Why Successful Professionals Read?

Reading is a vital habit for every successful businessperson. It broadens our mind, helps with our written and verbal communication skills, and gives us a certain level of understanding and empathy.?Nothing can fuel our curiosity and imagination like reading. These skills can help employees perform and communicate better at work. The more we read, the more knowledgeable we become and the subject reflects our career. For a well-read employee, knowledge comes in handy even in the most critical time of business.

In fact, most successful people don't just read for pleasure—they read to learn. Reading is a boosting factor for employees' self-confidence and cognitive abilities. It allows employees to embrace new perspectives and look into problems from different angles. Reading, as most successful people tell us, is a gateway to new possibilities and learnings. The mind can perform miracles and be conditioned for excellence.?

Here are 05 benefits that can encourage our employees to read:

1. Intellectual Wellness

Reading makes the reader a creative person. It encourages the brain to imagine the unimaginable.?Intellectual wellness?is a necessity for creativity which comes when we are in a relaxed state of mind. Reading helps us relieve tensions and it develops ingenuity which makes an employee more innovative and creative. A 21st-century workplace thrives for intelligent employees as they show higher?levels of retention.

Workplaces must make room for intellectual wellness. Employers can create steps towards creating reading and relaxing space @Work, Such efforts will benefit the employees in many ways, including expanding their knowledge and boosting morale and productivity. Encouraging them to gather their favorite books in their workplace library can be fun. Employees can refer books and magazines to each other during the lunch breaks to enjoy a conversation over it.

2. Empathy

One of the most important benefits of reading is that it helps understand complex human emotions.?A study?found that individuals who read for 30 minutes a week develop a stronger sense of empathy.

Empathy?is one skill that employers look for while hiring their employees in this age. Reading helps people develop empathy, theory of mind, and develop critical thinking. Empathetic employees value other's emotions and support one another more often at work. It helps in encouraging diversity, developing compassion, and creating a better work culture.

3. Critical & Positive Thinking?

An employer looks up for help from a team member who can think logically and tackle situations calmly. Critical thinking is an essential skill to develop as we grow at work. The benefits of reading a book once a day are one good way to attain critical thinking skills. Reading appraises our critical thinking to present reasonable arguments, evaluate and analyze them better. Reading fictional books can also benefit employees.

Books also enhance positive thinking and behaviours. These attributes motivate and inspire to change from a negative to a positive mindset. Many employees, who want to improve their work-life, make progress, and reach their goals, are attached to books.

4. Proactive Approach

Being proactive means that we are no longer held back by our failures. According to the?Merriam-Webster dictionary, being proactive means "acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes." Proactivity means focusing on the things we can control and take responsibility for. Developing an assertive mindset increases our productivity and persistence at work.?

One essential benefit of reading is that it makes the mind proactive. So, an assertive person acknowledges his/her mistakes, believes in accountability, rectifies and learns from those mistakes. Such a flexible mindset helps us succeed in our professional careers.

5. Leadership Skills

Always remember that “Ideas are bulletproof”. We often wonder how people became successful with one excellent idea that changed everything in and around us. Well, innovation and creativity are not like an apple falling from a tree in the 21st century. Powerful ideas meet influential minds when they are constantly looking for the answers around. Every book we read takes us one step closer to it.

Every visionary leader today is endowed with the skill of reading and learning. People like?Warren Buffet, CEO of?Berkshire Hathaway, spend most of their day reading and recommends reading 500 pages a day.?Buffet?recommended?19 nonfiction?books in 2019. And Bill Gates recommended?94 books?throughout seven years.?Elon Musk, CEO of?SpaceX, says he learned how to build rockets by reading books. But business visionaries who possess the virtues of reading always recommend nonfiction.??

Last Word

Employees today should emphasize having a coordinated approach towards their lives and careers. They should combine intellectualization with practical implementation to create a work-life balance. The benefits of reading without applying the knowledge in practical life is a sheer waste. So, encouraging our employees to read will strengthen the work culture and improvise wellness at the workplace. It will enable them to achieve their personal and professional best.

A recent study?in the journal?Memory & Cognition?discussed the effect of reading with intention and purpose. According to the?study, benefits of reading can significantly impact learning and that it positively alters the mindset. Without cultivating the habit of reading, your outlook becomes brittle, and relationships will lower with co-workers.

About the Author

Muhammad Sajwani?is the Founder and Managing Director of?Evolve HR?which aims at transforming,?enriching and evolving Human Capital of Pakistan,?Evolve HR thrives in challenging assumptions that hinder organisational aspirations, by creating innovative solutions that yield maximum impact, scalability & benefit to a wider base of stakeholders.?As a Business Coach and Organisational Consultant, Sajwani knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.?

Also, follow me on?Twitter?and?Instagram