Reading may feel like a passive past-time. After all, there’s nothing more inactive (and relaxing) than curling up with a good book, especially on a rainy day.
However, reading can be a great way to energise you when you’ve fallen into a slump. If you feel your brain has flat-lined, you don’t have to force yourself to work through it. Instead, try picking up a book and reading for 15 minutes next time. It may surprise you how effective reading time can be!
We explore a few ways that reading can boost your productivity and get your mind moving again.
Reading relaxes the mind.
Feeling stressed out by all the tasks that are piling up? Ironically, that may be the issue blocking you from doing work. When we are stressed, our minds go into fight-or-flight mode. Our brain is flooded with the stress hormone cortisol. If this goes on for a prolonged period, this can disrupt our decision-making and impede us from doing our best in our work.
Reading can be a solution.
Studies have shown that reading can reduce stress levels, even if you only read for as short as 6 minutes. By losing yourself in a different text and narrative, you let your mind rest from the stressors it’s facing. This allows your brain to relax and recover from the pressure it’s under so that you can start working well (while feeling great) again.
Reading helps you think outside the box.
Books are a gateway to new experiences and cultures. When you read, you’re often confronted with many new ideas – all of which help to expand your imagination.
With each book you read, you build the repository of ideas you’re able to draw on; this gives you greater material to riff off, especially when you’re confronted with a challenging problem, such as an issue in the office. This is a valuable resource, given that being able to come up with new solutions is a treasured skill, particularly in the workplace.
You can also super-charge this knowledge bank by constantly reflecting on what you’re reading and seeing how it aligns (or does not) with your views. This keeps your mind flexible and engaged!
Reading improves your ability to concentrate.
In our fast-moving world, there are a million and one things that are out to distract us. Being able to hunker down and concentrate on our tasks is a powerful ability in the workplace and would do wonders for our productivity.
Research has indicated that one’s reading skills are positively linked to their ability to pay attention. When you think about it, this intuitively makes sense. Our brains are just like a muscle that needs to be trained. The more you practise concentrating on something, such as on the words in front of you, the easier focusing will come to you the next time you need it. As such, it’s no wonder that readers tend to be able to concentrate better than their non-reading counterparts.
Reading increases your knowledge about the world.
As a renowned philosopher, René Descartes once said, “Reading good books is like engaging in conversation with the most cultivated minds of past centuries.” You can learn something from every book you read – whether it’s a non-fiction or fiction book (although the chances of increasing your practical knowledge are higher with the former).
Reading is the quickest and cheapest way to gain expertise around a subject unfamiliar to you. That’s probably why the most powerful men in the world often cite their reading habits as the reason for their success. Books contain a wealth of knowledge that’s ripe for our picking – all we need to do is start reading.
Not sure where to start your reading journey?
If you’re intimidated by delving into a book immediately, begin with shorter forms of content instead. On the NexPage app, you’ll have access to quality summaries of best-selling Asian titles that are the perfect length for a quick read. Check it out now on either the Apple App Store and Google Play Store!