Reading is a niche interest. It has been know from the scientific literature that reading, especially reading for pleasure, is rare among population. With this, the benefits of reading are also scarce in most people.

There are multiple reasons for people not to read. Socio-economic status, (harsh) life conditions, or a lack of consistent reader figures in our childhood. I don’t suggest that you should’ve been reading since the beginning of time. Life happens. Bad stuff happens, busyness happens. It’s okay.

On the other hand, the real problem starts when we ignore the opportunities to read, learn, or expand. Instead, we take a quick look at our feed through Instagram or check out our LinkedIn page for the 3000th time to see whether there is anything new. There are times for catching up with friends, job opportunities, or other things you expect from social media. But indeed, how much of your time do they require? How necessary is it to read that LinkedIn post about how to be a non-toxic leader? How much of it stays with you? You already know the answer.

Here, I want to mention five benefits of reading that can uplift your higher self, career, or overall development. It’s one thing to intuitively say to yourself, “Oh, I should be reading, but I am not. “ It’s another to understand the benefits of reading so that you know exactly what you are missing by not doing it.

1- Better Vocabulary & Articulation

This is the easiest one. The more you read, the more words you will encounter. The more words you know, the more likely you are to express your opinions and feelings. If you have something to say, how much of those things can you transfer to reality? How many times are you sure that the other side understood you? Perhaps it may sound very primitive to you, but the ability to speak what you have in mind is a rare skill. Not everybody is disagreeable enough to have opinions about every little shit. Not everybody has natural verbal fluency. Not everybody is well-educated or asked to write essays in their education.

Another thing is that how do you know that you have a complete understanding of your ideas? If you don’t see the word for it, does that thing in your head exist? Or is it just a pseudo idea in your head that you know but don’t pinpoint? It’s like there is something that you are thinking, but you can’t put your words on it. Maybe it’s the case, maybe not. You never know until you have the vocabulary to articulate it.

2- Enhanced Speech

Reading makes you a better speaker. It’s not only because it enhances vocabulary and articulation; it’s actually about the fluency of speech where you don’t unnecessarily stop or emphasize wrong syllables. There is a scientific name for it: subvocalization. The more we read, the more inner speeches we give to ourselves. Interestingly, our speech muscles also contract during reading, even though we don’t use them. This subtle speech practice while reading can help you be a more charismatic speaker, leading more people to listen to you.

3- Coping Skills

There is a beautiful quote from Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher king of the Roman Empire:

“… And not to think of philosophy as your instructor, but as the sponge and egg white that relieve ophthalmia — a soothing ointment, a warm lotion. Not showing off your obedience to the logos, but resting in it.”

I think we can replace the word philosophy with “reading” here. When you read about different stories, fiction, non-fiction, basically anything, you start to acquire different perspectives from different (dead) people.

These perspectives are tools and aids for you to use in need, just like the sponge and egg white to relieve ophthalmia — the inflammation of the eye. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, different perspectives from successful entrepreneurs can warn you against some signs. Perhaps they were once aspiring but failed later as they made everybody around them bitter due to their ego and need for control. By reading about failures and successes, you can absorb years of experience (and the perspectives that come with it) via only a handful of books. The information is right here, right now. Why not grab it?

4- Reasoning Abilities

When I switched to psychology from engineering, the first thing I encountered was a lot of essays waiting to be written (and graded later on). The hardest part was always the start. Without any necessary knowledge, no matter how trivial the topic, it was hard to spell out those initial words like they are gifts from the rain gods.

In the worst case, I would repeat somebody else’s idea (which is okay for some essays and assignments). In the best case, I would build upon others’ ideas and have my own interpretation. This is the sweet spot. Almost all of the ideas were built on other ideas. There is no shame in it. Even the ideas that shifted millennial-long paradigms were built on previous ones. This is how science and knowledge expand. You want expertise and different viewpoints on the things that matter to you and your loved ones.

“Fortunate are they who seek to be neither slaves nor tyrants,” said a wool merchant and a free thinker from the Netherlands. Without adequate information, which can be readily obtained from books (and life experiences), you risk becoming either a militant for your ideas or a subservient to the ideas of others. Both of them are risky. Get that book and start having a conversation with the author.

5- Mastery

I will keep it simple with a quote from James Norman Mattis, a successful U.S. Veteran. He dropped the mic like Eminem after saying:

“If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you.”

Perhaps hundreds of books seems like an overestimation because the dude might be old. Over a lifetime, hundreds of books are easy to accomplish. Don’t get discouraged. Start simple and let your curiosity take over you. Also, it’s not about the number of books, but about how well you understood them. Just passively reading through a book won’t cut it. Within your line of work, how do you expect to fulfill your dreams of being great without knowing your craft’s ins and outs, history, and vast knowledge space?