Elevate Your Reading Experience with This One Rule

Much of my decision-making had come from caring too much about how others would think of me. This even played a role in which books I chose to read. Looking back through my experiences and observing the effects of these decisions, I learned one very simple rule to follow regarding my approach to reading.

Read for yourself.

To explain what this means, let me lay out what it doesn't mean.

Reading for yourself doesn't mean reading a book based on the points you'll score from reading it or what it will do for your reputation—that's reading for others. That's where your primary motivation is for others to see you as someone who's well-read.

For example, the idea of reading classics was attractive to me in large part because I wanted to be able to say that I read them, not because I thought I would enjoy them. I wanted to have these titles in my back pocket for a future opportunity to bring them up in a conversation to impress others.

The problem with this is the time spent not enjoying the book. In a reality where time is the most valuable resource and there are countless books to choose from, why make such a commitment to willingly drudge through one I'm not enjoying? Life is too short. On top of that, instead of looking impressive, name-dropping books can easily have the opposite effect and sound off-putting or pretentious.

Another pitfall of reading for others is playing the number game. In wanting to be perceived as well read, I often focused more on how many books I finished than on what I was getting out of each book. I would nod along to all the profound points and, once finished, move right along to the next book on the list. I was consuming so much information and retaining far less than if I had slowed down to spend more time letting the information sink in.

The number of books completed is a vanity metric.

Naval Ravikant

I should point out that reading like this was still beneficial, as the new knowledge I exposed my mind to undoubtedly synthesized with existing knowledge and played a role in shaping my thinking on some level, even if just a little and even if I wasn't fully aware of it. However, at the end of the day, what I managed to retain largely remained head knowledge because I didn't take the time to apply it to my life–it essentially became trivia.

When it comes to reading for yourself, there are two types:

1. Enrichment reading

This kind of reading is for learning something new or sharpening your understanding of something. The point is that it enriches your life by informing how you think about things or providing practical measures you can then apply in your life. It requires slow, intentional digestion and thoughtful action. When I didn't do it this way, the effects were meager relative to the time I invested in reading the books.

2. Leisure reading

Leisure reading is done for pleasure, for the sheer enjoyment of the story. You invest yourself in the characters, celebrating in the triumphs and mourning in the tragedies. There are few things in life as satisfying as a gripping story that keeps you awake at an irresponsible hour in the night. And this level of satisfaction can even be found in nonfiction books, too. Either way, it's reading for the sake of reading.

This is what reading for yourself looks like, where the outside world doesn't play a role.

There is a great scene in the show Community where a former high school star athlete named Troy talks to his friend Jeff about the letterman jacket he's been wearing at community college:

Troy: People have been clowning me about this jacket since I got here, but if I take it off to make them happy, that just makes me weak, right?

Jeff: Listen. It doesn't matter. You lose the jacket to please them, you keep it to piss them off. Either way, it's for them. That's what's weak.

The point is, doing something for the perception others have of you does not enrich your life in any meaningful way. There is no true benefit for you. In fact, it's more harmful because the focus of your life becomes what others think.

So if you want to maximize what you've read, don't read for others. Read for yourself. Take your time. Savor it. Act on it. Enjoy the experience.

Photo by freestocks from Unsplash.