After entering into law, there is something which I have realized: when I am reading judgments or legal literature, it is quite difficult to read. Even though I am quite a reader and I end up reading a lot, I still realize that reading legal literature is very different from reading bestseller books, which are written in quite easy language for people to comprehend and understand.
The difference does not lie in the words that are used. I am not saying that legal literature consists of very complex words. Sometimes they do have Latin words and some legal words, but still, the same language which we use in everyday language is very difficult to understand when they are put in a particular order and your mind blocks when you are reading something. That is the beauty of using the language completely.
I do not understand anything sometimes when I am reading a legal or any technical book, but I anyway read it because I have realized over time that I have been reading a lot of books for a very long period of time. It does not raise the level of my intellect to a place where I want it to get.
I think we have to challenge our minds in terms of reading as well. I have divided this into two levels:
- Hard reading: reading those books which are technical in nature.
- Soft reading: reading those books which are mostly pulp fiction or some self-help book, written in a very soft language in such a manner that anyone can read it and understand it.
Technical books are written in such a manner that it is not very easy to understand every sentence. Every sentence has more value in it than the amount of words there are. Most of the bestsellers and self-help books, which are the craze of people and sell more books, have more words but less value.
When I read about Warren Buffett reading 7 to 8 hours every day and 500 to 600 pages every day, I assume that he is not reading self-help books. I assume that he is reading balance sheets, annual reports, and other technical documents which normal people cannot read. Either they cannot read them, or they find it too boring to read, and that is what makes them more intelligent.
Over the years, I have been reading content which was very easy for me to read, something which I would finish overnight. I would feel quite ecstatic that I have completed a book, but it was not actually increasing my intellect. It would just give me a feeling that I have learned something more when I wouldn’t have. I am just mauling over what I already knew. The book just presented my own thoughts in a different and more interesting manner for me to understand them, because I already have those thoughts. I already know them. That is why the reading was easier for me.
So, soft reading is somehow an intellect killer. Soft reading is going to make you a person who will keep on reading, who will keep on making an effort, but who will not move to another level. It is mostly hard reading which actually makes your brain grow.
Recently, I also realized that you have to solve a lot of questions in order to keep your brain moving: solve a lot of riddles, solve a lot of problems, because that is what is going to keep your mind working. If you do not give your mind problems to solve, the mind will start working on your previous memories and solve things which do not need to be solved. That would lead to negative thinking and overthinking.
From the perspective of hard reading, I have realized the more legal literature I am reading, the more equipped I am becoming to read more. Right now, 90% of the text that I read I don’t understand, but I know how the neurons of my mind work. I am not sure whether I am using the right terminology or not, but what I am sure of is that, despite my use of the right or wrong terminology, what I am saying is correct because it comes from my personal experience. I may not be the most coherent writer to write this particular thought, but I know that eventually, over time, I will develop a much better way of explaining my thoughts into words.
Right now, I believe that there are certain neurons in your mind which are data packets, and these data packets have knowledge. When you read hard things, new data packets are being created. Now suppose you don’t understand quantum physics or Python coding or rocket science or anything which is very technical in nature, but you read the books on those subjects. Anyway, even if you don’t understand anything, I believe this is passive learning or latent learning. Over time, your brain learns new words and develops neurons and data packets, which over time connect themselves with each other, and one day everything of them starts making sense.
I don’t know whether anyone knows about it or not, whether this is something that has been discovered about it or not. No one before has told me that this thing works. I myself understood it. I have mastered a lot of concepts like this. I have read a lot of books which I didn’t understand, but I read them anyways, and over time, they started making sense to me.
In my personal opinion, I have realized that 90 days is a sufficient time for anyone to develop a particular habit, or develop a particular neuron, or to develop or learn an understanding of certain things, if a person keeps on doing it for 90 days continuously.