On his personal blog, Sanders Says, Tim Sanders recently posted about why leaders need to be reading more. The former Yahoo! CSO and green expert says that most of us are not reading enough books, and he makes a good case why we should make that change today.
Read here:
During my lectures, I always stress the importance of reading.
"Readers are leaders!" is a popular battle cry during my talks. Why? Because reading great books will expand your mind and ultimately give you total confidence. Personal confidence is to effectiveness what business confidence is to economic growth. Increase it and you will grow, thrive and attract others into your life.
Here's the plan: Read or re-read two books a month.
Every month, read one book that helps you understand how YOUR world is changing: business to life. You can also read a book that helps those you spend time with understand how the world is changing. This way, you can give the gift of knowledge -- a gift a book to a bizmate.
Also, read or re-read a book every month that inspires you or nurtures your positive outlook. This will nourish your point of view, offsetting much of the media dribble you absorb daily. Often, you'll need to re-read these types of books several times for their messages to sink in.
This month, I'm re-reading Norman Vincent Peale's classic: The Power Of Positive Thinking. I'm already getting fresh insight from his chapter on prayer power. I've read the book three times already, but each take gives me value.
You might say, "I don't have time for reading, I'm busy!". Yeah, you are busy reading the wrong material! If you are a frequent web user, tweeter, blogger or email reader -- you consume the equivalent of an entire book every week, in some cases every few days. Cut out some of that time, and replace it with scheduled reading. Have one of the two books you are reading near you at all times, especially down times such as travel, waiting room, lunch, etc.
You found time to work out. You found time to blog. You found time to Tweet. You can find time to read books. Trust me, the system works. When I cut back on my book reading plan (projects, writing new book, etc.) I always felt myself shrinking. If you wan't to add to your personal resume, and be the Phoenix instead of Chicken Little -- be a book worm not a web rat!
For information on how to bring Tim Sanders to your next event, visit www.premierespeakers.com/tim_sanders.