Cultivate Your Intellect

There is so much to be gained by growing one’s intellect - in practical terms as well as for personal fulfillment and life enjoyment. As I’ve indicated elsewhere on this website, it is a key component of both Personal Mastery, and Influence-Based Leadership.

In David C. Baker’s Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors, the author states:

"One of the things that impactful experts do is make connections between disparate areas of knowledge. They see things in one field and apply them in another. Useful nuggets of insight are buried everywhere."

Being able to do this leads to ongoing material contributions in your professional pursuits. This requires an ever-expanding knowledge base of diverse ideas. While I’m big fan of podcasts, long form YouTube interviews, and high quality articles - I think reading books is still the purest and deepest way to build intellect.

“But I don’t have the attention span to read books…”

I used to think that, too. I would read a book and then found myself unable to recall much. The resulting discouragement led to the limiting belief that I must not be good at reading books.

Sometimes, sparks of motivation can come from the most unexpected places, though. I saw a quotation from The School of Life that read:

“MOST OF WHAT WE’VE READ HAS DISAPPEARED FROM MEMORY.

The book we’re currently reading will, in a short time, vanish into a few images or ideas. But perhaps none of it really goes away: we forget the author, the plot, the character, the factual details,

BUT THE ESSENCE REMAINS SOMEWHERE IN US,

nourishing our minds like mental fertiliser, making us a little cleverer, kinder and more complicated than we would have been if left to our own devices.”

This was the “permission” I needed to give reading books another try. I devised a system that worked for me, for enjoying and learning from books. I became an avid reader no longer held back by the idea that I can’t do it.

I encourage reading books as a way to build the intellect and gain greater life experiences, regardless of your profession or stage of life.

If you are new to reading, start with a subject you’re most interested in. Set an intention to enjoy it, and then enjoy it. Take notes. Talk to others about it. Whatever it takes!

Quick tips on how to become a reader, adapted from James Clear’s Atomic Habits:

• True behaviour change is identity change.

• The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader.

• Your identity emerges out of your habits.

• Each time you read a page, you are a reader.

• Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.

• How to Create a Good Habit:

1. The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious.

2. The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive.

3. The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.

4. The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.

5. Habit stack: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]”