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3 Fast Things
I’m really enjoying my new format of YouTube videos. I am Zoom inviting people I want to have a conversation with and just recording it. Mainly comedians so far, but I did recently record an episode with author and ghostwriter, Summer Land (more on that another time). If you haven’t already, check my channel out.
I ate a giant salad with my Mindset Coach (and I’m going to go ahead and say friend), Claudine Chicheportiche, last week and it was great (the salad and the chat). Until that point, we had only met virtually because she lives in QLD. But wow, what a great gal. I’ll be interviewing her for my pod at some point, too. So familiarise yourself.
I spent last weekend with my Melbourne nephew and new niece (and their parents) and bloody hell, there is nothing that makes me more present and at peace than being with the babies in my life. Someone impregnate me.
1 Slow Thing: On Reading Books
I have a question for you. Who and at what point in time did someone decide to associate reading books with nerdishness? Whose dumb idea was that?
Hollywood’s?
The patriarch’s?
Lord Farquaad’s?
Maybe it was the same nincompoop who stigmatised vanilla as a flavour.
Seriously, why did we turn one of the world’s most delectable flavours into an insult towards life’s bland and boring?
How are kids ever supposed to expand their literary sense or enjoy frosty milkshakes if we’re all nerd-shaming and giving the milk bar power to strawberry?
How many people have avoided books out of fear they’d have their head flushed down the toilet at lunch time?
Or avoided a tasty vanilla gelato because they still want to be invited to parties?
Asking the real questions, isn’t it.
The dumb thing is that you don’t even have to be smart to read. The stereotype is a sham. Think about all the very unintellectual content out there to be read by bozos. You don’t need a PhD, you just need to not have too much ADHD.
It’s unlikely that the losery stereotype has actually deterred too many people from reading, that was just my set-up. But what has definitely made people less willing to worm into books is attention deficit.
One of the reasons I struggle with reading is because I’m in a constant state of attention deficit. I want to indulge in the books I keep buying off Amazon, but there are so many other shiny things pulling my focus.
I don’t think I’m alone in this. I believe that in today’s shiny, wizzy, fast-paced, razzle-dazzle society, a lot of us feel the resistance to picking up books. Even though we’d like to.
This is because reading is a skill. And like with any skill, you have to do it repetitively to get better at it, to make it more enjoyable and to create the good habits around it.
We feel the resistance because we are “"slow readers”. Our “minds wander”. We find it “boring”. It “takes too long to get to the good bits”.
I’m quoting myself from yesterday.
But I have discovered a strong parallel between other disciplinary things like meditation, learning Spanish and exercise. When you do push yourself to override the resistance, frequently, you can develop the habit. You can start to build better self-control and the skill becomes more natural.
I’ve been reading a lot more lately and while it is still slow, it’s definitely faster.
I can really appreciate the benefits and progress I’ve made. I always feel a bit fresher afterwards. Somehow lighter. A little more enlightened. And that’s just from reading the Harry Potter.
This might sound strange because reading seems like a sort of “one way or the highway” type of thing, but I actually think that you can develop your own style of reading and optimise to best suit that style.
I’m kinda embarrassed that I call myself a writer and am only coming to this realisation now, but I’m a pretty slow learner at most things in life. The old cerebrum in this cranium is indeed a sluggish model.
But the important thing is that it’s not too late. As they say, it’s never too late to start anything.
Watch
This week’s video: Interview with David Boyle (comedian and podcast host of I’m Quitting Alcohol).
Upcoming Shows
Friday 10th Feb - The Laugh Inn - Newtown
Friday 24th Feb - Breaking Comedy Club
Friday 10th March - Barrie Hotel in Chippendale (new room, by The Laugh Mob)
Recommendation
Read: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield