Maybe you’re not a leader, or don’t want to work on your leadership skills. You’re more interested in developing a more practical ability—like web design or accounting. The great thing is, reading can help you develop in nearly any aspect of career development.

Reading is perhaps the most cost effective method of gaining new professional skills and learning new sets of information. Buying a book or two (or borrowing one from the library) is significantly cheaper (and takes less time) than taking a college course, attending a conference, or hiring a coach.

Nonfiction books can help you learn better self-awareness, reading newspapers makes you more well informed, and reading online blogs can help you gain a number of other skills. It’s no coincidence that the people who take the time to read are often more successful.

Of course, there are also resources like ReadItFor.Me—a website that summarizes popular leadership books, so that you get the important lessons of these books without taking the time to read them yourself. While that’s better than not learning at all, you’re also missing out on the enjoyment of experiencing professional growth for yourself.