What do millionaire entrepreneurs like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates share along with many others? Not only a business worth millions, but also an undying passion for reading. If you dig around, you will get hundreds and thousands of reasons to read books. Improving reading skills, grammar, memory power are some of the many advantages books provide. While books are beneficial to everyone from kids to adults, there is an unsaid aspect about reading fiction that relates to your work.

Titles like – How to Improve Job Skills, How to be a Successful Entrepreneur, How to Increase Productivity, etc. are certainly helpful for improving your job skills. But believe it or not reading books other than work related titles i.e. fiction can help you excel at your work. Where non-fiction reading can bestow technical knowledge upon you, fiction helps you improve your non-technical skills. Here’s how-

Increased Empathy by Reading Fiction

Being an entrepreneur without empathy for your workforce is like having a body without heart. Your employees need empathy from your end to feel like a close-knit family. Reading fiction makes you go through a character’s ups and downs. You immerse yourself in the joy, sadness, trauma or celebrations of a fiction’s character. A new character with every new book, this is how you get to indulge in a whole new sea of feelings.

Imagining and connecting in this way with emotions helps you become empathetic in reality also. We have a stable flow of emotions and thoughts with a storyline says Raymond Mar, a psychologist at Canada’s York University. He adds that just like how life experiences shape an individual’s understanding of the world, imagined experiences also have the same effect.

Reading fiction is about a storyline and characters that are made-up but yet it has the power to convey strong human feelings and emotions.

Stress-Buster

Cognitive neuropsychologist David Lewis says that reading reduces stress levels by almost 68 percent. For those who want to unwind after a hectic day without moving out of the comfort of home can opt for a book. When you read fiction, you lose your leadership hold to indulge in the realm of the writer. Once in a writer’s territory you explore various dimensions of the characters.

Reading can help you move towards a different state of consciousness along with stimulating creative levels. A well relaxed day-end means a better morning. Now every entrepreneur wants to start off a new day with fresh energy and zeal. Certainly, fiction can become your go-to stress buster.

Enhanced Logical Skills

For an entrepreneur, non-fiction reading can help improve the technical knowledge. But what can be done to improve the reasoning and logical aspects? Well, fiction to your help guys. For complex problem solving where logics and reasoning is needed descriptions from a fiction can help doing it. How?

With the emotional involvement fiction provides, it also brings to light the complex personalities of various characters. Such fictional characteristics can help an entrepreneur understand the various aspects of social life. Thus, an in-depth understanding helps gain a better grip at reasoning leading to better problem solving.

Fictional Role Models

Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and J.K. Rowling are some of the globally famous authors who have created masterpieces of fiction novels. More often vigilant readers find an inspiring character while reading fiction. Some characters’ story, someone’s personality, someone’s struggle can inspire millions to achieve something.

Jane Eyre from ‘Jane Eyre’ teaches us how to get up and keep moving forward no matter what. Elizabeth Bennet from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ teaches us how to embrace your own self. Hermione Granger from ‘The Harry Potter Series’ teaches us how to hold things together, even when you have to face sacrifices of your own happiness.

Zillions of characters from fiction novels await to inspire their readers. You just have to pick one. Remember, an inspired leader can go miles to achieve success given any circumstances.

So all the entrepreneurs out there, grab a fiction today to get lost in a whole new world of imagination. The secret of your next success may be hidden in a fiction, waiting to get unlocked.

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