You think you don’t have the time to read books. You think it is impossible to read one book every three days. You could barely sleep, so why waste your time reading books? The fact is not that you haven’t got time, or energy to read, but you won’t. You just don’t have the willingness to read because you don’t have a strong reason to why.

Statistically speaking the average human reads 12 books a year, varying in different countries, culture, and race (yes, some race reads more). Books helps people gain perspective, increase their knowledge, and change their attitude. I know the last one is true, because I’m the proof myself.

Since elementary to high school I was a quiet student. I barely make friends and I never went out with friends I had. I’m an introvert, prefering to sit in the corner and watch other people doing their activities. But somehow i know deep inside myself that it’s not ‘normal’ to be like that. I managed surviving high school that way.

Then I got into college, as a medical student. I’m entering a new place with no connection at all, strangers everywhere who looked like an arrogant to me. I’m afraid approaching them for the first time. I managed to be friends with less than 20 people, which is nice for me. Then one day in my first semester, I felt something has to change, I have to change.

So I bought books about self development, making friends, psychology behind our actions. And I haven’t stop reading them until now. Fast forwarding 2 years to the present, I could say that I’m a confident man right now. I could express my opinion freely, I could interact with stranger without feeling too awkward (although it still haunted me), and I take more responsibility in my life. That’s why the title of this blog is Journeyman, because it is about how human life could change so drastically with time, and as a medical student interested in psychology I want to observe myself as a guines pig, how I changed from time to time.

Okay, here is the how part:
1. Buy 2-4 books you want to read on different topics. If you want to read self improvement books, don’t buy all books about time management. But buy 2 on time management, and buy another 2 on other topics. Because reading books with the same topics in a row could be boring.

2. Bring that book everywhere you go, in your hand. No, don’t put it on your bag because we could be too lazy to get it out. But bring only 1 book, bringing more than one book could understimulate you to read. Did you notice you are the laziest when tasks were pilling?

3. Read when you are waiting. We spent countless time waiting in our daily life, so why don’t we make it productive? Waiting for the bus, waiting for your food alone, waiting for the movie time, waiting your spouse shopping, waiting your kids playing in the park (except if you want to play as well).

4. If you do have time or should I say, if you are good at managing time then sparing 45 minutes for reading is realistic. It could be early morning or before going to sleep.

5. After finishing one book, get on the second book. Read the introduction or the first chapter, but don’t give a time gap to get on the second book. It could make you proscastinate reading it.

Everybody have time, everybody have a job, it is how we handle ourselves and manage our time that will eventually create our character. I wish you find books as useful and life changing as I do.

And for the note, I also have to study for medical school test which happens every 2 weeks, so I didn’t really have all my time reading self improvement books! My GPA is 3.3 and I always passed every test until now, so I could proudly say that I’m taking responsibility in other areas of life too.