The Lockdown Is The Perfect Time to Read
“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ― Mark Twain
I wrote in my previous article that I haven’t been doing much during the lockdown, but that’s not exactly accurate.
I’ve been taking time to rest and rediscover some old passions of mine, and since books were my first and greatest love, that means I’ve been reading.
I’ve been reading a lot.
As a child, I used to go to the library and literally max out the number of books one can legally borrow.
I would stuff those dozen or so books in my oversized backpack, hoist said backpack bravely on my young shoulders and lug them home, smiling all the way.
Safely ensconced in my room, I would proceed to devour them.
Page by page, word by word.
I returned to the library every other weekend like clockwork, eager to refill my backpack and my mind.
I haven’t been reading as much, or as deeply, as I used to.
Alas, when you get older, life sometimes gets in the way.
Weekend library trips get replaced by Saturday date nights, hours secreted in a room with a book traded for the much less enviable hours seated behind a laptop crunching out work.
You know how it is.
Despite the endless busyness of adulthood, there was never a period of time when I completely stopped reading. Stephen King recommended in his memoir, On Writing —
“Teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows.”
So that’s what I’ve been doing.
A chapter or two on the train, a paragraph or three on the bus.
It’s far, far better than being stranded with zero reading time, but admittedly, it leaves much to be desired.
Use the Lockdown as an Extended “Think Week”
“Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.”
— Bill Gates
Microsoft mogul Bill Gates famously takes a week-long “Think Week” twice a year.
He would arrive by helicopter or seaplane to a remote cabin nestled somewhere in a cedarwood forest. The cabin is out of bounds to all visitors, with the exception of a caretaker who discreetly slips him his meals and a steady supply of Diet Orange Crush soda.
There, he would read.
And I mean really read.
Gates would comb through a diverse number of topics that interest him. Nothing is off-limits. Reading materials include anything from great books to state budgets to papers written by Microsoft employees.
For those who think that locking yourself up to read is a waste of time, Bill Gates cites reading as one of his keys to his success, and I humbly agree.
I credit reading voraciously as one of the main reasons I was able to start my own little company at the age of 22 using just my beat-up old iPhone.
For Bill, work done during one of his week-long isolated reading sessions eventually led to the creation of Internet Explorer in 1995.
If it’s good enough for Bill freaking Gates, it’s good enough for me.
So I’ve been making the best of this quarantine by turning it into my personal extended Think Week.
Reading is Key to Tremendous Personal Growth
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
— Harry S. Truman
Not all of us are multi-billionaires with a seaplane and a private cabin at our disposal.
I get that.
However, this lockdown period is also an invaluable moment for us to unplug, unwind — and explore.
You’re already isolated. You’re already barred from your usual day-to-day life. So you might as well get something out of it.
And there are few better ways to grow as a human being than through reading.
Recent scientific studies have shown that reading can increase levels of all three major categories of intelligence. Another study discovered that reading literary fiction can improve empathy.
I’m not surprised. I’ve always felt that reading fiction from a young age helped me precociously think in someone else’s perspective. I fully agree with George R.R. Martin when he wrote:
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”
According to Pew Research, billionaires like Bill Gates read a whopping 50 books a year. That’s about one book a week.
Compare that to the typical American who, according to the same research, reads about 4 books a year.
The bottom line is — there is strong research indicating that the habit of reading can make you more intelligent, more empathetic, and even more financially successful.
Your Takeaway
So many people I know complain they don’t have enough time to read.
Well, there is no better time than now.
Yet as I browse through social media, I can’t help but notice that the same complainers are now spending their quarantine playing videos games, binge-watching TV, doing a myriad of fitness challenges — pretty everything else other than reading.
I’m not judging.
Look, I get that this pandemic is a stressful time for us all, and we all cope using whatever methods we can.
You do you, my friend.
However, if you would like to pick up a new habit during social isolation, reading is a fantastic choice.
Even better, if you’re a former avid reader like me, one who let your busy life get in the way of your reading habit, there is no better way to reacquaint yourself with an old flame than now.
Pick up a book, any book, and get immersed in it.
When you’re done, pick up another.
If you don’t have any books, the internet is an unbelievable resource. You can download millions of e-books, PDF files or audiobooks online right this moment.
More content than you could ever read in a hundred lifetimes, at your fingertips.
I mean, you’re reading this right now on Medium, so you’re already off to a roaring start.
Pick up the habit of reading this lockdown.
And come out of it a better person.
Thanks for reading my story. :)
