At my son’s school there’s a portion of their daily timetable called DEAR Time.

This stands for Drop Everything And Read. I love this idea.

I picture all these little kids, elbows deep in Plasticine, half way through some colouring, mid hair-tug, stopping in their tracks, racing to a comfy spot and diving into a book.

How great would it be to introduce this as national policy?

At a point during the working day, a signal sounds and everyone gets dedicated time for uninterrupted reading. What kind of effect would that have?

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about reading.

Reading shapes the quality of our mind.

English playwright and politician, Joseph Addison, knew this three hundred years ago, claiming, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”

Reading improves our cognitive processes. Beyond the general knowledge we acquire through books, magazines, newspapers etc, reading volume is a significant contributor to the development of our intelligence, vocabulary, spelling ability and verbal fluency, so say professors, Anne Cunningham and Keith Stanovich, in their academic research paper on the subject.

Reading, itself, actually makes us smarter.

Just in terms of vocabulary, we learn from the written word over the spoken.

They found that even children’s books have “fifty percept more rare words in them than does adult prime-time television and the conversation of college graduates”.

I have witnessed this among friends who are avid readers.

Their command of language and the nuances with which they can communicate is highly notable.

I often come away needing a quick dictionary reference, and occasionally have the courage to outright ask what they mean.

Perspicacious? “Having ready insight into things.” I am more than aware that I don’t read enough.

I came late to reading. I hardly read a thing as a child.

It wasn’t through lack of encouragement. My mother is a fanatical collector of books, our house was full of them.

Perhaps I felt that my bookworm sister read enough for both of us. I found reading difficult and didn’t enjoy it.

I was tested for dyslexia and other learning difficulties, but the results came back inconclusive.

At the age of six, I faked an eye-test to get glasses. I did think wearing specs was cool (I also wanted braces), but they gave me the advantage that I could ‘forget’ them at home as an excuse to get out of reading in class. Publicly reading aloud felt like torture.

I loved stories and my parents supported me by getting books on tape, so fortunately I still got the benefits of literary exposure.

And somehow I managed to get by in school despite my reluctance to open books.

It wasn’t until my early twenties, in a job that involved a lot of sitting around and waiting that I voluntarily picked up a book to fill the time.

Something clicked. In that one year I think I read more books than I had in my life to date, put together.

I had finally discovered the pleasure of reading. And with it my world and my interests expanded exponentially.

A few years later I became a news reporter and ended up reading the news (aloud) on national radio — go figure.

Now, unfortunately, reading seems to be a matter of time.

It gets shunted to the bottom of my long list of things to do.

I open a book when I get into bed but am usually asleep with it on my face after about three pages.

Surely the quality of our minds should be taking higher priority?

Many success advisers say that reading is key to getting ahead: “Leaders are readers” and other nauseating catchphrases.

Here is the suggestion: that if we read at least one hour per day in our chosen field, this translates into approximately one book per week.

That totals about fifty books over the next year.

They say in three years you’ll be an expert on the subject, in five years, an authority.

One can see how even half this level of personal investment could give us a competitive edge.

Especially compared to nearly a quarter of American adults, who have not read a single book in the past year, according to a Pew Research Center report.

If reading does make us smarter, what does that say?

If you happen to be looking for a next great read, I highly recommend, “tiny beautiful things, Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar” (Vintage, 2012).

Written by best-seller Cheryl Strayed, it is a collection of advice columns that she wrote under the pseudonym Sugar.

I read an excerpt of this book and dropped everything to run to the bookstore to buy it. I grew up with my mother clipping Ann Landers from the newspaper. This is nothing like that.

Strayed answers letters from a divorced single dad, a woman struggling with the loss of a parent, another of a child, a young gay man being condemned by his religious parents, a professional on the verge of bankruptcy with a painkiller habit, the list goes on.

But to each she offers, not simply advice, but a piece of her soul it seems. And her answers speak to all of us.

Drawing from her own experience, in the most eloquent yet straight-talking way, the author invites her readers to open to our vulnerability, to do the hard job of forgiving, to own our crap, to celebrate our glories, to acknowledge our dark corners, to be brave and to reach for our highest selves.

It is powerful stuff. I have been on the verge of tears several times, and am only half way through.

It is the kind of book that makes me feel I should just give up writing. Written with such honesty and compassion and beautifully literary, subject matter aside it is still worth a read.

A coach’s job isn’t to give advice … but this is the kind of advice I would want to be able to give if I did.

I wanted to share this great find with you. And remind anyone, like me, who perhaps hasn’t made reading a priority of late, of the joy of finding a comfortable spot and diving into a book.

I was so pleased to hear about the newly launched Read Write national literacy campaign.

This initiative speaks to fundamentals so important to individuals and our community.

I will certainly be calling up to volunteer my time. We can be inspired, educated and motivated every day through reading.

Let’s harness dear time, and make the most of ourselves.

Julia Pitt is a trained Success Coach and certified NLP practitioner on the team at Benedict Associates. For further information contact Julia on (441) 705-7488, www.juliapittcoaching.com.