Life Changing Things I learned by Reading

First, I would like you to note that I didn't say, "Life changing things I learned from books." 

image: broadheath.coventry.sch.uk

Ok. Today I'll be sharing a long list of habits, attitudes and skills I have learned by reading. Reading not only books but magazines, manuals and other people's blogs.

1. To always smile before picking a phone call. I once read that your mood and tone is easily carried across phone lines (wired or wireless). And that whenever you smile before and while picking a phone call, you'll end up sounding cheerful and pleasant. So since reading that, I have been faking smiles while picking phone calls. And maybe it's one of the reasons I don't pick calls when I'm unhappy, it's extremely hard to fake smiles then.
2. A body language expert. Well, almost. You can't read and practice ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro's book and not become great at reading body language. And it's become an obsession for me. I'm always watching where people's legs are facing, what their hands are doing, where their eyes are looking, and their facial expressions. 
3. Almost became a philosopher at age 15. No thanks to Plato's Dialogues. And now I'm like one that wanders from one school of thought to another. I have no permanent opinions. My present opinions are a reflection of the books I'm currently reading. That's how powerful books are. I've been reading about businesses and startups. So now you know the source of my new craze -- resignation.
4. How to win friends and influence people. It's a book. And it solved all my friend issue. I make friends extremely easy now. In fact, I'm looking for a book on how to lose friends and break your influence on them. And I'm serious. I've got a very few friends I wish will dislike me.
5. Finance. All the finance and investment knowledge/skill I have came from excessive reading and gambling my life savings. Nothing makes you understand a book than when the future of your life savings is tired to it. You would think I was preparing for a $1 million scholarship exam.
6. Programming. I think it's like that for most programmers in Nigeria. All you'll ever get from schools and most training centers is an introduction to programming. To become a programmer you'll have to teach yourself via books.
7. Writing. I learned to write by reading. My style of writing is a little strange; I prefer to call it unique. It's a combination of the styles of my favourite authors. 
8. Reading. Yeah. Put me in a room filled with all the books I'll find interesting (that means lots of random books dating from 2000BC) and you can be sure that I won't be lonely in that room till I have read all the books. Or read part of all the books. Even if it will take me a year. Reading is a skill you get by doing. You become a book addict by reading books, very interesting books. And it's the world's best addiction.
9. Thinking. In fact, I think too much. And that's why I'm able to make a blog post per day. Thinking is the default mode of my mind. So what do I think about? A lot of times, it's what I read in books that I'm thinking about.
10. Emotional Intelligence. I think they call it EQ. And I like to consider myself as very emotionally intelligent. If you've got strong few emotions like me and lots of book (source of imaginary people) to practice on, you'll be emotionally intelligent. You'll have a very high EQ. As long as EQ means your ability to manage your own emotions. As for managing other people's, I don't dare it. I leave them to build their own EQs themselves.
11. Mr Fix it. Seriously, I've got some friends who think I can fix all issues. I don't know where they get the crazy idea from. Anyway, I always smile and help them as much as I can. Which sometimes mean telling them plainly that I have got no help to render: I'm not a doctor or a lawyer or God. But they forget too often and come again.
12. Smart. Yeah. If you want to see my biggest smile, just watch my face when someone refers to me as very intelligent or smart. If not for my dark brown face, you will be sure to see patches of pink on my cheeks. And they only call me that whenever I have fixed for free an issue that would have cost them money. And 9 out 10, I fixed those issues because I have come across the solution in a book before.
13. My Life Goal. I hope you've read it. Where do you think the idea came from? Where else but from books. Books written centuries ago. I'm classics guy. Finding a great classic is very easy, just get any classic. Only great books make it past 2 centuries.
14. My weirdness. My pleasant weirdness. People love it. They keep saying I'm different in a good way. And I owe it  to books. I never run out something pleasant to say to people and that permanent smile on my face. And my crazy ideas. When they finally settle on an opinion of me, it's almost always -- pleasantly different.
15. Sherlock Holmes' apprentice. You can't read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book more than once and not become a little like Sherlock Holmes. I'm always finding patterns in people and situations. Observing minute details. And getting lost in my mind. 

And those are the life changing effects reading has had on me. And as I bonus I brush with my left hand (and since 2010) because I read about it in a book.