The Book That Amir Khan Is Reading Right Now
Once a shy, young boy who was shunned by friends because of Tourette’s, Amir Khan is now a hometown martial arts hero.
Even though he found his confidence through martial arts, Khan still had to work extremely hard to overcome his introversion.
“I just kept to myself during school,” the Singaporean said about his youth. “Yes, I was able to get confident through Muay Thai, but I still had to keep working on myself to become who I am today.”
Although Khan received advice from his brother – an actor and fellow athlete – which helped with his ONE Championship media obligations, Khan felt more was needed before he could truly break out from his shell.
This breakthrough came from an unlikely source, a book called How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
Despite its status as a timeless classic on interpersonal communication, Khan was never much of an avid reader, and as a result, he found the book underwhelming the first time he read it.
“To be honest, someone recommended it to me a while back and I read the whole thing really fast,” he said. “I didn’t get much out of it.”
Over the years, the man who’s tied for most knockouts inside the Circle upped his reading habits and started to fall in love with the self-help genre.
Convinced that reading could help elevate his performances, Khan invested in books on mental mastery, motivation, and visualization.
Only recently has he found the time to revisit this once-forgotten title.
“I guess sometimes when you just read too fast, you forget about it after a few months,” Khan said. “And now with everything closed, I have started to read it again since I have more time on my hands.”
The book is a great resource for anybody who wants to socialize better and make the most out of otherwise awkward interactions.
Khan found learning easier with Carnegie’s textbook-style approach.
“I’m currently pursuing my part-time degree in sports science with PSB, so I guess as a student, I already have that mindset tuned to learning,” he said. “I was able to pick a few things up from re-reading this again.”
Although he has adjusted better to his newfound fame as one of the most exciting martial artists in Asia, Khan always finds new ways to improve himself.
Now that he has become increasingly active on social media, Khan wants to connect and share his knowledge of fitness and nutrition with fans.
“I feel like the book touches on the familiar subject of communication,” he said. “Naturally, I am an introvert, which means my communication skills aren’t always the best.”
“Now that I am gaining knowledge from my studies, my next step is to learn from this book and form the habits that will make me better at communicating.”
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