theshitdetector

Last year, I read over 70 books. Let me tell you how I did it and how you can do it too!

Okay, first things first, if you want to read, you have to have an unbelievable sense of curiosity to learn new things and discover new arenas. One way you can trick your mind is to stop fooling yourself by believing you know a lot of things. That attitude will kill your appetite for knowledge. Instead, tell yourself that you don't know anything. When your curiosity declines, your appetite for learning new things fades away. Think of it like a boy who lost his desire for collecting his favorite Hot Wheels cars or a child who lost all interest in the colors around him, even the vibrant colors of the rainbow in an ice cream shop. And let's face it, as adults, we are very good at killing curiosity. That's an understatement, I believe. I think the lack of curiosity is often aligned with these common excuses:

“I am so busy; I don't have time to read” or “I can't read because I lose concentration and my thoughts start to wander.”

This brings us to the second point. Your lack of focus or will to read is not genetic. Your lack of focus is created by you, not by your DNA or anything else. You can redirect your focus by putting away your smartphone and prioritizing reading. Mute your email notifications and eliminate distractions. Every time you pick up your smartphone, your brain loses 20% of its IQ. Remove all social media applications. Change your smartphone screen to grayscale. There are countless ways to redirect your stolen focus:

Your stolen focus is the result of a lifestyle that prioritizes slacking over learning, one that prioritizes short-term gains over long-term improvement.

Third, perfection is the enemy. If you're starting to read and hoping to understand and retain everything immediately, you may set yourself up for failure. If you haven't completed a book in a while, start by reading simple books and gradually work your way up. Don't worry about retaining all the information you consume. Maximizing your learning curve from the beginning will only lead to frustration. So, start by reading anything—small books, books that interest you, any book. Get physical books rather than reading online or on your browser, as the chances of getting distracted are higher, and reading on a screen can easily make you lose focus.

Fourth, consider buying a Kindle. It's a device from Amazon designed specifically for reading. I personally got myself a Kindle over 10 years ago. Okay, I cheated a little there. A Kindle is not a physical book, but it's a physical device that allows you to download unlimited books. You can summarize your notes, highlight paragraphs, and organize your thoughts. But I think the most important function of a Kindle is that you can download free samples of books. You get to download two or three chapters of a book, and if you like it, you can buy the full book and it will download to your Kindle. This way, you can get a taste of the book before making a purchase, piquing your interest in the topic.

Fifth, having general knowledge is more important than having specialized knowledge. Yes, it's great to be a specialist in a particular field, but if you're an IT person, for example, your specialty is limited to IT. Remember point number four? The more book samples you download, the more knowledge you'll have about different topics. Then your books and authors will start talking to each other as you learn and become a better IT specialist. You will not only learn more about IT, but also about so many other things. You don't have to use this knowledge solely in IT, and that's the whole point of reading more:

To enhance your general knowledge about various topics and expand your horizons, think of yourself as knowing less about everything else. This will increase your desire to learn more.

There's not a day that passes without reading. Whenever I hear about a book, I look it up and add it to my list. Does that mean I read every book that comes my way? Of course not. That's not humanly possible. I start many books, read multiple books simultaneously, and abandon many along the way. But at least I start and know which books interest me and which ones don't. I recognize what piques my interest and curiosity. I often find myself deeply engaged with certain books, which leads me to read about the author and their biography, among other things.

Furthermore, reading has helped me improve my writing, not just in terms of quantity but in quality as well. Over time, reading will also help you focus on your writing because you'll develop the confidence to start a sentence or write a line that resonates with you.

There hasn't been a day since my youth where I wasn't curious. I always read poetry and learned about writers, thinkers, and people. I suppose curiosity was inherent in my nature. I still can't comprehend how people can navigate the world without reading. How do they develop problem-solving skills or come to develop their own philosophy? I'm not asking everyone to abandon their lives and start reading a book a week; that's not feasible initially. The key is to eliminate distractions and cultivate our interest in the world around us.

As for writing, it has always been my go-to outlet. I believe you can write or create art when you know the alternative is going crazy, as restless thoughts will keep you awake. I've always had the urge to write. Writing is a form of healing; it helps me tame the voices in my head. To borrow a line from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird, “I wrote in borrowed time.” I wrote when I felt out of touch with myself or lost. I wrote every day because I had a story I wanted to tell. I wrote before work and after work. I knew I would never have the perfect time to write, so why not start writing now? And my hand moved across the page. I didn't count the hours or the pages or anything like that. I simply wrote. Sometimes for 20 minutes, sometimes for longer. I didn't care about the outcome or finding a publisher. I was in a state of bliss because writing was the most important thing for me to do that day. Everything else became less important or unimportant altogether. I completed my trilogy in a year using the reverse-engineering technique, starting from the end and working my way back to grab the middle and plot. In a few weeks, I'll be pitching my new novel (with over 80,000 words) to agents and publishers.

I’I followed the same approach when I wrote and published my two novellas: “28 Mansions of the Moon” and “The Pigeon Whisperer,” which was reviewed by Publishers Weekly. I simply wrote because I didn't have any other option.

Reading and writing go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. It's not a duty; it's something you must do with love. If you want to improve, read more often. You don't have to be a writer or an expert in anything. You don't have to be anything in particular. But perhaps, with time, you'll become a slightly better version of yourself.