Fleur Morrison

Reader, writer, blogger at www.readability.com.au

Anyone Who Says

They Are Too Busy To Read Is Talking
Fiction
Posted: 16/04/2016 06:25 AEST Updated: 16/04/2016 06:25 AEST

Mark Zuckerberg spent 2015 reading a new book every two weeks. Bill Gates
considers himself a great reader and Barack Obama packed six books when he
went on his summer holiday last year. Former White House resident Theodore
Roosevelt famously consumed one book a day when he was busy, and two or
three when he had a free evening.
And yet, whenever the issue of reading comes up among my friends and
family, it seems like everyone says they don't have time to read books. Stay-at-
home mums complain they are too busy running after their kids to sit down
with a book. Those with high-powered jobs say they don't have time to read
anything but work reports or briefs.
An Amazon study last year found that two out of three Australians do not read
as much as they would like and Roy Morgan research found that, in 2014, just
over 50 percent of Australians had read a novel in the past three months.
Which leaves almost 50 percent who didn't.
So, how can it be that people whose job it is to run a country or direct a multi-
billion dollar company still have time to lose themselves between the pages of
a book? And I'm not referring to motivational or business books -- many of the
world's leaders choose to read literature.
Perhaps the answer isn't so cryptic, and the very reason for these political and
business figures' success lies, in some part, in their commitment to reading,
regardless of their busy and demanding lifestyles.
Much research has pointed to the correlation between reading books and
academic and professional success. The UK Institute of Education studied the
effect of reading for pleasure on cognitive development over time and found
that the reading habits of secondary school students were more important in
their academic success than having a parent with a degree.
An Oxford University study of more than 20,000 people revealed reading to be
the only activity for 16-year-olds that correlates with a managerial or
professional job later in life. In contrast, sports, socialising and cultural
activities such as visiting museums or art performances were found to have
little impact on future career.
Scientific studies have shown that reading may have benefits ranging from
reducing stress to helping keep your mind sharp in old age and improving your
sleep.
But, most importantly, reading has been found to help us relate to other
people and develop an ability to interpret and respond to those different from
us. Whether this is in dealing with colleagues, bosses, customers, clients or the
media, it is a skill that is highly beneficial in almost any field, and clearly
highly developed in many of the world's most successful people.
It makes sense that people who read would better understand others, as
reading a novel enables you to walk in different characters' shoes. Is there any
other way to delve so deeply into someone else's experience -- to understand
another gender, nationality, personality or circumstance?
Not only does the reader benefit from this improved capacity for empathy, but
also those who are led by or work alongside them.
And it is not only business relationships that benefit from this understanding.
Any relationship can benefit from a greater ability to see from another's point
of view.
Celebrated French statesman Charles de Gaulle attributes not just his success,
but his very being, to reading. ''Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is
made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life.''
By taking time out of extremely busy schedules to read books, perhaps some of
the world's most successful figures have given themselves a career advantage.
They have expanded their minds, their experience, their understanding and
their capacity to empathise.
They may recognise that time spent between the covers of a book is not dead
time, or even simply a leisure activity, but is a kind of personal and
professional development.
Maybe it is time we took a leaf out of their books and stopped treating reading
as a waste of time, or just another hobby, a luxury we indulge in when
everything else is done. If people who hold positions of immense responsibility
can take the time to read, perhaps we can, too. Yes, we are all busy and
struggle to find time to squeeze anything else into our full schedules. But if we
see reading as being a priority, enriching our social and professional
interactions and building our knowledge of others and our world, we will make
the time to read.
So, turn off the television a bit earlier tonight. Leave the dishes until
tomorrow. Silence your iPhone. Resist the temptation to check your social
media accounts. Do yourself and those around you a favour and pick up a
book. And don't tell me you're too busy to read.