Have you ever been told reading makes you smart a person? Or my personal favourite, "voracious readers are leader"? I believed it too.  But until recently when I found out those statements are not totally true. Sorry to burst your bubble, reading ain't just enough.

So recently, while I was surfing the internet, one of these self-help site, I came across a link that says; 35 classic books every smart person must read at least once in a life time. Lord knows I have tried when it comes to reading. So, out of curiosity, I rushed to click the link. Alas! Out of the listed 35 books, I have started and finished 17, started but didn't finish about 8, probably I just found them uninteresting enough, and I have heard about at least 5 and the rest I have not heard about before. Some of these books were favourites of and highly recommended by masters of the universe like Einstein, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford and so on.

Yeee! For someone who have read that much, I should feel like some kind of a genius. But no, not me. In fact, I never felt like one. Not even have I been called a smart person before. Not one person. Every person I have come across, I have always thought is smarter than me. But please,  don't think I am suffering from kind of low self esteem. I am just that person who sees one thing to appreciate in every person that comes my way.

If there is one thing I realised after this list, it is the fact that reading and acting are two different thing. Reading won't make you a smart person acting or doing will. Reading ignites something in your brain and you start dreaming, you begin to hope, but until you act,  dream is just a dream.

For example, I have read a lot of books on money making and entrepreneurship. You know what? I am still very broke and I have not made a penny in the last 5 months. Okay,  here is how bad it is: I am 27, an entrepreneur, some of my business ideas have failed and some have succeeded. May be if I was acting on what I have read,  the situation right now would have been different.

I have read tens of books on dating and relationships. Not to talk about the uncountable seminars. You want to hear the truth? I currently don't have a girl friend. May be if I was acting  and not just reading, may be my ex girlfriend would still be with me or may be I would have found another one since she is long gone. Five months and still counting.

I want to be kind to people through philanthropy. So I read tons of books about that too. In my own humanity and mistakes, I have tried. Lord knows I try. You know what? Some people still think I am the shittiest person to ever lived. Perhaps, I have only read and not acted.

The other day, I met a man who claimed to have read and finished the Bible couple of times and he was using that a base for being better than everyone else there. You know what? He stinks like shit. I could not even stand his filthy character.  He was probably only reading and not acting.

In one of the book I read. Book again! I am laughing at myself right now. The author, James Altucher said in his best seller book, Choosing Yourself, " it is one thing to know 'the secret' or take whatever life affirming steps you've read about in order to bring positivity into your life, but it is something else altogether to actually create opportunities for yourself".

May be we should read less. May be we should stop reading for some time and reflect on how the ones we have read so far have impacted our lives. If it has not, right now is the time to really slow down and act. I would like to end with another quote from another author Steven Covey in his book, seven habits of highly effective people, "To learn and not do is really not to learn, to know and not do is really not to know".

To you out there who believes in the power books and you are acting, I hope some sees you and tells you how smart you are and how much you have influenced them.

Good one