KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

“The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading.” - David Bailey

“Knowledge is power”.... You’ve heard that line before. Do you believe it?

And despite whether you believe it or not, how do you obtain knowledge?

Podcasts?

YouTube?

Instagram Reels?

How about reading??

Reading is arguably the one thing that all successful people do. As of 2022, 64% of Americans say that they have read one book within the last 12 months. If we’re talking about physically picking up a book and reading it, I would say that number is closer to 50% as books on tape have become more popular.

And with gaming, social media, podcasts and other various distractions becoming the norm, as far as I am concerned the number of “readers” will continue to drop. I know this because I prioritized those types of distractions and had no interest in reading until three years ago.

The last time I read a book cover-to-cover was the summer leading up to my sophomore year in high school. We were assigned The Joyluck Club and would be tested on it the week that we came back to school. As a slow reader (and with shitty comprehension skills), I spent over a month reading that fucking book and taking notes on it. Upon starting the school year, I took the test and got a C. It was at that moment I decided that I was done reading for good.

Fast forward 15 years, and my attitude towards books changed.

When the pandemic lockdowns began in March of 2020, my girlfriend (now wife) and I decided it was better to be locked down together. The first week of staying at home was spent making up at-home workouts and playing Playstation. Just trying to find anything to keep myself from going fucking stir crazy not being able to really leave the house.

After pulling my head away from the Playstation for a few minutes, I noticed that my girlfriend was reading quite a bit. I knew she had a lot of books and read frequently, but it never really occurred to me how much she actually did it. It was at that moment that I decided to randomly pick up a book and try reading again.

The book was called Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi. Though finances always seemed extremely boring to me, I gained a lot of knowledge from that book. And when I finished it, I decided to read another one. And another one. At this point (over the past three years), I have read almost 50 books. That probably isn’t a lot compared to someone who enjoys reading but for me, that’s a lot of fucking words.

For the longest time I lied to myself about reading books. I told myself I hated reading because I wasn’t good at it.

I hated reading because I had more fun things that I could be doing.

I hated reading because of some stupid fucking test that I did poorly on in high school.

They were nothing but excuses because it wasn’t until I gave reading a chance that I realized the value that it provided to my personal development.

Reading gives you knowledge. Ideas. Perspective.

It provides you with tools that you can implement into your life and utilize towards your goals.

Reading helps you achieve fucking results!

Reading has absolutely changed my life for the better. I make it a point to read between 5-10 pages each day (sometimes more with books I really enjoy). And I will never stop reading. Because ever since I started I have become more intelligent. More aware. More articulate. And (whether you believe it or not) even more confident.

Because, once again, at the end of the day… Knowledge is power.