How to Educate Yourself and Change Your Worldview by Reading Books

Several years ago, to work through my grief, I created a reading challenge to read the world. For the duration of the reading challenge, by way of reading books, I had virtually visited close to 30 countries. I learned about intercultural awareness. And I learned about cultures and countries that were foreign to me. But most importantly, although most of the books I read were fiction, I still learned about the plight of the people living in the countries I had visited virtually. I realized that you could educate yourself and change your worldview by reading books.

More recently, the world was watching George Floyd say, “I can’t breathe.” Before and since then, many Blacks have been killed. But the death of George Floyd mobilized a lot of folks to take action. Several books have been published to help people understand the history of oppression of Black people. This is one example, but there are many books available that outline and explain many important causes that may be important to you.

Have you read?

Things Nobody Tells You About Reading Books

How to Look for Interconnections Among the Books You Read

Change Your Worldview: What Cause/Issue is Important to You?

There are many causes in the world, such as global poverty, homelessness, climate change, lack of clean water, gender wage gap, domestic violence and much more. To change your worldview, you have to educate yourself on the issues. And one way to get the process started is by reading books. When you read a few books on a topic of interest, you get different perspectives, and you get to make up your mind and become informed.

Global problems can be solved by reading and implementing ideas from books — one person at a time. The reading of books, and reflecting on what you read, can trigger new ideas that start to percolate. To find a solution to something you’re passionate about, you have to understand the many sides of it.

What’s My Mission?

It’s to mobilize 2000 professionals to read a book a week to bring together masterminds of socially conscious people to implement breakthrough ideas from the books they read.

Although my mission is important to me, I lost my way because it was too lofty. It overwhelmed me. I changed it from 5000 to 2000, which is still a big goal. But now it also aligns with the number of members I’d like to add to my membership site, the Art of Learning, by the end of next year. I feel like I can work on these two things simultaneously. And I’ve given myself two years to achieve my mission, since not everyone who becomes a  member of the Art of Learning will decide to read a book each week.

In the book, 0.1%: Join The Club of The Richest, Healthiest, Happiest, the author Simeon Ivanov, recommends that you create SMURT goals. SMURT — Smart, Measurable, Unrealistic, Resourceful, Time-Bound. Ivanov writes that about 99.9 percent of people go for SMART Goals, which are boring. He recommends that you go for SMURT goals and become a part of the 0.1% club. I want to achieve a few lofty goals.

How can you create SMURT goals for reading, and include a few books off the beaten path that will educate you on the causes/issues that are important to you?

Change the World by Changing Yourself

You’re probably feeling stressed out about changing your worldview. But change is about evolution – becoming your best self. When you change yourself, you have an impact on others and subsequently the world. Think of it from that perspective. I have a Facebook group and that’s where I’m trying to live my mission. But one thing I realized is that before the members can get to the stage where they’re reading for a solution, it made sense that I held reading challenges to get us engaged in leadership reading.

This way, they know how to find the important information in a nonfiction book and don’t get overwhelmed by information that’s not important to their understanding of the book. For the coming year, what’s one small change you can make in yourself that will have a big impact on you personally and professionally. For me, it’s to act more swiftly.

There are times when I spend too much time on the data gathering process. Sometimes this is necessary when an action can have a profound impact on your life. But there are times when the data gathering process is overkill. One thing I’ve started doing more of, is implementing what I have learned along the way. I’m good at implementing ideas, but I often want to do so after the data gathering process.There are times when it’s unnecessary to wait for more pieces of information before you act.

What kinds of books will give you information, so you can start making the change?

Educate Yourself and Change Your Worldview by Reading Books

For many years, I read the world. That means I went out of the way to read authors from different cultures. Doing this expanded my worldview, and helped me to develop intercultural awareness. In the new year, I plan to start doing that again, and in doing so, will learn about issues that are affecting others and not just myself. Additionally, I’m also a Black woman who wants to learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion. I want to learn about the experiences of others, and their stories.

I still want to get more professionals reading a book a week. And I’ll be facilitating and participating in events in my Facebook group to accomplish that. However, I’ll also be reading the following books, most of which I already own.

1. Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sullivan Sorin
2. The Color of Water by James McBride
3. The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming by Natasha Bowens
4. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
5. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil
6. I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream
7. The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans–and How We Can Fix It by Dorothy A. Brown
8. Indigenomics: Taking a Seat at the Economic Table by Carol Anne Hilton

Changing Your Worldview

You’ve thought about a small change to make in your life and the books to help you with the change. Now it’s time to think about causes/issues you may be interested in, but don’t know enough about them. Make a list of books you can read to get educated on the topic. Most of the time, reading is a solitary activity, so you can learn about issues in the comfort of your home.

Next Steps

1. Choose 5 books to read to understand a cause or issue you’re interested in.
2. Join my Facebook Group, Reading Rocks: Read Like a Leader, Find Solutions, Change Your World
3. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
4. Join the Art of Learning Membership Site

The One Problem is just one way to learn from me. You can also join the Art of Learning membership site.