Reading through my backlog of entries from Steve Pavlina's blog, I keep coming across interesting entries. The one called "Read a Book a Week" again got me thinking. In it he explains how he took on the habit of reading one book a week back in 1992, and the benefits this habit yields.
I've been an avid reading for most of my life. One of my fondest memories is of a two month school vacation when I was about 16 years old, which I spent almost completely sitting in the garden reading SF novels (my favourite genre at the time). Today, I'm still constantly reading books whenever I can, either in paper form of on my Palm (which is great for those situations where it is not practical to take paper books with you, or for when some unforeseen reading time pops up). I don't manage the rhythm of 1 book a week, although in my student days, I once reached 70 books in one year (which paled into insignificance next to a friend who managed 180!). But I read tens of books a year.
I've started reading in the field of personal development around 1996, first with Stephan Rechtschaffen's "Time Shifting". But it really sparked off when I came across Covey's famous "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". And I've devoured quite some books in that area since then. As Pavlina notes, it is worthwhile to keep exposing yourself to new ideas. Even books that are not so good can bring you a good idea or two. And constantly learning more expands your repertoire (to use one of Vera F. Birkenbihl's favourite terms).
But while I fully subscribe to Pavlina's analysis, I have one nagging doubt. I sometimes fear that all this reading is an form of procrastination. As long as you can tell yourself that you're in the process of acquiring knowlegde and insight around certain problems, you have an excuse not to start taking action. "Yes, I know it's time to tackle this problem, but let me first read this one more book that will help me approaching it just that little bit better..."
The challenge lies in starting to act, even knowing that your skill and knowledge can always be improved, but that starting in an imperfect way is better than waiting for the ultimate perfection. Which we all know never comes...
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