Why I Read

Does talking about fitness, finances, and making it in the real world excite you? Me too but younger Brogan would have slapped the daylights out of future Brogan if he knew this is what would become of him. Younger Brogan would have set his sights on becoming a full-time professional football player, part-time Lego set tester, and would have scoffed at any idea involving growing up. So what made it all change? Reading. Well that and the one time he was clobbered into his first ever back flip attempt during football practice and the repeated nightmare of stepping on Legos. Much like Pavlov's ability to train his dogs, my environment has quite literally molded me to evolve. Reading has been the largest conduit for this change and has become a staple in my life to push me to dream and be more than I ever thought I could (younger Brogan rolls his eyes and pukes in disgust). I was never much of a reader growing up and in fact I hated reading. If we look at younger Brogan's Myspace page circa 2006 when having a Myspace account was still cool (it's still a little cool) I was quoted saying "Reading Sucks". Not really sure what point I was trying to prove here but man did reading suck. Younger Brogan even brought his reading hate to the Facebook world or as you English nerds would say, Proofreading hate:

Maybe I was trying to invent a new language? (Please forgive me, i'm still working on it)

Before we can continue, yes my siblings and I are still just as ugly and yes my younger sister is possessed in this photo. But that's beside the point, what's important is the book that changed it all for me (Crowd cheers for Harry Potter) and no it's not Harry Potter. While many of you are probably thinking to yourself, wait a minute, younger Brogan hates reading. Why would he start reading? Trust me, i'm still just as surprised as you are but there is one important characteristic to note about myself, which makes all of this possible. I am the largest pushover when it comes to peer pressure. If you ask me anything more than twice, i'm more than likely to fold. I'm not proud of playing with Polly Pockets, giving free massages, or painting nails but they had to be done. In the following scenario, my vulnerability was no different and was no match for my hate for reading.

(Brogan coughs to clear his throat and leans back in his rocking chair to begin story) Circa 2009, It was yet another beautiful fall day for Brogan to play outside with his high school friends. As expected, Brogan and his friends found the nearest house and planned to hang out in the basement. Dillan, the ring leader of the group, proposed they all go to his place to study Calculus (Yes, we were nerds). As they entered Dillan's home, they were pleasantly greeted by his mother (Shout out to Michelle) who stopped them and insisted "The Hunger Games" was the greatest book she had ever read. Before Brogan could leave, she cornered him off as she knew he was the weakest link of the group and forced him to agree that he would read the book (Michelle briefly asked in passing if anyone would like to read the book). Younger Brogan attempted to put up a front but quickly folded and accepted the reading offer. To Brogan's surprise, "The Hunger Games" too was the greatest and only book he had ever read. The End.

What I really loved about "The Hunger Games" was its uniqueness to anything I've ever heard, learned, or could even dream up. Where the alternate universe challenged my thinking and made me curious about what other things I could explore in books. The more books I read, the more curious I became and the more whys and hows I began to ask. My reading interests began to evolve and took off when I started asking influential members in my life for book recommendations. While a majority of these books were self-help and self-improvement, I thought it was in my best interest to start taking notes and begin implementing these ideas into my life. This process has led me to become addicted to self-development and has pushed me to explore all the shortcuts there are through self-exploration and reading. Making mistakes and taking chances takes years of walking the lonesome road but books give us a quick insight into a lifetime of mistakes and successes. Long story short, Brogan is addicted to learning, exploring, self-improvement, efficiency and applying everything he learns to life. I plan to use my blog to document my life lessons during my trials and errors of self-exploration as well as draw in similar minded self-entrepreneurs to learn from as well!