A few years ago a some of my team members (at Bart Vickrey Real Estate) pitched in for my Christmas gift. They were all so excited! They told me it would change my life forever!
As you can imagine, I became very excited about the prospects. What could it be? Maybe lifetime tickets to the Real America’s team, the Green Bay Packers. Maybe a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. Or a French Maid! What could it be???
So our company Christmas party comes and they hand me my gift, all with excited eyes. I quickly tear through the Quanza paper (story for a different day)… and there it is… the gift that will change my life forever… a Kindle!
For those unfamiliar with a Kindle, the original Kindle… it first came out as an electronic reader. An electronic book that gave you direct access to Amazon’s massive selection of Kindle version electronic books. Now, the Kindle is more like an iPad.
Anyway, I was very excited about receiving the this gift. And thought maybe it would change my life. Those that know me well, know that I enjoy reading books. My ongoing yearly book reading goal is 12 books a year. Most years I exceed this goal. All based on my lifetime learning model. If you read only ten pages a day, this equates to 12 books a year. Coupled with 30 minutes each day of instructional or motivational audio programs… either on my iPod at the gym or on CD in the car, or both.
Over the course of just a year or so, you can become an expert at whatever you desire.
So I grab this Kindle and immediately started reading books on it. Now I typically only read non-fiction books. Business related, self-help, personal growth, and biographies. I tear through like 5 books in the first 10 days with this incredible new reading machine!
Note: around Christmas time each year I like to take plenty of time away from the office to spend with family, reflection on the past year, and planning and goal setting for the next year… so I typically read a lot during this stretch every year.
After the 5th electronic book… something just isn’t right. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I’m feeling a little unsatisfied. Maybe the books weren’t that good. Maybe I read them too fast.
Then it dawned on me. I missed books! Actual books. Books I can touch, bookmark, highlight, put on a shelf. I missed the old fashioned, old school, hard-cover, soft-cover, tattered covered books.
I’ve never used that Kindle again! Sorry team! I never did tell my team (until now) that the electronic reading machine didn’t change my life forever. It was books that changed my life forever. Real books. Books will never die! At least not in my lifetime.
Now I’m sad to report that the average adult American only reads 5 books in their lifetime after high school. But I’m trying to make up for all of you. And I will continue to read until the end.
Mark Twain once said that’ “the man who does not read has no advantage over the man that cannot read.”
If you’d like a Free PDF copy of my favorite book of all-time… the book that single handedly changed my life forever… just click on the FREE RESOURCES tab at the top of the page. The book is Think and Grow Rich.
Thanks for reading this article… now go read a book!
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