Why read?
It's a visual world. Do words have value?
I don't expect to convince people who think reading is a waste of time but I owe it to them.
On behalf of all the people who know books are magical.
It's like exercising your mind.
Getting in touch with people anywhere in the world at a moment's notice.
Coming up against an unexpected idea when you did not even know it existed.
Finding a voice that matched the one in your head.
Even though you haven't ever spoken to the person who wrote it.
They are like conversations that go on long after midnight.
Strangers willingly giving you decades of their life page after page.
Going back in time. Or into a world that can only be imagined.
If you haven't lost yourself in a book, these words will mean nothing.
They'll wash over you like water flowing over stone
Reading is like an 'all you can eat' buffet. Where you'll never run out of food.
Name another relationship where you keep taking all the time and never get blamed
Ah, but you don't read. Because it's a waste of time. It makes you sleepy. Bored.
Books are just words on lifeless pages. But they are more alive than you can imagine.
Have you seen a scientist sprinting?
Every news report about Covid vaccine development talks of scientists or researchers 'racing' to find a cure.
Language is a strange thing.
If reports said that scientists were 'working hard' or that they were working 'overtime' or 'round the clock' they would be right.
But the expressions are dated. They've outlived their value.
'Overtime' has a political bias. 'Round the Clock' seems so last century.
'Working hard' is painfully utilitarian. What writing instructors would urge you to avoid
So every reporter faithfully adds the word 'racing' every time they write about vaccine development.
And what's the actual picture? Years of development have been compressed into months.
What is happening at labs and hospitals around the world?
Scientists are looking at data. Running experiments. Publishing reports. Getting approvals for each stage of the process.
The racing analogy is completely disconnected from reality.
Scientists walk. They read. They discuss. They can't afford to miss the tiniest deviation.
It is human lives on the line. And the trials get even more complex when thousands of vaccine volunteers have to be monitored for weeks.
Yes, scientists are moving faster than they ever have.
But none of them is competing to become the next Usain Bolt.
What would your 'racing' word replacement be?
Are entrepreneurs hungry?
We've read this time and again. Entrepreneurs started out with just a couple of thousand bucks and made millions.
They had a vision to dominate the world. Or change it in some remarkable way.
The truth is that entrepreneurs are navigating by instinct like all of us.
Some take huge risks. Some experiment. Some are superstitious beyond belief.
If something works or they got a big breakthrough on one particular day, they will try to re-create the conditions for it to happen time and again.
It's hard to shake off the cause and effect belief, even when we're educated and rational about several aspects of our life.
I've seen entrepreneurs decide to spend millions in a couple of weeks. I've also seen them take weeks to spend a few thousands.
The difference is that they are driven by hunger. How fast do they want to scale? Or expand?
They know businesses needs investment but they are unsure about how much.
Will I get results immediately? Will customers snap up my product as soon as it hits the market?
They live on hope like the rest of us.
Even when they know overnight successes are myths.
What would it take for you to start a business?