Reading Mindset

My previous mindset with regards to reading used to be very rough. It was: If you didn’t finish reading this book, you are not enough. You got to finish reading it or otherwise you are not smart enough.

This probably could be something learned from schools and colleges. When taking a course, class or subject, you need to finish it, take it from A to Z and successfully complete it or you are not worth it to go to the next level.

This type of system kills the spirit to learn and our natural curiosity. It is not just reading and learning but what resonate best with us personally and how we perceive it.

I really like this idea I learned from a youtuber called Ali Abdal who said: Read genuinely. Read to enjoy. Don’t make reading as a chore. And don’t make it as something to impress others. It is just for your own sake.

This really takes off a lot of blame and shame from our shoulders. No wonder people nowadays rarely read or feel very heavy and suphocated when it comes to reading and learning. There is so much negative cultural and societal conditioning happening that affect our natural desire to learn, explore and get curious about.

So what about you? What is your reading mindset? How do you perceive reading? When you find a book, what is the first thought running through your mind? How do you approach reading?