The reading revelation

It’s funny how many times this can happen…

You can be going about your entrepreneurial journey, minding your own business (love a good pun). And suddenly… BAM!

You have yet another realization about what is unexpectedly involved in owning and running your own business. 

Today, you’ve recognized how important reading is for your sustainability and success as an entrepreneur. Now, you’re here…reading this blogpost – yay! 

It’s your lucky day because in this post, I’ll share with you exactly how you can become a stronger reader. As a communication coach, I want you to get the most out of the time you’ve devoted to reading. Let’s help you maximize your efforts by strengthening this powerful habit so you can create the greatest impact in your life and business.

Why reading is so important for entrepreneurs

In case you didn’t have the striking revelation mentioned above, I got you. Here are three reasons why reading is so important as you build your communication skillset as an entrepreneur:

1. Reading is cognitively engaging and boosts brain health. While integrating written information with language comprehension, different sections of your brain are stimulated, creating connections.

2. Reading strengthens your language skills by giving you a greater variety of vocabulary and by improving your ability to create concise, impactful sentences with improved structure.

3. Reading helps you build a stronger memory, improves focus, and fosters empathy – all important to the communicator who wants to tell powerful stories, connect with their audience, and be known for being compassionate yet persuasive.

How to strengthen your reading habit as an entrepreneur

1.    Channel Jess Mariano – It’s time for marginal notes

I may be dating my millennial-self for this Gilmore Girls reference, but I’m okay with it; Jess Mariano knew what was what. 

I grew up in a household where books were given the utmost respect. Even the thought of desecrating a book with ink hurt my soul. 

Everything changed when I went to law school. I remember the late study nights with Gilmore Girls playing on Netflix in the background. My classmates informed me that casebooks were designed with thick margins to accommodate notes. Marginal notes were no longer evil, but essential. While the group analyzed legal theory, I picked up my pen to write notes in the margins – and I’ve never looked back. 

Then and now, my marginal notes memorialize my own reflections, ideas, plans for action, inquiries, and opposing views that I want to research further. These notes transform my books from potential dust collectors, to cherished extensions of my self that I revisit often for guidance. 

As an entrepreneur, take a leaf out of Jess Mariano’s book and start taking marginal notes. Doing so will help you:

• process and internalize what you’ve read,
• develop a solid knowledge base so you can confidently act,
• brainstorm applicability of concepts to your life and business, 
• record important lessons for future reflection, and
• share your ideas and promote conversation using a unique presentation format. 

For those reluctant to use ink in their precious books…

Here are a few ideas for taking marginal notes while keeping your book pages pristine:

• Attach post-it notes in the margins and write on those.

• If you have an e-reader, take notes on the digital version so the physical copy remains unmarked.

• Keep a separate “commonplace book” or “learning journal” – i.e. a journal where you transcribe/organize quotes and passages from all the books you’re reading. (These notes can be referred to at a later date for reflection or comment.)

2.    Read to the end

Several years ago, I watched an episode of the Rachel Maddow show in which she shared one of the hallmarks of her incredible staff and research team. Under her leadership, Maddow’s team evolved to adopt a culture of reading to the end of any article, document, or other piece of research they acquire. 

To quote Maddow, “The headline might not be the most important thing. The fifteenth paragraph of whatever it is you’re reading? That might not be the news right now, but it might be the lead story tomorrow night.”

In the same way, it’s important for you to read to the end as an entrepreneur. Sure – you may not be in the business of trying to predict the next piece of breaking news. However, reading to the end of articles, blogposts, and studies can lead to golden nuggets of information. 

In my experience, reading to the end allows you to understand an author’s full perspective.  It allows you to assess their credibility, the influence of biases on their claims, and gaps in the evidence and logic used to support their view. 

In short, reading to the bottom strengthens your critical thinking skills, inspiring audience confidence as you share your position in the future. 

“The headline might not be the most important thing. The fifteenth paragraph of whatever it is you’re reading? That might not be the news right now, but it might be the lead story tomorrow night.”

Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show – March 8, 2017

3.    Do yourself a favor and research the author

Just because it’s on the internet or written in a book doesn’t mean it’s true. 

With the advent of Google and self-publishing, we have all the information we could ever need at our fingertips. 

…We also have a lot of nonsense at our fingertips. 

That’s why it’s important to do at least a little minimum research when you choose to read something these days. Sometimes we can read something, and based on a persuasive presentation style think, “God – this person’s brilliant! I totally agree with them!” Only later do you discover just how flawed their reasoning is or how vehemently you disagree with their base assumptions or social views. 

To guard against this, always look for an author’s name (especially if you’re reading something online). Find a source you trust and make note of the author’s personal and professional history. With insight into the author’s background, you can glean their motivation for writing, protect your level of impressionability, and consume the information with a more intentional approach. 

4.    Explore new fields

Developing a strong reading habit supports creative energy flow for entrepreneurs.

What does this mean for you? If you’re experiencing the ebb of creative energy, it may be time to explore topics outside your field of expertise. Go ahead – jump the fence!

A piece of advice that I commonly give to communication coaching clients who are experiencing creative block is to read or watch something about a topic adjacent to their field of expertise. By moving just outside their field, my clients avoid feeling imposter syndrome spurred by comparison. Instead, they feel organically inspired to further develop their own ideas.  

Sometimes, we need to venture even further outside our field. Learning about something entirely new can help with storytelling and bridging language gaps between you and your audience. It can give you the insight you needed to simplify a complex topic more effectively. It may even help you to collaborate, innovate, and create something even more impactful than you originally aimed. 

Finally, I’d like to make a note that exploring new fields also relates to different styles of writing. For example, do you avoid novels because you’re a non-fiction kind of gal? Do you think poetry isn’t going to help you in your business? Or are you an artsy kind of person who finds reading about science to be boring? If so, you may be surprised. 

Sometimes fiction is the only medium in which an author can describe a profound theory because our present world isn’t equipped to support studying it. When you’re open and vulnerable, the rhythm of reading a poem aloud can suddenly awaken ideas you didn’t even know you had within you. And you never know when scientific data will inspire artistic beauty.

So, if you’re…

…avoiding something simply because it’s not in your direct field of expertise…

…avoiding a topic because it seems too removed from your usual interests…

…avoiding reading something because of the style in which it’s communicated…

…think again. 

It may just be the thing that gets your creative juices flowing.

5.    put it into practice – turn book smarts into street smarts

“Wisdom is equal measure experience plus reflection.”

Aristotle, The Father of Rhetoric

So often, we read a book and think, “That’s life changing!” And yet, we neglect to actually go about taking the actions necessary to change our lives! 

If wisdom is timeless and knowledge fleeting, it is imperative that we strive to create lasting change by putting what we have learned into practice.

Each time you read something, find a way to bring what you have learned into your daily life. For example, have a discussion with a friend about whether you agree or disagree with an author’s opinion. For the next ten days, try to establish the beneficial habit shared by an author. Or create a plan to start exercising the very skills you’re reading about. (If you’re looking for a place to start – try picking some items from this list to incorporate into your reading practice.)

When you start developing your own opinions about what you’ve learned, that’s when you’ll know you’ve truly internalized the “book” knowledge.

6.    Verbal snippets – Become a “quoter”

The art of quoting is becoming a lost one. 

I say we bring it back. 

In generations past, there was a pride in learning material so well that it could be quoted. One of my favorite characteristics in a person, and especially a mentor, is the ability to share an appropriate quote in an opportune moment. 

Sharing a quote can be exceptionally inspiring for a listener. Not only can it provide amusement, hope, vision, or motivation, but it also gives the listener a place to start. The grounding idea of the quote can lead to a new avenue of research previously unconsidered.

Sharing verbal snippets can also be beneficial to the quoter. By approaching your reading with a quoter’s mentality, you are exercising your brain to become a stronger communicator.

Remembering pearls of wisdom verbatim improves memory, focus, and your ability to create and support logical, well-reasoned arguments (logos). Sharing the quotes at an appropriate time builds personal authority and listener trust (ethos). Additionally, it builds personal empathy because you must learn about and connect with an individual to understand if a particular quote would be helpful to them (pathos).

In short, becoming a quoter makes you more persuasive by elegantly encapsulating the three modes of persuasion – ethos, logos, and pathos – in a single habit.

7.    Look up words you don’t know

Yes. I’m seriously stating something this basic. Because let’s be real – when’s the last time you did this? 

Obviously, you should always look up words you’ve never seen, heard, or used before. Generally speaking, I think most people at least try to do this. 

But what about those common words you’ve been using your whole life because you’ve assumed the definition from context? 

As an attorney and certified copyeditor, I have reviewed and edited hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of text during my career. I feel I can authoritatively say that there are a countless number of words and phrases that people think they know the definition of, but don’t. 

Here are just a few of those words (categorized and explained on MentalFloss.com) whose definitions may surprise you:

• Barter
• Bemused
• Dilemma
• Disinterested
• Electrocute
• Factoid
• Fortuitous
• Luxuriant
• Regularly
• Reticent
• Plethora
• Travesty

Learning definitions and distinguishing nuances between words will help you to speak and write more eloquently as an entrepreneur. Also, it will allow you to have a greater arsenal of words from which to create marketing copy, setting yourself apart from the competition.

So, what do you say? Is it time to renew that friendship with Merriam-Webster?

8.    Read more than books

With scientific and technological advances, books aren’t always the foremost authority anymore. Having a diverse reading palate can serve to strengthen your knowledge base and set you apart in the entrepreneurial space.

So, don’t discount blogposts, scientific papers, news articles, or in some cases, social media posts (yes, you read that right). These can all contribute to your communication skillset in their own ways. 

* * *

There you have it!

8 simple, no-fuss ways to supercharge your reading practice:

1. Take marginal notes
2. Read to the end
3. Research the author
4. Explore new fields
5. Put it into practice
6. Become a “quoter”
7. Look up words you don’t know
8. Read more than books!

So, which ones have you already been using in your reading practice?

Which ones do you want to incorporate next?

There’s no right or wrong in reading, but these simple tweaks will help you grow as a communicator, and excel as an entrepreneur!