If you really want to change your life. Read Fiction
You can read 100 books on self improvement, procrastination, deep work, mindset, changing your lifestyle. But they won’t make a dent in your life unless they are backed by stories that you FEEL.
Whenever someone says, “This book changed my life.” It happens because a scene in the book grips them by the throat. “Fuck that’s me. I can’t live like this anymore. I need to do things differently now.”
In Time Enough for Love, the protagonist says: “one of the few things I’ve learned is that humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn—when they do, which isn’t often—on their own, the hard way.”
So, we learn by experience but it has to be our own. We say, “learn from the experiences of others”. But it’s borrowed wisdom. You are not confident in it. Because you haven’t tried it yourself. You don’t know how it feels to take that risk. You haven’t arrived at that conclusion on your own. Until you are immersed in that experience, that feeling. It’s hard to fully understand it.
The problem isn’t in borrowing wisdom. We all are building blocks of knowledge. Adding one stack of block over another. Its just that you should be able fully understand the depth of that borrowed wisdom. Then only you can embody in it yourself.
This is the problem with most productivity books. You will underline the text. Highlight & save notes. Agree with everything that’s written. And still have no impact.
Let’s say you’re reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the author tells you that habit No 1 is to be resilient. Great. You will underline the text. Agree with everything that’s written and then continue reading. But by the time you get to habit No 5, you’ve already forgotten habit number one. So when life decides to throw you a curveball and test your resilience, the book’s insights won’t help you. The only thing productivity books give you is dopamine & empty pockets.
But let’s flip the script. Let’s say you finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas instead. That is 1,312 pages exploring the very essence of what it means to be resilient through the story of its main character, Edmond Dantès. His journey, his trials, his unwavering determination even after being imprisoned for 14 years for something he didn’t even do. It all sinks in so deeply in your mind that you feel every thing that the main character is feeling, the seed of resilience will born inside you.
Next time when life will test your resilience and throw you another curveball, odds are you’ll probably rise up to the challenge.
Every answer that you’re searching for is already in fiction. You just have to open the right book.
You want to stop being a scaredy cat and learn some courage? Read To Kill a Mockingbird. by Harper Lee
You want discipline? Read The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.
You want focus? Read Stoner by John Williams
Need a book on the art of leadership? Try Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
Looking to learn about profound change? Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
Make a goal of reading fiction in 2026.
Signing off
Akanksha