Books rewired my brain, not just my brand
Sunday musings: How 60 minutes of daily reading helped me rebuild focus, reclaim authorship, and redefine success as a queer parent and one-person business.
I used to devour books as a kid and I would get lost in stories all the time. The library was my favourite place and I remember reading and re-reading Harry Potter books every time a new movie on the series come out.
But as I got older, books started to collect dust. Netflix replaced books and Instagram replaced introspection. My brain, once a sponge for stories, started craving the fast scroll of stimulation instead of the slow burn of deep reading.
I tried to get back into it with audiobooks, subscribing to Audible and telling myself I was still learning. But truth be told, it just hit different because I never felt the same spark. So I cancelled the subscription this year and picked up an actual book instead.
Now, I read 30 minutes a day during my 4-hour work block and another 30 minutes before bed.
Right now, I am halfway through $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi. Before that, I devoured Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal, Purpose & Profit and The Art of Focus by Dan Koe, The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom, and No More Bosses by Adrian Tan. Every book gave me something I did not know I needed.
Koe’s philosophy shifted everything for me, because he says to read for intention, not for appearance. One insight and powerful truth is all you need. Don’t finish a book because you “should”, but close it when the message has landed and then apply it.
I felt seen in that. I no longer feel guilty for not finishing every page and I use voice notes to record a paragraph that I like. I pause and let a single paragraph change my entire day because it is about pattern recognition.
Professor Cal Newport echoes that reading is a training ground, like a daily cognitive workout. Imagine lifting for your mind and when done with presence, without screens, no distractions, it reconditions your focus, expands your thinking, and realigns your values.
Now I treat reading like resistance training for the soul to be more grounded in how I think, speak, and build.
Reading is how I make sense of the complexity I live with. For example, navigating life in Singapore as a gender-fluid, pansexual parent comes with layers most books don’t cover. But when I read about self-leadership, clarity, identity, or leverage, I translate those ideas through my lived experience.
When Hormozi talks about value, I think about building Human Algorithm as a one-person business because no job could afford the therapy my daughter needs. When Bloom writes about time wealth, I think about cycling my daughter to school every morning before I write. When Koe says to “build to focus your mind,” I think about how sharing my story, publicly and imperfectly, gave me back my power.
Books help me sharpen what I already know to be true, which is authenticity is a strategy and that clarity is a habit. That impact is found in presence and eading helped me find my voice again, as well as to think, build, and teach.
See you next Sunday.
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