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Khaleej Times Online!FOCUS
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Bikram Vohra
4 March 2012
Let's see if you can answer this rather simple question. What is the single most important activity that can impact on
your skills and make you stand out in your peer group?
People answer differently. Many talk of loyalty. Hard work. Others say it is putting in long hours, the clever
ones speak about thinking out of the box, some people tick the square for teamwork. None of them are
wrong because these are all valid responses. And each one by itself or collectively does have a good
impact on your capabilities.
But they are superseded by the most important element in your career.
Reading.
True. The more you read the more knowledge you
have, the more knowledge you have the better you are
at whatever it is you do. t does not matter what your
job, the more you stay abreast of developments in your
field, the more you read about the core issues and
allied subjects, the data in your mind becomes a
powerful weapon.
Look around you and you will find that those who seem
to run up the ladder of success always seem to know
more than the average person. Their command over
their own discipline is further enhanced by their
knowledge of other subjects be it politics, geography, religion, sociology, military, even fiction. The rest of us
look at them and envy them their depth of information but we never stop to think that every day they spend
two to three hours reading eclectic books but reading all the same. No book is a waste of time. People like
that are therefore always ahead of the game, they are aware of the latest developments in their business,
they make decisions based on their real time information and that is why they win.
That is the one thing they have in common. They read.
Those same three hours for many of us are whiled away chatting on mobiles, making inane sms exchanges,
going to Youtube, reading gossip, watching trashy TV or just lazing around.
We even meet people who take pride in not reading and they deserve our sympathy.
Always remember power is knowledge and vice versa. The more you know the more you can trade that
distinction for a superior position.
Unfortunately, as a race, we have dropped our guard where reading is concerned. No time for it. Rather
watch TV. Play games on the console. Get onto the Net, pry into each other's lives on some website. Too
busy on the 9 to 5 treadmill, too many errands to run, who has time for getting down to reading except for
some magazine.
This is why that real, honest, down to earth read has become secondary.
Do yourself a favour. Go back to books and if you can pick up the rhythm for reading you will discover not
only is your quality of life improved but you are getting so much better at your job.
There is no other way of learning except for books. Audio-visual does not hack it. f you are ahead of the
curve and you are constantly updating your knowhow in your field how can you lose?



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