By Guilherme Chen
Part of living an effective and efficient life is maximizing value out of the things you spend your time and energy in.
Watching sitcoms isn't only a waste of time because you could be doing productive work instead (big opportunity cost), but also because it doesn't give you that much in return. Bad jokes and predictable storylines don't stimulate your mind nearly enough, and even though it allows you to unwind and rest for a little, I found that watching TV actually makes you tired, unmotivated, and groggy.
Below I will reveal and explain the ultimate best thing you can do to improve your life. It should be obvious by now, but just in case you still don't know...
Reading.
We read stuff everyday, but by reading here I mean taking time and really delving deep into a book, article or educational resource, and really focusing and paying attention to all of its knowledge and its implications. Reading is the ultimate best thing you can do for many reasons:
1. Reading stimulates and strengthens your mind: You always learn a lot by reading, even if you read something that doesn't interest you that much. You will become smarter since you have more knowledge, and your thinking muscles will get their daily exercise.
2. You get better at something useful: Reading improves your reading, which is a key life skill that you will use for the rest of your life. Watching sitcoms may make you better at recognizing sitcom patterns and actors, but you probably have no use for that. Reading fast and understanding what you read is useful in any scenario. As a bonus, your vocabulary grows.
3. Little to No Opportunity Cost: By default, doing the best thing you can do makes you automatically spend your time in the best way possible, during every moment you are reading. Watching 20 minutes of Extreme Cheapskates will cost you 20 minutes of wisdom and knowledge, while consuming and learning 20 minutes of wisdom and knowledge will cost you nothing.
4. Constant Marginal Rates of Return: If you were really hungry and was handed a plate of cookies, the first cookie would be really good. The second one too, although not as amazing. Fast-forward to the 30th cookie, and it will probably taste bland, give you stomach aches and take you on a guilt trip. That is the concept of diminishing marginal rates of return, which is present for basically anything you can consume. Except reading. There is more knowledge out right now than what you can learn in 100 lifetimes, and every time you read a new good book, you get more from it, which can be just as useful and life-enriching as your previous read.
5. One of the Best Learning Sources: I wouldn't disagree experience is, a lot of the times, better, but reading and learning can give you the most relevant knowledge, the fastest. If you know how to pick your books according to your goals and interests, you can really make some true professional, personal, and intellectual progress through daily reading. Many books are basically hundreds of years of knowledge, acquired through years of hard work by experts on their fields, who also took the time to decant the info into a comprehensive written format. Not all books you read will be like that, but reading one like this already gives you one hundred years worth of information and insight. I know I have read around 50-60 of these books so far. Imagine what a difference finding just a few books like this would make in your life!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Guilherme_Chen
Part of living an effective and efficient life is maximizing value out of the things you spend your time and energy in.
Watching sitcoms isn't only a waste of time because you could be doing productive work instead (big opportunity cost), but also because it doesn't give you that much in return. Bad jokes and predictable storylines don't stimulate your mind nearly enough, and even though it allows you to unwind and rest for a little, I found that watching TV actually makes you tired, unmotivated, and groggy.
Below I will reveal and explain the ultimate best thing you can do to improve your life. It should be obvious by now, but just in case you still don't know...
Reading.
We read stuff everyday, but by reading here I mean taking time and really delving deep into a book, article or educational resource, and really focusing and paying attention to all of its knowledge and its implications. Reading is the ultimate best thing you can do for many reasons:
1. Reading stimulates and strengthens your mind: You always learn a lot by reading, even if you read something that doesn't interest you that much. You will become smarter since you have more knowledge, and your thinking muscles will get their daily exercise.
2. You get better at something useful: Reading improves your reading, which is a key life skill that you will use for the rest of your life. Watching sitcoms may make you better at recognizing sitcom patterns and actors, but you probably have no use for that. Reading fast and understanding what you read is useful in any scenario. As a bonus, your vocabulary grows.
3. Little to No Opportunity Cost: By default, doing the best thing you can do makes you automatically spend your time in the best way possible, during every moment you are reading. Watching 20 minutes of Extreme Cheapskates will cost you 20 minutes of wisdom and knowledge, while consuming and learning 20 minutes of wisdom and knowledge will cost you nothing.
4. Constant Marginal Rates of Return: If you were really hungry and was handed a plate of cookies, the first cookie would be really good. The second one too, although not as amazing. Fast-forward to the 30th cookie, and it will probably taste bland, give you stomach aches and take you on a guilt trip. That is the concept of diminishing marginal rates of return, which is present for basically anything you can consume. Except reading. There is more knowledge out right now than what you can learn in 100 lifetimes, and every time you read a new good book, you get more from it, which can be just as useful and life-enriching as your previous read.
5. One of the Best Learning Sources: I wouldn't disagree experience is, a lot of the times, better, but reading and learning can give you the most relevant knowledge, the fastest. If you know how to pick your books according to your goals and interests, you can really make some true professional, personal, and intellectual progress through daily reading. Many books are basically hundreds of years of knowledge, acquired through years of hard work by experts on their fields, who also took the time to decant the info into a comprehensive written format. Not all books you read will be like that, but reading one like this already gives you one hundred years worth of information and insight. I know I have read around 50-60 of these books so far. Imagine what a difference finding just a few books like this would make in your life!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Guilherme_Chen
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