, and effort into reading this book or any other, please try to implement the same practically in your life situations. This will help you engrain those learnings into your neural pathways, which will only help you remember and take action on whatever you have learned. After all, what is the use of all that learning, after all, if you can’t implement and get improvements in your life as a result?
Therefore, you should endeavor to implement the learning through changing your behavior; it will soon become part of your psychology and rewire you brain by designing new neural pathways. You’ll learn much better by implementing the ideas in your life.
Chapter 7 Key Takeaways
You can’t change your mindset if you continue to repeat the same thoughts in your head. You need to expose your mind to resourceful information regularly to rewire your brain and see things from different perspectives.
Your mindset is like an operating system of a computer that also get infected by the bugs and viruses of negativity from people around you. Also, your outside world is continuously spreading new information and events, so you need to develop compatibility and adapt to changes around you for your own good.
You should not read just anything, rather your reading needs to be intentional with a specific objective. Use the just-in-time approach when learning anything new. Set a specific learning goal and then shortlist the learning material accordingly.
Make it a habit to read 15-20 minutes a day. It might be less, but with daily incremental progress, a compound effect comes into play; and over time, you will develop a renewed mindset. Also, focus on learning and implementing simultaneously in your day-to-day life.
