It’s frequently said that those who lead, read. Research has shown that reading keeps leaders smart, creative and social. For those who want to lead, reading is not a nice to have or a luxury, reading is a habit successful leaders consider critical to their success.

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time – none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren(Buffett) reads – at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out”.” – Charles T. Munger, Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

The conviction as to the importance of reading for leaders is not unique to billionaire Charles Munger. Tom Petersmade the following comment in an interview with McKinsey Quarterly:

“I was at a dinner party recently with a guy who’s probably one of the top ten finance people in the world. At one point he said, “Do you know what the biggest problem is with big-company CEOs? They don’t read enough.” – Tom Peters, Tom Peters on leading the 21st-century organization

As a leader if you’re not reading daily don’t be surprised if you find yourself falling behind your peers!

6 Steps to a Daily Reading Habit

Reading is a habit and like any other habit it needs to be purposefully developed.

1. Set an Annual Reading Goal

As with most habits, change begins with goal. You set goals for your exercise routine, you set goals for how much weight you want to lose, reading is no different.

The first step is to set a goal for the number of books you would like to read this year. You could go big and decide to read 52 books this year – one book a week. Or you could decide to take it more slowly and read two books a month – one book every two weeks. For example Mark Zuckerberg has set himself a reading goal.

“My challenge for 2015 is to read a new book every other week – with an emphasis on learning about different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies.” – Mark Zuckerberg

If you want to follow along with Mark’s challenge you can do so on the Facebook page A Year of Books.

So take some time to set a goal for the number of books you will read this year.

2. Maintain a Reading List

Read  the  rest  here:  http://www.georgeambler.com/leaders-need-daily-reading-habit/