Don't Aim Too Low!
In a society that is filled with instant gratification and a focus on material possessions and acquisitions, it seems that it is increasingly easier and easier to focus on small, short-term goals rather than colossal, long-term goals.
Everyone is looking for way to satisfy their immediate wants right now. They don't want to think too far in the future.
They don't want to put in the work and spend the time doing something that doesn't have an immediate payoff.
That's why we're seeing activities like reading take a backseat in many peoples' lives.
In my own experience, I'm the only one in my family who reads books. It's actually kind of laughable. I do my best to read at least 1 book each week (52 a year) and my family members have never even read 52 books in their entire life.
Their reading stopped when their formal education stopped.
I often catch myself reading something really fascinating and then thinking to myself, "my family members will never read this. They'll never even think about this idea. They will never even know that the idea exists!"
The smartest people I know have always said that it's not what you know that makes you intelligent, it's what you know that you don't know.
The more stones of knowledge that I turn over, the more stones I seem to find.
I've found that the world is filled with these stones of knowledge. Knowledge is everywhere and all you have to do is be curious.
Anyone can be intelligent. I think a lot of people just believe that they are too dumb and too uneducated to pursue whatever their passions and interests are.
People think that it's too hard to learn something new and apply it to something greater than themselves. Don't be one of those people!
You can always learn something new. An old dog can always learn new tricks. A youngster can even learn astrophysics.
--yeah, you heard me right. I rhymed that last sentence :) 🎤
I strongly agree with you. I’m lucky my dad reads a lot of books and always encouraged me to read books outside of school. He is unfortunately, the only one that reads in my family.
It’s a shame how I spent the last two years not reading, always finding excuses such as “I’m so tired that whatever I’m reading right now will be forgotten tomorrow.” - But like everything, repetition is key. The brain is a muscle, if you exercise it, it will get stronger. So I’ve dove back into books, reading everyday, for the last 6 months and it’s been wonderful.
I personally love reading non-fiction, which might explain why it takes me so long to finish a book, as every page is loaded with information and I take notes, but do you have any advices to read faster? A book a week sounds fantastic, and I’d love to be able to do that!
i do unnderstand the importance of reading and how it helps people uncover new perspectives and knowledge, but another important factor is criticial thinking--people having minds of their own. I think we lack that in this time and age.