Books are known to be a wealth of wisdom. While indeed they are, surprisingly, there are certain life hacks and skills that you can’t learn through reading the same books. This could largely be associated with the fact that reading is different from applying what you’ve read to real-life situations.
Anyone can read a book but very few can apply the lessons into reality. However, the experiences you get in life can teach you amazing things that you’ll apply for the rest of life.
Some things are beyond just reading from the books. To truly get the true picture, you have to experience them. Here are examples of such situations to help you understand what you can get from the books and what you can only get from life experiences.
Closing a business deal
You can read many business-related books from great business people who succeeded in business big time but the reading won’t guarantee you the instincts you require to close that much-needed sale and receive the payment. If making a sale only required reading a book on how to make sales and your business grows exponentially, then that’s what everyone would be doing. But the reality is, closing that incredible business deal will require more than just reading books.
How to take the right decisions
There is a saying “life is a gamble” and everything is supposed to happen based on choices, to be more exact, on risk. When you take a decision, you don’t know if it’s good or bad until you see the actual result. Of course, there are probabilities and the risk involved in a decision might be higher, or lower. But every choice, every day, is a bet you take the good decision. Hopefully it proves right. If not, well, that’s supposed to be experience you’ll use next time. You always have some chips with you (your time, your body, your money), you have the cards (your skills, your experience, your personality) and of course, the opportunities. What’s for sure is you have to play the game if you want to win, otherwise the opportunities will leave you behind. It’s the same in all aspects of life. From choosing a school to choosing a property or career; vacations and relationships; cars and entertainment. To the master of all, gambling your money in real gambling games, no matter in a Las Vegas casino or virtual which is so abundant with lots of options, such as sa gaming.
How to overcome fear
This is a widely discussed topic because there are so many people dealing with the fear of the unknown. There are so many books written to help people overcome their fears. But even as you read every guide you come across, bear in mind that you are the only one with the power to overcome your fears. Understand that the things you fear are in your head and if you choose to live with the fear, the decisions you’ll make in life will not serve you well.
Loss of a loved one
We all have lost a loved one at some point in life and when it comes to grieving, we grieve in our own way. Thus, no book can be written to universally help everyone who has lost a loved one. It’s upon you to know how to approach the situation and let go.
Life-changing events
There are so many things that happen in life and change our lives completely. Even though we may want to avoid them, challenging things and situations in life will still happen at some point. After all, no human being is immune to challenges. The skills you get after overcoming those challenges can only be learnt through experience but not reading from books.
Good manners
While you may read in books to know what good manners are, implementing them in your life will depend on you as a person, your beliefs and what you want to achieve with them. Besides, good manners and etiquette is not something universal. What is believed to be good manners in a certain region is totally unacceptable in another region.
Approaching a girl
You’ve seen her standing on the other side of the road. From the few glances you’ve managed to steal, you can tell that she is gorgeous and pleasant to be with. But now the problem is how to approach her and let her know how you are feeling towards her.
Learning how to approach a woman is not something you can read in books even if you are a book warmer. First, you have to establish a connection and create a friendly environment. Reading every book about relationships won’t make a girl who doesn’t like you accept your proposal.
Dealing with dangerous situations
Although not very many people come across life-threatening situations in life, this is something that can happen to anyone. Reading books won’t help you to deal with such situations because no one can predict how the situation will be and how your body will naturally respond. For instance, if you get attacked by a dangerous wild animal or find yourself in a war zone, the lessons you’ll learn from the situation you won’t learn from reading books.
Overcoming failure
Honestly, recovering from failure is not as easy as reading books. If it was, then everyone in the world would be successful regardless of their past failures. Unfortunately, things are not that easy. If you fail at something, you have to internalize the lessons learnt from the failure and figure out how you are going to forge forward depending on your thoughts and feelings; things you can’t find in any book.
How to say no
If you’ve found yourself in a situation you aren’t comfortable with but you are afraid to let the other party know how you really feel about the situation, you know how difficult that can be. It is even harder when the person in question is pushy and won’t take no for an answer. No matter how many books you read, at the end of the day, it’s upon you to know the things you don’t want in life and be confident to say the same.
How to love
Love is a feeling and no book in the world can teach you how to manipulate your feelings to love something or someone. Some things happen naturally and love is one of them. No book whether romance or relationship manual can explain the steps you need to follow in order to fall in love. Even the love we feel for our friends, relatives or non-living things is not something we learnt in books but rather something we began to feel maybe when we were little or as we get much older.
The bottom line
As much as reading is fundamental, it can’t teach you everything in life. Although reading books is great, there are certain life hacks you can’t learn from the same books. Even though the books have incredibly valuable life lessons, you shouldn’t expect miracles simply because you are reading them. You need to experience real situations to learn how to handle certain situations in life. Life can get really tough at some point; if you are not equipped with the necessary skills, you may lose them and begin to deal with health issues such as stress and depression. Books are great. In fact, you shouldn’t refrain from reading them. Just that it’s important to know that books won’t solve all your problems. There are those situations where you’ll need to get the first-hand experience. So, even as you read your books, always know that experience is the best teacher.
