Traffic University: The Reading Revolution

Reading does for the brain what exercise does for the body 
                                                                         
                                                 ~  Anonymous

A thought characteristic of readers, that is, men and women who are serious about getting better is that any quiet time they get is by default reading time.

Jim Kwik, one of the world’s foremost authorities on hacking learning and memory retention advises that you can get more out of reading a book if you schedule time for it rather than just grabbing one only when you find some time, for instance in your bed just before you sleep.

A commuter reading a book in a bus.

Amidst all the hustle and bustle of city life, some spirited Nairobians seem to have appreciated this fact and have set aside commute time for reading.

It is not uncommon to find commuters nowadays with their faces buried in between book pages, deeply engrossed in the thoughts of their favourite writer.

These citizens are not aloof or indifferent to their surroundings as one might tend to think, but are just individuals who have over time learnt to be comfortable in their own company.

They didn't just pick up the reading habit overnight, but rather it was as a result of intentionally silencing their inner voice to give room for great minds to pour in their wisdom and expertise.

Reading is, therefore, humility personified.

Admitting that there is still so much out there that you don't know and even more so, much that you are not even aware that you don't know is enlightening as well as humbling.

Since morning time is the best time to program your mind for the day, space and time permitting, readers would rather invest such time in knowledge as opposed to leaving their minds open to trampling by external stimuli which in this case is loud, obnoxious music, hollow social media feeds or mindless morning radio talk shows.

Needless to mention, the rest of the day is usually jam packed with work and other activities for most people, so, failure to capitalise on the only apparent free time could easily be the difference between finishing a book in a week’s time or in a month.

Traffic jams, therefore are no longer as dreaded as they used to be because with a bit of planning, one can set up a routine for reading or listening to an audio book while commuting.

Challenges faced by those who can’t hold a book for reasons such as being the ones on the driver's seat, or are visually impaired or even dyslexic can be cured by listening to an audio version of any book they would want to read.

These are now just as readily available anywhere as the physical books.

Student of life

I’m not one of the fastest readers out there, and neither am I a member of any book club, yet.  But what’s for sure is I am serious about personal development. I read about a book or two a month, serious books might I add, and listen to a minimum of 60 hours of uplifting and choice growth content from world titans.

Not very impressive, I'll admit, considering that people like Oprah Winfrey can devour a book in one sitting (That's why she is a billionaire!); but compared to the average guy I'm not doing so bad either.

That said, books enable the reader to become a better thinker.

When you learn from people who have conquered adversity, because that is the only real way heroes are initiated, you are able to enrich your experiences and by extension your perspective on life issues.

Fortunately, reading is inculcated from childhood in elementary education as well as in religion where scriptures from Holy books such as The Bible, The Quran, The Vedas among others are read and recited regularly at an early age.

It is a habit that starts off as fun but as one gets older other demands are attached to it such as examinations, whereby a good majority of people lose the voluntary aspect of it along the way.

Kids reading outdoors

That is why it is everyone's responsibility to intentionally cultivate on their reading culture without which in the end we might never know what we could have become.

As mentioned elsewhere in this blog, you aspire to be the best version of yourself by being an excellent student of life and absorbing the best of what life has to offer. Therefore, there is absolutely no reason as to why anyone should lower their sights.

Various studies have conclusively demonstrated that majority of adults do not read a single book once they complete their formal education; and yet we wonder why there are so many conflicts in the world today.

A book is a gateway to peace. I mean, what time do you have for fighting another when you are literally scrambling to free your day for reading?

Continuously improving yourself professionally and also in terms of personal development is not only the preserve of college graduates as some misguided individuals would want you to believe.

In fact, according to a 2010 study by Sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa published in a book titled Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, the first two academic years of university are practically useless.

According to the researchers, during that time, lecturers tend to focus more on their respective faculties’ research duties which leaves students with a lot of time for themselves that they gladly use for socialising. In their estimation, students use approximately 50% of their time in college engaging in actual academic work.

Socialising is not a bad thing either, were it only accessible in college!

The point here is not to denigrate the need to pursue a higher education but to demonstrate that lack of one does not alter the fact that you can continue being a student of life. A standard education will only get you standard knowledge. You deserve better than that.

Imagine the effect of a focused study on the works of people who are masters in their crafts on your daily output as well as world view.

Actually, success coach, Brian Tracy surmises that such an endeavour will have you acquiring knowledge equivalent to a university degree every two or so years!

I hope that grabs your attention if nothing else has so far.

If you study success and what the successful people have learned and put in writing over the years, and then apply it in your daily life, you are bound to get better results than you would leaving your mind like an unattended flower garden.

Pests and weeds manifesting as low self-esteem, timidity, envy, poor self-image, and depression will only be the start to a spiraling, unhappy life.

Now, imagine being a reader bestowed with the power to read. You are unstoppable!

Evolutionary hijack

Much of what creative writers produce is as a result of making connections between certain variables and applying their own experiences to come up with unique ways of seeing the world.


Books are the fodder for writers and you would be hard-pressed to find an author who does not read.

Recent developments in neuroscience have confirmed that we can significantly improve on our individual brain's performance via neurogenesis (growing new brain cells).

A number of interventions such as those proposed by Doctor Sandrine Thuret, a neuroscientist at King’s College London, include eating omega-3 foods and blueberries, studying as well as running.

Though these interventions are meant to complement each other, studying appears to be the most effective in generating new neurons because, just as lifting of weights does to the muscles, applying new knowledge and information strengthens the brain and over time gives it more stamina to process larger data as well as make up useful connections in arriving at considered assertions.

As your brain’s performance continues to improve as a result, the quality of your decision-making will also improve.

Every new discipline affects other disciplines, so if you make reading a habit from today, it will have a positive effect on your other good disciplines as well and help you to overcome the bad ones.

As author, Jim Rohn once said, personal development is a lifetime project to see what we possibly can become. Think of the vocabulary you will have developed after a year of reading good books! Now, imagine how ignorant you will have remained by then if you don’t read at all.

Grab that magazine, journal or book whenever you can and see the world from the eyes of people who have been there and done it; and who knows what new ideas can be birthed that will leave the world with more light and love.

"Beware of the person of one book.", said Thomas Aquinas. If you are the religious type, there is sufficient doctrinal literature that pertains to the diverse religions of the world - do not bind yourself to them only.

Remember that the gift of writing is not self-bestowed, and these so-called ‘worldly writers’ could also be messengers from God.

A few tips on how to develop a reading culture

If you are not the inquisitive type, it may be a good idea to work on that area for starts because without the hunger for knowledge, you’ll soon get bored and drop the whole mission altogether.

Having said that, the following few tips can be of help:

      -  Schedule time for reading - It is injudicious to assume that you will always find time to read. I mean you might, but you might also find that you left the book at your work place or at home! Scheduling will give you the discipline to measure the progress you will be making towards your various reading goals. For instance, for you to be able to read 30 pages a day, it might take you reading 15 pages in the morning commute and 15 pages in the evening. For a 300 pages book, that will only take 10 days to clear. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

     -  Get recommendations from a known avid reader within your circles. If you can't find one then you need to re-evaluate those whom you surround yourself with. Such a person can undoubtedly save you considerable time and agony in selecting suitable titles and introduce you to great authors as well.

     -  YouTube up! – Search for interviews or seminars given by any author whose work you admire and try to understand their world view and how they develop their ideas in to readable content. Most notable authors are able to shed some light on topics that readers request more information about during their book launches; and these resources can be freely accessed via Youtube as well as through other search engines. That way, you are able to appreciate their work ethic as well as the process involved.

    -  Follow or subscribe to the various authors’ social media channels in order to stay updated on their next projects, work-in-progress and whatever else drives them. Some authors like Robin Sharma and Brian Tracy have regular uplifting podcasts that are very practical in course correction as well as in reinforcing your core value system and good daily habits.

   -  Make notes whenever you come across good ideas in a book because your memory cannot really keep up with the speed and magnitude at which  new information is being churned out in this day and age. The notes will always come in handy in future. Trust me.


   -  Start small if you tend to struggle or take too long to finish reading a book. Getting a book with a few pages at first, say, with less than a hundred pages will boost your ego and determination to finish the next one once you finish reading it. There’s always some exhilaration therein that normally helps counter the feeling of loss whenever you read the last sentence in a book.

Gradually you’ll then be reading widely and also on hard, previously uncomfortable topics.

Lastly, I  feel it would be extremely selfish of me if I didn’t disclose a few quotes on reading that have pushed me to intentionally grow over the years and hopefully might resonate with you. I have picked ten of my favourite but there are thousands more online. Here goes:

i.    A person who does not read is no different from a person who cannot read ~ Mark Twain

ii.  If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is       thinking ~ Haruki Murakami

iii. Cultivation of the mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence ~ Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar

iv. You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you've  lost a       friend ~ Paul Sweeney

v.  Cultivate your mind by reading to help you get rid of weeds that may inhibit your personal                   development  ~Nobel Laureate  Wangari Maathai

vi.  It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you'll be when you can't help  it          ~ Oscar Wilde

vi. Anyone who says there's only one life to live must not know how to read a book ~ Anon

vii. The less books you read the noisier you become~ Fact from Fiction

viii. The idea is that personal experience is not enough for a human to get all the useful  knowledge           of life, because the individual life is too short, so we must feed on the others' experiences by               reading ~ Marcus Mosiah Garvey

ix.  Keep reading books, but remember a book is only a book, and you should learn to think for                  yourself ~ Maxim Gorky


x.  There are many ways to enlarge a child's world. Love of books is the best of all
      ~Jacqueline Kennedy

So, the next time you are held up in traffic or on a long, boring flight, don’t use that time to flare-up on your supposed misfortune on social media pages but instead grab a book or put on your earphones for some mental nourishment that can definitely set a positive tone for the rest of your day.

And should you lock eyes with a fellow reader, just smile at them and then continue minding your own business. There'll be enough time for you to get acquainted once the journey is over. As someone said, if you find a person reading a book that you like, that book is merely introducing you to that person.

In conclusion, reading significantly slows down the rate of cognitive decline as you advance in age, sets you apart intellectually among your peers, and is sexy! Imagine holding a conversation with a person on a 6 hour journey who only knows what everyone else knows.

Their reasoning will pale in comparison to yours, but only you will know it.


Let’s make reading fashionable again.