From very early on, the only time I use to read growing up was when I had to. Either at night before going to bed as a little kid, or during the summer for school assignments, the only time I was reading was when someone was making me do it.
Fast forward to present day and I got back into reading (again when I was forced to prepare for my upcoming Harvard classes). But the last five years have been filled with reading books about business and successful people to learn from what they did and how they did it. While I found myself doing more reading, usually motivational or work-related, I decided this year to take a different tactic.
Instead of reading about work-related things, I have started a quest to read about things that have nothing to do with work. Books about history or fiction that can give me a different perspective and take me in a different direction mentally with my reading. The goal for the year is 12 books, so 1 per month. As it is mid-March right now, I am finding myself midway through my 3rd book, so one would at least think that I am right on schedule.
The overall benefit of reading recently has truly been a sense of relaxation. Usually, I read at night right before bed, and I find that it is a much better experience while going to sleep if the final waking minutes of my day are spent learning about something that is totally unrelated to everyday business.