Transforming Your Decisons

The Power of Reading

Books have been an integral part of my life, and an integral part of Human civilization. The greatest of ideas, methods, and theories have all come from the wonderful world of books. On top of that, reading books, or rather reading good books, has transformed the way I think and process information, make decisions, and decide on the system that will achieve my success.

Today, in this article, I look to convince you all that reading books can be the jolt you need to achieve success in the wonderful experience we all call life. From the outside, reading a book can seem to be an empty task.

But as the greats of this world say, “you are what you eat,” and in reading books, you begin to gnaw on the information that lodges itself in your brain, and unconsciously affects every aspect of your life.

Let us take a trip down memory lane, and, since I just graduated, this story, while probably told in one of the articles I have already written, will be a bittersweet experience for me.

ONWARD!

---

Like a fresh newborn baby in the fall of 2021, I entered college for the very first time. I remember sitting on my bed, my first day at the University at Albany, bringing only a single book with me, and thinking, “What in the world am I supposed to do with all this free time I have?”

I reached a point in my life where it was time to change myself from who I was and leave behind everything that had occurred in the previous 18 years. I didn’t quite know where to start. Sitting in front of me was The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and I felt a surge of energy that this may be the place to start. I began flipping page after page, and before I knew it, 3 days passed, and I finished the book. My thirst for more was so overwhelming that I ordered another 3 books in one day.

While all had to do with Philosophy, my trip into the book rabbit hole began, and I am yet to dislodge myself from it. My first 2 months of college were 2 of the best months of my entire life, it was all because of my renewed love of books. As a child, I had a large bookshelf behind my bed. Every night, I would read 3 to 5 books before falling asleep with the book lying on my face. (Which my roommate, my brother, would remove accordingly.)

This renewed love would lead me to read book after book, the best books this world has to offer, from the beginning of time, into today. But what truly struck me was how much I changed in those short two months. I began to write, page after page, in my notebook, and my thinking began to transform as well. I was much happier than I ever had been, and I owe it all to the books I read.

The decisions I made daily became effortless, from waking up to going to bed, each day became an easier experience than the last. In times when my reading began to lack, my contentment with life began to lack as well. Those two months at the beginning of college are a constant reminder of how books can take you from nobody to somewhat somebody. The next 4 years of my life did require some extra work, but the foundations I laid through reading have allowed me to write articles like these and make podcast episodes on this substack.

Books can have a profound effect on your life, as they have on mine thus far.

The cliche of “knowledge is power” exists for a reason. In the Start-Up world, CEO’s are forced to make low information decisions and base them all around a gut feeling. In life, there is also a multitude of decisions, tough decisions, that can define your life. Fortunately for everyone reading this, there is a solution.

Reading books can offer you the knowledge, even if it is supremely niche, to make the correct decisions every day. It is with this fact that books are guaranteed to transform the decisions that you make. They give you the necessary knowledge, without you even noticing that the thought you had surrounding a decision was rooted in a book that YOU had previously read.

Hard part is always starting, and now I am going to start reading, right after I finish typing these words, because I have been lacking!

In the end, reading books can be the key to success and can give you the information you need to make the best, and informed decisons in life, and you don’t even notice!

---

Well, folks, that’s all from me, Nate Crespo, your host for today, and FOREVER! The weather this week is cold and wet, which I revolt against, but this means there is no better time to stay inside, get a nice comfy chair, and a wonderfully warm blanket, and read away!