Read A Little Substance Every Day
Add an article Back to list
Today more than ever, keeping up to date in your field is essential to success.
We all must continue to impact the bottom line to demonstrate our worth to the
organization. If we are to keep our careers moving forward, we must be
productive and resourceful. There are several ways to achieve this: attend
seminars, take college classes here and there or even continue our education by
pursuing advanced degrees, but one simple and inexpensive solution is right at
our fingertips ...reading.
Reading costs little or nothing and can be done in your spare time; in as
little as a few minutes each day. There is a mountain of magazines and trade
publications readily available and at no cost. There are books on the latest
trends affecting your industry. Your company may have a library of books devoted
to your line of work, or you can borrow a book from a colleague or a friend. It
doesn't really matter how you get them, what does matter is that you get them -
and that you read them.
Reading pertinent information can put you on the path to solving an immediate
problem in your workplace or some future need that is yet to arise. Though
reading a short article in a trade publication will probably not solve a
particular problem you may be experiencing at the time, it can give you
significant insight into relevant issues affecting your business, and thus,
point you in the direction needed to successfully address those issues. Reading
useful information can alert you to the latest trends in your field and shed
light on those areas you may need to strengthen. You may suddenly realize the
usefulness of an upcoming seminar or convention that will provide the necessary
tools to address your concerns.
Reading is an effective and simple means by which you can gain a great deal
of knowledge. Reading doesn't discriminate, you can read at your own pace, on
your own time, and you can read what you want. Anyone can do it; most of do, but
how many of us read something of substance, something that will give us a leg up
on our competition. Just take a look around during your lunch break, or when
you're sitting in that waiting room. You will probably see the majority of
people reading something. Unfortunately, it will most often be something that
was lying around the room: newspapers or magazines about sports, celebrities or
the like. How many people are reading something that taxes the mind or addresses
a specific need in your workplace?
A 3 credit college course will, on average, take up about 6 hours of your
time per week (3 hours of formal instruction and 3 hours of preparation and
study) for 16 weeks which is 96 hours. So we can use 100 hours as a reasonable
estimate of the time invested in one college course. If you were to read for
just one hour each day this would equate to 365 hours per year, which is
approximately 3.5 college courses. We are all aware that simply reading is not
equivalent to formal college instruction, but you cannot argue with the fact
that if you were to continually read something of substance you will be much
farther ahead than someone who does not.
If you read something relevant to your profession on a regular basis you will
gain a wealth of knowledge. With little effort, minimal investment, and a few
spare hours each week, you can gain enough expertise and insight to solve those
day to day issues and to move your company forward and ahead of the competition.
So during your next lunch period or while you're sitting in that waiting room,
try reading something of substance and increase your effectiveness.
About the Author
Mr. Cavalluzzi is the founder and owner of CONSOLUTE, LLC engineering support and consulting services providing site search, industrial, manufacturing and design engineering support. His extensive background in engineering dates back over 30 years and includes the robotics, automotive, aerospace, metals and plastics industries.
Visit them at: Consolute, LLC – Engineering and Consulting Services
