2 Minute post #4: Read a non-business book

You are striving to be a Killer Consultant. You want to be not only good in what you do, you also want to know stuff about the stuff that you do, so you read a lot of business literature. The latest on Management, Leadership, what have you – and be it only to prowl in front of the VP or the client.
Here’s a tip for you: Once every quarter, slip in a non-business book. A novel. A thriller. A trashy romance, whatever your liking. Borrow the latest Sophie Kinsella book from your significant other, if you’re man enough. Three things will happen:

1. You’ll relax. Those books are made to draw you in and make the cinema in your head go wild in color. So this enables you to actually blend out the outside world (which might be passing by while you are on your way, or on your sofa, or on the hotel bed) – a good exercise for people like you, who are almost always subject to information and stimulation overload (which is not always pleasurable).
2. You’ll get new ideas. While you discover a new story – secret agents, newfound love or a crime, it does not matter – your brain is going wild, and thinks all sorts of thoughts that you have not thought in a while. Certainly, a murder scene tickles your neurons in a different way than an article on commodity good pricing would. In other words, your creativity is boosted.
3. You’ll have more joy in reading business stuff. OK, I can’t guarantee that accounting will ever seem fun for anyone sane. But in my observation, coming from a relaxing read, I am more open towards business literature and can keep up more concentration. It feels as if my brain is not so bored because it got some diversion – maybe this works for you, too.

Now this should be reason enough to go buy the airport bookstore on Thursday or Friday and buy that book that caught your eye a few weeks ago already, but you were too "focused" to pay attention to it.

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