Read To Grow And Succeed In Business

Sounds trivial, right? Well, don't write it off just yet (pun intended). One of the worst things we can do in entrepreneurship or business in general is isolate. Isolation will not give us the perspective we need to stay balanced or go beyond our current limitations. Reading regularly can help to create that necessary resistance to isolation. And with moderation we can draw the line between becoming too reliant on other people's ideas and being trapped in our own bubble. When you can find this balance, exploring other perspectives can help you with:

• acquiring knowledge

• enhancing creativity

• personal growth

ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE

Sometimes we learn from the places we least expect to. For me, lately it's been TikTok. However, books are one of my favorite sources for knowledge. Many titans of business have written books to display their knowledge (and create leads) and I enjoy examining what they have to say as well as looking for the common threads in all the texts. When I was a novice to business and entrepreneurship, business books were intimidating. They were filled with terminology and concepts that I knew little to nothing about. It wasn't until I put my ego aside and accepted that I had a lot to learn and that reading was the most aligned with my bootstrapping budget that I discovered the common themes. To my surprise, they usually entailed ideas of boldness, belief and calculated risk. There are also valuable lessons about what not to do that tend to save me both time and money. No matter what, I have acquired so much knowledge that I otherwise never would have. The added bonus is sharing it all with clients to help them succeed. If you know me, you know that I always have a book recommendation handy!

ENHANCING CREATIVITY

One book that relieved my anxiety around creativity was Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. He talked about how everyone copies to a certain degree because there are not any truly original ideas. Everyone does it to some extent and I learned that from reading as well. It's not uncommon to hear authors use the same quotes or cite the same books as other authors. It's all inspiration. Even certain concepts are reused and sometimes tweaked a bit. If you're in the business world, you've probably heard of SMART (specific, measurable, aligned, realistic, time-bound) goals. It gets mentioned a lot. Well, someone decided to tweak it and talk about SMARTER (SMART + exciting, reach) goals. The idea is that goals have to have a boldness and emotion-driven component to be truly impactful. Another version of this is BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goals). They are all goal-setting concepts but each one takes the idea further. This is how we can use our creativity to riff on what we learn from others and their ideas. Your next great idea may come from the next book that you read.

PERSONAL GROWTH

This may not seem like an intuitive benefit of reading for business but we must never forget that all businesses are made up of people. It is advisable to learn as much as you can about how to better relate to and connect with them. Whether they are clients, supervisors, vendors, partners, employees, or other stakeholders, they are all people. You may be a whiz in your role or in your business but if you are not actively working to improve yourself, you are jeopardizing opportunities more than you may realize. You do not have to only read business or self-help material to do this. Reading biographies of people that you admire or are curious about can provide insight and ideas the same as a fiction novel can. You never know where inspiration may strike but it's a safe bet that when you read and learn what others are thinking about, you are bound to come away with something new.

If you like to read actual books, electronic books or listen to audiobooks, it sometimes helps to have others to talk to about what you're reading. Intentional Professionals is preparing to launch a book club in a private group. Join the waitlist for more details.

Sincerely,

-M