This morning I started my morning off like I do most mornings. I got my workout in and completed. Then I set aside an hour for reading a few chapters from a book.
This is my second entry of an ongoing series of writings on the power contained in one hour. One hour is not a lot of time in your day, but if you can harness the power in one hour and put all of your efforts and focus into an hour, you can accomplish some amazing things.
In my first entry, you can read it here. I talked about how many calories I burn, and you could burn as well, if you ran or walked for at least an hour a day.
Today, I want to talk about the power of setting aside one hour of reading time a day, or at least several times a week, and how much this one hour invested in reading could benefit you.
Over the last seven years I have invested one hour a reading time, on most days, to a book on a particular topic that I have an interest in. The books I have usually read are business books, self-improvement books, motivational books, biographies, etc. During that time, I have read about 384 books. On average that is about 54 books a year.
Most books that I read are roughly around 200 pages. If you read 30 to 40 pages a day you can finish a book in a week or so, just like I have averaged the last seven years. Do I read everyday? No. But I read most days. And if I am really into the book, I may read a whole book in one sitting if time permits. But I think you see the point here.
In one hour, you can usually read about two chapters, at least for most books, unless you get into a novel or something. The fonts are usually much smaller on those kinds of books, which make the chapters longer and harder to read for me at least. I think you get the point here.
How has it benefited me to set aside one hour on most days to read a book. Before I started this habit of reading. My income a year was around $53,000 dollars. My best year of my career was in 2016. Where my total income was $175,000 dollars. You can do the math yourself, but that is an increase of $122,000 dollars or a 230% increase in my income.
Sure, I would have had some raises along the way and after several years in a career, you should be making more money. But I would not have had the significant increase in my income if I hadn’t become a reader. If I hadn’t invested that one hour a day into my personal development during that time.
Let me tell you what is behind the numbers that you don’t see. By reading the fifty something books a year:
- My confidence increased. Because I was smarter.
- My thinking ability was expanded.
- The fear of certain unknowns were dissipated.
- I learned how to work with people more effectively.
- I sought out new opportunities.
- I expanded my knowledge into more areas.
- I had additional skills.
- I appreciated people more.
- I was more interesting because people knew I was well read.
- I shared certain nuggets of wisdom with others.
I could go on and on about all of the benefits I have received or earned because of reading, but I will stop here. I think you get the point. All of this is possible because of one hour a day, or most days. See you don’t even have to do it everyday. If you do it every other day, you will still get substantial benefits from it.
I had a mentor tell me one time that one hour a day, devoted to a certain topic or skill, will make you an expert in that field or topic within five years. I agree, it will make you an expert, but it wont take that long.
Let me ask you? How much reading do you think you can do in an hour? I would be curious to learn.
If you fond some value in the post, please share it with others. I am just like you, I am trying to figure it all out.
To your success and your future.
