I would like to give credit to a café called Pondok in Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, for having a reading corner at the front of their premises.

There are self-improvement books, magazines and the daily newspapers for their customers to read. Not many food outlets are practising this concept.

In schools, we were ‘forced’ to read a book a week during language lessons. Why is it now that we’re working, many of us stop reading? Is it because we are not ‘forced’ to? ‘Busy’, ‘no money’, ‘lazy la’ are some of the excuses we give ourselves.

Most of us would rather gather with friends and gossip about how terrible their friends, colleagues, family members are rather than to read books to improve their assertive communication. Probably, not many of us are aware of the term ‘assertive communication’.

According to one Lee Hopkins, ‘assertive communication is the ability to express positive and negative ideas and feelings in an open, honest and direct way’. So are we talking about a 360 degree changeover?

Peter Drucker in his article ‘Managing oneself’ which appeared in the Harvard Business Review, said ‘Do not try to change yourself – you are unlikely to succeed. Work to improve the way you perform’.

‘Hang-outers’ could use their gathering opportunities to check with each other on how to improve the ‘unhappy’ situations they are in rather than gossip about others.

Of course, a better way would be to pick up a book on assertive communication and discuss what could we do in order to improve our assertiveness. What good do you think we can get by gossiping about other people?

Would the person know that their behaviour is annoying you? Would they stop annoying you after you have finished gossiping? How much time have you spent gossiping all this while?

Do you think it would be better for you use this amount of time on reading so that you can improve situations? I know right now your heart is full of anger but just think of this topic with an open mind.

Spending 15 minutes a day to read a book is achievable with determination for self-improvement but reading a page a day is easier. You may choose the smallest or thinnest book to start with so that you can finish reading it.

That will motivate you to read the next book. Not all authors’ style suits our reading so choose one your are comfortable with. Malaysians, unless you are blind (there’s even Braille for them), you need to read.

Have a reading corner in your house does help. Reading is a lifelong learning activity that will really bring us to the next level of our life. So start now, keep reading and stop gossiping.