Make This Your Resolution For Life
Even as a child living in poverty, Lincoln dreamed big.
He couldn’t afford to go to school, except sporadically, a chance once in a while.
But his nose was always in a book.
It was said that when he got a copy of the Bible or Aesop's Fables, he was so excited he couldn't sleep. “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away,” the poet Emily Dickinson once said. Though he would never travel to Europe, he always spoke of it as if he had been there. With Shakespeare's kings to England, with Lord Byron's poetry to Spain and Portugal, literature lifted him to places he could only imagine.
Reading is fun, but more than that I knew I was searching for something deeper: how to be successful, how to maximise myself, how to avoid mistakes, how to be a better parent, how to lead, how to truly live.
I just don’t see any other way.
You have to read.
Not as a habit or an occasional pastime. Not when a task demands it or when you feel like it.
You read as a way of life. As a way to life.
Mark Twain once said that a person who does not read has no advantage over a person who cannot read. If your intention is to live a life of mediocrity, by all means, spare yourself the time and money. But I suspect you are, like me, in search of more than the ordinary—to fit the pieces of history into the mould of your own, to be the best you’ve always dreamed of being.
So why not learn from the greats? The people they call the master communicators, the sufferers, the survivors? Why not, as Marcus Aurelius said, go straight to the seat of intelligence—to the individuals who had the peace, solitude, and talent to craft their world into words, who could interweave humour with solemnity, hope with despair, order with chaos?
Surely, there’s more than meets the eye when two American divers sacrificed everything they had to solve the mystery of a sunken Nazi U-boat, sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey. At first, I couldn’t believe it, but that’s exactly what happened and what the two men did. They discovered that it was once inhabited by sixty German sailors who, unbeknown to everyone, perished in the depths of the sea, far from home, for a cause most did not believe in. Where their bodies once lay, only skulls and fragments remain.
Look, you don’t have to be even slightly interested in military history or diving to understand this, but if you knew of someone who abandoned their marriage, money, energy, and time to risk their lives for a piece of WWII junk (three people died trying), there can only be two plausible explanations for this madness: one, they are downright crazy, or two, there are important questions we’ve yet to ask ourselves: Is there something you would risk everything to discover? Would you sacrifice something as important as marriage for a chance to uncover the truth? What is this “truth” you are seeking?
Can a person ever surrender their true passion and still live a happy and fulfilled life?
To quote a couple of lines from the book: “Life is a matter of luck, and the odds in favour of success are in no way enhanced by extreme caution” and “It’s what a person does at the moment of their greatest struggle that shows them who they really are.”
It’s uncanny how, as I read those words, they were exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. It felt as though some unseen force, keenly aware of my circumstances, miraculously placed the book in my hands as an encouragement. When Robert Kurson first heard the story from a friend, he found it so intriguing, so good to be true, that he had to verify it for himself. What began as a casual conversation turned into investigative journalism, into Shadow Divers, and ultimately left me—and many others—awestruck. It was so good that I had to text my friend to read this book!
There’s another book I’ve been raving about since its release a year ago. Even now, I’m still raving about it. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but as a parent, it chills my heart to know that my son could be a victim in this wicked ploy. Reading it twice through reaffirmed my long-held beliefs about a certain technology. It cemented my radical decision to have no TV at home, to impose a “zero” screen time policy, and, in its wake, more books and more art and more physical play. It reinforces the vision of Gosh! Kids—to empower children through local and overseas creative-culture experiences—as a mandate from heaven, a conviction to keep doing what we’re doing. Until there is newfound research to challenge what Jonathan Haidt and his team discovered, this book is going to be a generation-changer for anyone concerned about the future of our children. Obama called it one of his favourites of 2024. Bill Gates listed it as one of his four must-reads for “anyone raising, working with, or teaching young people today.” If there’s one book you must read in 2025—whoever you are—it’s this.
See what I did there?
See how a book, if indulged in and studied deeply, can help you make sense of the world and propel you into action, for the betterment of yourself and those you love? See how the questions you’d ask yourself, reflecting on events that happened in real life, become a mirror of humanity at its best and worst? Can you not see how this practice goes beyond the “fun” of it, that it’s a necessity to life if we ever want to survive and thrive in this changing world?
That’s what reading does—it reinforces the fact that the more you read, the more you realise how much you don’t know, which compels you to want to know. It ignites a flame in you that, once lit, never extinguishes. A good story simply makes the journey enjoyable.
I’m not saying you have to agree with what was written, but the purpose of this practice is to expand your mental capacity—to hold multiple viewpoints, to develop your opinions, to reaffirm (or debunk) your convictions. It drives societal change and fosters personal growth. Einstein once said that education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think. Not rote memorisation, but critical thinking and problem-solving. Not the habit of reading per se, but the practice that pays the best interest forward.
“It’s not how many books you read,” Epictetus said, “but what you read.” The resolution isn’t about how many books you can get to—my goal is to read xx books in 2025—but how many can get through you. Every book you pick up should either strike at your core or shake you so deeply that you can’t stop talking about it.
Life is too short for bad friends, bad food, bad careers, let alone bad books. There have been times when I’ve had to toss out books that didn’t live up to their promise. Of course, this is subjective—who am I to judge whether a book is worthy or not? But there is an objective truth: there are good books, and then there are great books—the ones recommended by the wisest and most successful people throughout history, the ones that have endured centuries and will endure for centuries, the ones that are almost impossible to render irrelevant, that transcend time, culture, and circumstance.
So, what should you read?
An American student once asked Churchill how one might prepare to meet the challenges of leadership. “Study history,” Churchill replied emphatically. “In history lie all the secrets of statecraft.”
If you ask me, I’d say children’s books. The simplicity, the beautiful illustrations, the unadulterated truths they proclaim—these are what make them so powerful for everyone. Through vivid artwork and elementary prose, we as parents learn how to better connect with our children, how to be kind to one another, how to overcome our fears, and how to cherish the little things. The principles and lessons serve as gentle, ubiquitous reminders we often take for granted. They replenish the hope we once treasured as children but surrendered in the process of growing up. As Petrarch, a famous book lover, observed some 700 years ago, “Books give delight to the very marrow of one's being.” A good book often does that, but a good children’s book always hits the mark.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not dictating what you should read. But Haruki Murakami did point out, aptly, that if you’re only reading the books everyone else is reading, you’re probably thinking what everyone else is thinking. Ironic, it seems, for me to discuss what to read, but this does seem like good advice.
Here’s how I approach it: read the books hidden in plain sight—the ones not necessarily labelled “bestsellers” but imbued with the same extraordinary qualities, for some strange reason been denied the chance to glisten in the spotlight. We should seek out the kind of books that transport us to places we can only imagine, the kind that, if we delve into deeply, illuminate a path toward a good, meaningful life.
Do not pick catchy titles. They can't make better what is in there.Credible people have recommended their favourites. Start there.
These gems, though often obscured by the shadows of contemporary culture and fleeting trends, are the very tools that should replace your devices, the ideal “screen time” for your children.
You say you don’t have time, but you have plenty scrolling social media. You say you want your kids to read more, but in your hand is never a book but a phone. There’s no excuse now.
Reckon your home needs an aesthetic revival? Drill that bookshelf in and start filling it up!
I don’t read biographies for fun. I don’t read history because I’m interested in the past. I don’t read the Bible because I’m delusional about life. I read because I’m searching for answers.
This isn’t some lofty goal for the year.
It’s a recalibration of our coordinates, an adjustment of our trajectories towards what is essential, fundamental, and, ultimately, what truly matters.
While I can’t pay back these incredible authors, the least I can do is pay it forward, to you, as a plea, to make this your resolution for life.
Written by Mathieu Beth Tan
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