Seriously Stressed? When Was The Last Time You Read A Story?

the secret of spiggy holes I’ve said this so many times this week now that I’ve decided it’s something that needs to be said out loud, instead of in dribs and drabs to lots of people.

Here’s how the typical conversation has been going…”I’m rushed off my feet“, “I don’t seem to have the time to do anything“, “There’s so much going on“.

To each one of these people I just asked the simple question “When did you last read a storybook, a novel, something that you could get your teeth into that had nothing to do with business?”  Well, the responses from all of them where that ‘they hadn’t read anything like that in yonks’.  Even though many had been prolific readers as children and young adults, now business had seemed to take over, and any reading was about personal or business development.

Now, as a personal and business coach, you might expect me to be encouraging everyone to make the best use of their time with audios and videos, so every spare moment in the car or office is spent developing yourself and gathering more knowledge.

In fact, I used to be like this myself.  But no more.  The problem with ‘doing’ personal development is that it can be taken too far and you can start to get the belief that you’re still not good enough, more work is needed until you are 100% ready to take action.

And that’s not true.  You, me and everyone else already have all we need to take action. Often, what is missing is clarity, calmness and the space to make decisions, and that’s where reading stories come into it.

The human brain is wired to want to finish off a story, and so when we start to get embroiled in a tale, we are diverted away from the hubbub of business life.

The little grey cells switch off for a while, and clarity can breakthrough.

So how about joining the library, pop along to the supermarket to get a novel, download something from Amazon.  Perhaps there’s a book you always used to dip in and out of which is now just gathering dust on a shelf?

And a final word.  It’s great having our books on apps, like Kindle, on our phones, but if you don’t turn off notifications, or are a habitual email and Facebook checker, the immersive effect isn’t going to kick in.

Use a spare phone or even better get a real paper book!

And is there anything better than dipping in and out of books in a library or bookshop?

 

 

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