TOP-NOTCH HABIT

I read one to two hours a day. That puts me in the top
0.00001%. I think that alone accounts for any material success that I’ve had in
my life and any intelligence that I might have – Naval Ravikant

Why do the wise
attribute such importance to this singular habit? A well known figure of the
our times has this to say:

‘In
my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area)
who didn’t read all the time –  none,
zero’ – Charlie Munger

Yet, we see an
alarming situation today where Chartered Accountants are drifting further and
further away from being voracious readers. With mounting pressures of
timelines, exponential client expectations, the complexity void of clear reason
and excessive, meaningless ‘compliances’, many Chartered Accountants in
practice are fast becoming sarkari chaprasis. It’s a zero-sum game –
where knowledge out of the knowledge worker dilutes and then diminishes. And
then there are some Chartered Accountants who generally read more of
existential stuff like ‘decisions’ and ‘amendments’ and less of ‘discoveries’
and ‘developments’, where ‘curiosity’ gets traded to buy ‘certainty’. And there
is yet another class of new entrants who choose to read what is of ‘immediate’
use because they want to ‘succeed’ fast, just as companies that build P&L
to the detriment of Balance Sheet.

What exercise does to
the body and meditation for the Atman, so does reading to the mind. And Humans
are minds minds are thoughts, and
thoughts are words. To read is to strengthen,
refresh, redeem, challenge, validate and free our thoughts from becoming stale
in a fast-changing world. Reading is as underemphasised a discipline as it is
vital.

All human progress
that we know, or are yet to know, is nothing but discovery, articulation and
expression. So we can perhaps judge this discipline by its benefits. And the
benefits are such that they cannot be plundered or degenerate. Here is a
summary of thoughts about this singular atomic habit and what reading
can do to us.

Opens
our eyes – Nuances, facts, perspectives, makes us see more of what is
visible. It means that we can look at what is before us but cannot see till our
brains are refined, baked and moulded. The eyes cannot see what the mind
does not know. A child can see a murderer walking towards it with a knife
and think of the instrument of pain to be a toy. The mind is only as good as
its capabilities to recognise. It’s the difference between hearing and
listening, between looking at something and seeing it.

Enter the best minds – We cannot meet the legends and icons as most are out of
reach or have existed in the past. However, when we read their writings we get
to enter their minds. Imagine, Buffet or Chanakya or Abhinavgupta – we can’t
meet them, but their writings tell us about how they formed their world view,
dealt with it and put their potential to use. One can experience what another
person felt through their writings and therefore it becomes part of one’s
internal architecture and often makes one empathetic and socially aware.

Perception
and prescription – Reading also overcomes its own
side-effects. We are often blinded by what we know. Our knowledge is limited
and what we know is always less than what we don’t know. Our perception is
coloured by our prescription. Thus, we have to constantly change the
prescription of our perception to be able to see new reality. The moment we
perceive things differently, our reality changes. It’s like having a zoom and a
wide angle lens – reading makes you do both. One can expand an idea and stretch
it in infinite directions or zoom into each of its dimensions.

Decipher, analyse and decide – Reading changes our ability to decode and decide. The
moment of choice before action is vital. The sharper our intellect, built with
new situations and examples of those who have faced similar challenges before
us, the greater is our decision-making.

Brain
health – New thoughts and ideas develop neural pathways. It’s like
vitamins for the brain, and strengthens the intrinsic makeup of the brain so as
to keep it fresh and young. Like muscle-building, reading changes the cognitive
structure and serves like ammunition for peak performance.

Cut
the clutter – Reading overemphasises the long-term
and underemphasises the short-term. It cuts out the noise of things like news,
gossip, mobile chatter and focuses on what’s important in a distracting and
distracted world.

Data – As someone said, for everything else other than trusting God,
we need data. As we read we can look through patterns. Long streaks of data
allow us to see what others can’t!

Relaxes – Studies have shown that readers sleep better – certainly better
than those who stare at phones before sleep. It’s a therapy to unwind, expand
and slide into a calm state of being.

Everyone
can do it – The best part is that everyone can do it. Today, most books are
online. Many are even read by someone else for you. You can buy books, listen
to them, often for free. And once you have read them, pass them on.

Communicate – Profession is all about expression. Essentially, we have to get
a handle on things, understand what is happening, what it means in a given
context and communicating. I have often won work due to two reasons: a trust
that people feel when you talk to them, and the way you articulate their pain
point and give a purposeful, empathetic way out to them. Competence, of course,
is basic, but so many have it these days. Someone has said that readers are
writers, communicators, persuaders and therefore makers of better societies.
And generally the best writers are regular readers.

Overcome
stupidity, perhaps – Politely put, humans can
be stupid in spite of not wanting to be so. Each day we choose pleasurable over
beneficial to our own detriment. We choose short term over long term. Reading
real life stories makes us less stupid, literally, for we don’t have to go
through things ourselves to learn but we can learn from the experiences of
others. Reading drills better habits and smarter approaches.

Priceless– It cannot be stolen by thieves, nor can it be taken away by
the kings. It cannot be divided among brothers, it is not heavy to carry. If
spent regularly, it keeps growing. The wealth of knowledge is superior wealth
amongst all forms of wealth! And if one is blessed, one will be able to
share it and therefore multiply it exponentially.

A great tool that we
have today is the e-book reader. I seriously recommend it
even to those like me who love to flip pages and have books around them. Yes,
there is nothing like printed, bound books, but equally there is nothing like
e-book readers. It’s like the ITR volumes that we used to have and now ITR is
online! E-book readers can carry nearly your entire library in your pocket, you
can mark what you like, change the size of fonts, share parts that you want and
search within text.

While reading is a
necessary condition, it is not sufficient. Perhaps one book a week would be
great for 2021. But remember, till knowledge is digested it doesn’t become
wisdom. How these new thoughts take shape and what effort do we make to
actualise them is the crux.

I leave you with a
list of books on personal growth, business and
investment that I think are worth your time. Take a break from busy-ness and
decide to spend an hour a day with books like we do with our family. That’s my
personal wish for 2021 (like I had planned a few years back to read two books a
month and actually did it!). Wishing you a great calendar year 2021!

Raman
Jokhakar

Editor