Read to learn helps you learn to think too.
I’ve always been one to read. I remember going about junior high school with a book that I was reading between classes and on the bus to and from school too. There was also reading in bed, and whenever else too like travelling in the car on family visits to the grandparents.
This has always stayed with me. Now, however it is sometimes harder to read longer. I feel the call of all of the other commitments on my time. Work things, family things, garden and house things. I haven’t read a book in a day for a long time.
This is different from a social media group thread that came up recently where people talked about how much/little they read compared to the past. Some commented they read less, and listened to podcasts more. Others that they found it harder to read for longer. These were people who used to read more and would read a book in a week or two. They all agreed they should read more. You should too.
Reading adds to your experiences
By reading your expand the stories you can tell others. You can add the experiences from the stories you read to your knowledge. Whether fiction or non-fiction you gain more possible perspectives to help you in what you do for fun and at work when you read.
Read both fiction and non-fiction. Read non-fiction to cover work and study topics. My non-fiction is mainly software engineering and development, but also entrepreneurship and coaching. Fiction covers mystery, thriller and other things.
Sometimes non-fiction is fun too. History books might fall into this category. Try different things to find your likes.
Both have their time and place. I find it hard to read work books at bedtime. That’s normally for fun books. You might also find cross-over books: non-fiction topics told in a fictional story useful and fun too. Lots of software people read the Goal, and the Phoenix Project, and the Unicorn Project, as well as Rolling Rocks Downhill for ‘work’. All of them go back to theory of constraints. Rolling Rocks Downhill is the best of them. It doesn’t preach the lessons to you.
Encourage your teams to read
You can do lots to encourage people to read more. Lots of groups have book clubs. Maybe have one over lunch once a month. Alternatively have a way for people to share reading suggestions.
There are multiple goals here. First, reading is a way for you to think for yourself, and to encounter new ideas while also having the time to think as you read. Both are essential. As you read you integrate this new knowledge into what you already know.
Second, talking about books with others helps this process too. Plus, you learn what you missed, or overlooked when discussing it with other people. They each read it slightly differently as they notice different things. By talking about it together the team builds more shared understanding of each other.
Lastly, by reading regularly, you can become an expert. An hour a day is all that you need. You start from your current interests, and go from there. Experts are people who have time to read and think. You too can devote your time to a topic. You just have to schedule your time.
To get started ask people what they’ve been reading. Try this as instead of talking about the weather, or traffic.
Now. What will you read next?
This post is part of a project pulling together my materials and ideas about Teaching Team Collaboration: the Human-Side of Software Development for software development to students.
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The ideas above are from my book 101+ Ideas to Improve Team Collaboration, which covers all of these little things that students can do to improve their collaboration. Also available via Kindle.