Do you really need to read 52 books this year? And other media consumption.

[Formless]

I F*cking hate meetups/networking events. At least the ones I've been to.

Everyone's trying to be something. Everyone's talking 'business'. Exchanging cards. Pretending to give a F*ck.

not a word about value to customers.

Maybe I go to the wrong meetups.

 

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[jesseissorude]

I disagree with your premise that reading a book a week is analysis by paralysis. Most books are 250-350 pages. If you read 1.5 pages per minute, that's 200 minutes to get through a 300 page book. Over 7 days, that comes out to 28.5 minutes per day. Spending about half an hour reading every day, even if it's 50 Shades of Grey, is not inhibiting your success. That's like watching 1 episode of TV per day.

This. I set a goal to read 69 books this year 1) because it's hilarious and 2) because it's totally doable. I just read an hour before bed (fiction) and an hour in the morning with my tea (non-fiction).

If you can't tell, I like norse sagas

It's absolutely nothing because I don't watch any TV and I sold my Xbox so I could read more. (C u at da crossroads, homie.)

 

[jesseissorude]

I F*cking hate meetups/networking events. At least the ones I've been to.

Everyone's trying to be something. Everyone's talking 'business'. Exchanging cards. Pretending to give a F*ck.

not a word about value to customers.

Maybe I go to the wrong meetups.

I totally agree with this. I used to go to meetups because I really believe in the "you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with" thing.

However, it was pretty clear that those meetups were for people who were "playing entrepreneur." I can't judge, at least they are trying (sorta), but that type of mindset is a trap I can't fall into.

 

[Charnell]

I totally agree with this. I used to go to meetups because I really believe in the "you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with" thing.

However, it was pretty clear that those meetups were for people who were "playing entrepreneur." I can't judge, at least they are trying (sorta), but that type of mindset is a trap I can't fall into.

I've only been to 1 meetup, more like a club, and I was the only one who had something going on. Everyone else was waiting for this that and the other, blah blah blah. They might have had side hustles going on, but I was the only one where my primary income was coming from someplace other than a 9-5.

They also weren't about bootstrapping, for whatever reason. Need to get that 40k loan first! No thanks...

 

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[jesseissorude]

I was the only one who had something going on.
...
They also weren't about bootstrapping, for whatever reason. Need to get that 40k loan first! No thanks...

Yup that was my experience too.

You mentioned you had gone to good meetups. How did you find them?

Edit: sorry not you, a different user... looking for the post now

 

[Charnell]

Yup that was my experience too.

You mentioned you had gone to good meetups. How did you find them?

Not so much a meetup as it is just a mastermind group that does weekly accountability calls.

My best friend growing up and now is a personal trainer, and the guy(Abdul) who put the group together works out at that gym. When I first got out of the Marines, I worked there about a month, then started doing online work. One day, Abdul kept noticing my friend looking at him so he went up and confronted him. My friend asked what he did for work and Abdul said he was doing internet work, so my friend told him about me. We got in touch and made a group with a few other people in it.

tl;dr my friend introduced an internet marketing veteran to me

The club I went to was at college, not really helpful. There was a guest speaker who opened her own wedding consulting B&M store. This was after I read TMF so the whole time I'm thinking "yeah you started your own business, but you essentially gave yourself a new job."

 

[jesseissorude]

My best friend growing up and now is a personal trainer, and the guy(Abdul) who put the group together works out at that gym. When I first got out of the Marines, I worked there about a month, then started doing online work. One day, Abdul kept noticing my friend looking at him so he went up and confronted him. My friend asked what he did for work and Abdul said he was doing internet work, so my friend told him about me. We got in touch and made a group with a few other people in it.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. I'm in a 2 person weekly "mastermind" but trying to make sure we add quality people.

 

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[Formless]

Today I went into the audience for a pitching competition, my friend was trying to get a bit of funding for his venture. People were pitching their ideas and this organisation would give £ to the best concept. Huge ideas, capital intensive, big dreams. 'Do what you love.'

My friend's business won. (Read, I said 'business'. Not 'idea'. He found a need. He actually went in and put in sweat equity instead of powerpoint presentations and F*cking 'projection graphs' that point upwards despite having no root in collected data.)

To sway the odds in my friend's favor, I grilled all the other candidates during the Q&A.

Legitimate questions about customers, competition, why anyone would go with them, what value they are offering, that's all I asked.

And they were looking at me like public enemy no.1. Not once did I get a better answer than 'well, but we're really passionate...'

Shortly after I got a call from a guy in the Entrepreneur society asking me to run (read: start it up for him) his business for a month while he goes back to his country to mend some family issues. The business is like this:

1) Restaurants pay him money
2) He advertises these restaurants to students in universities
3) The students get discounts
4) Students win by getting good food, cheaper - Restaurants win by getting more customers. Sounds good, right?

So I ask him 'how are you going to get through to these students?' And he basically says something along the lines of 'I'll hand out leaflets and shit etc etc, besides, it doesn't matter, even if I don't get a lot of customers into their restaurants, who cares, I get money. It's not like £100 p/m is a lot to a restaurant anyway.'

I declined the 'opportunity.'

 

[jesseissorude]

'well, but we're really passionate...'

I remember being that guy.

 

[Determined2012]

Peter Voogd actually has a good podcast on reading books. His thought is it is better to read one book over and over and master what you have read and be able to apply it to move yourself forward and toward your goals, than to (aim) to read X amount of books in X amount of time. I do agree with this, because LOGICALLY that makes SENSE to me.

However, I have discovered that I LIKE to read, and not only that, I LIKE the feeling of completing a book from beginning to end and learning something new...Therefore I am continuously reading, and looking for new books to read.

I think it is better to read (daily) than watch hours of reality TV or sports every day. Even self help books can be entertaining (at least to me). I have successfully conditioned myself and created a habit inside of myself to CHOOSE reading over watching TV/YouTube 9 times out of 10. Sometimes I will want to watch a YouTube video, but then I see that it will require me to sit and watch it for 15 minutes and I get antsy, thinking, I can use that time working on my goals, opposed to wasting it watching (yet another) makeup tutorial! (So embarrassing! Don't judge! )

I think when a person is trying to develop a new mindset and a new way of living (lifestyle) entrepreneur all of these seemingly pointless things to people who already made it/ succeeded are the make or break habits needed and necessary to sustain and endure the pursuit.

What else could I, should I be doing (aside from working on building my business) besides read?! Nothing else sans working out seems as helpful or productive to the long term goal (succeeding as an entrepreneur).

Something else that I struggle with: Can you or should you have balance in your life starting out on the path of entrepreneurship? Or does obsessive focus have to trump all in order for it to succeed? Ties in to the "why does everyone want to get there so fast"....Answer: So we can have MORE TIME to enjoy financial freedom, ie. while we are young, full of life, and still look good in swim wear!

Does balance = unwilling to sacrifice? Does balance= allowing/having (instant) gratification?

If it wasn't for reading books I don't think that I would have HALF of the assuredness in myself that I do now. Reading books (depending on what you read... I rarely read fiction, I love autobiographies and personal development stuff...) reinforces and validates thoughts you might have and can serve as a guide for what and how you can solve problems you have, and get to higher levels more effieciently and effectively than had you not read the book(s)...I am a person who likes to be prepared and reading gives me that confidence that when I am ready to act on something at least it won't be some willy nilly, impulsive thing I do.

There is a ton of value in reading, hence why no one will ever be able to read every book ever written, because the content is infinite.

The only harm I see in reading, is the same harm I see in watching TV... You aimlessly do it, spending hours and hours on it, and it doesn't do anything to improve your lot in life. Most people read to better themselves or be entertained. Reading to better yourself/ learn something is never a wast of time to me.


I rather my kids read than watch TV, play video games, or play outside...But thats just me.

 

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[aardvarky]

I guess it's all about finding a balance and remembering that too much of a good thing is not so great. Like water can hydrate or drown and fire can warm or burn and reading can entertain/teach as well as serve as a distraction - everything can be a double-edged sword.

I agree with the OP. Absorbing too much information - and there is just soooooo much information - leaves me feeling really mentally constipated. If I didn't go through occasional info detox periods, I think I'd go mad. That being said, having good stuff to read (and re-read) when I can really use some help/inspiration/a nod in the right direction, is a MUST. Just tricky sometimes to maintain the balance

 

[Lex DeVille]

Reading some of the top books helps a lot. After you get the fundamentals then take action and read books directly related to the action you're taking. For instance spend an hour in the morning reading about importing then look for items on alibaba later in the day. Learn as you go.

Thats what I do.

 

[Grinning-Jack]

Enough is as good as a feast. What's a final goal of that reading marathon - 50 books for a year?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Maybe I go to the wrong meetups.

Sounds like you are. When I used to go to "Chamber of Commerce" meetups it was nothing but a business card exchange orgy. No value. Just everyone trying to sell everyone, and all greenhorns who seem like they were told "You need to network" -- and so here you are, in a room full of people looking for their first sale.

During the Fastlane Summit not ONE PERSON was selling something - it was a complete value exchange. @Travis Phipps even offered his book for FREE.

Can you or should you have balance in your life starting out on the path of entrepreneurship? Or does obsessive focus have to trump all in order for it to succeed?

I don't believe so. IMO, you must swing, like a pendulum, from balance, to imbalance. Moderation = Middle. Middle = Mediocrity.

 

[H. Palmer]

Reading books can serve you or not serve you.
Watching youtube video's can serve you or not serve you.
Playing strategy games can serve you or not serve you.
Going to meetups can serve you or not serve you.

There are people that smoke marihuana and up to a certain point it seems to serve them because it frees their mind (or so they say), but after that point it becomes an addiction and it brings them down.

I guess everything you do can serve you or not serve you.
With books as with anything else, the questions are:

. does the act bring you closer to a goal that you have set for yourself?
. does it accelerate the speed at which you are going towards that goal?

The best thing to do when considering any activity is to ask yourself what purpose does it have in your life.
If you don't know, then the first thing you'd do is draw up a list with goals that you want to accomplish.
And the rest follows from that.

 

[Marc B.]

I read nonfiction daily, and most of my book learning is related to business and engineering; I have an engineering background, so I like to keep it fresh.

I read books to find solutions or learn skills, so my reading is often reactive for a problem that I'm having at the moment. The goal is to comprehend the material and apply it as soon and as effectively as possible. It's a lot like searching "how to [blank]" in Google, but at length. I hope that makes sense.

I have nothing against voracious readers, especially those reading entrepreneurship books, but reading alone doesn't pay the bills.

 

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[Charmander]

Reading books can serve you or not serve you.
Watching youtube video's can serve you or not serve you.
Playing strategy games can serve you or not serve you.
Going to meetups can serve you or not serve you.

Agreed,

MINI GUIDE ON HOW TO SAVE UP TO 50% OF YOUR TIME on YouTube :
Now I know some people might know this allready (even I knew it-and have forgotten, but only recently somebody reminded me of this again...) and sorry if it is here on the forum allready:

Step 1:Click the little gear icon(settings) on the bottom right side of the video

Step 2:Select Speed - 1,5x to 2x...

This way - a long 30 minute lecture (video) is going to take only 15 minutes of your time =)

More importantly - it just shows (when you are watching those vids at these speeds), that some people, when they are speaking, are a HUGE WASTE OF TIME! They don´t speak about anything! They just pick a topic - on which everybody will agree on (that´s why his vids got so much likes), but people will only like it/agree on it, because it doesn´t really bring any new revolutionary information(in my opinion...).

I wish real-life school could be 2x-ed like these vids... So we wouldn´t have to waste the time there, Lol...

 

[MidLifeStallion]

I'm in a mastermind group and one guy brought up how one of his goals this year was to read a book a week. Not just any book, but business related, money motivation, entrepreneurship books.

What the hell?

Honestly, how many books can you read before the same information gets rehashed in a different way? I'm all for reading, but when you put a number on it that high it's almost a self induced paralysis by analysis. Granted he's been doing this business thing for years and has been making constant moves always higher than the last, but still.

I love to read non-fiction, but not when I force it. If I need to learn how to do X, I'll read it til I understand it. I'm not going to force myself to read another leadership book or other inane topic.

Another thing...

How many times do I need to hear how so and so would spend $500 in an alternate world similar to earth? I pretty much quit listening to all podcasts in my free time, mostly because they ended up being more entertaining to listen to than work. When I was working 40 hours a week moving box A across the room to slot A it was nice motivation and helped pass the time. When I'm driving from city 1 to city 2 it makes sense.

When I'm trying to get work done? No thanks.

BRB, going to go sit in classes. Luckily I have 2 and a half months left before I can sell all my stuff, hop in my car with as much as it can hold, and drive to the Southwest. Forget this cold and I hear Vegas has incredibly low cost of living...

 

[MidLifeStallion]

I can see everyone's point on this one. A LOT of books, out there, are just rehashes of last years books. Think and Grow Rich has been rewritten 1,000,000 times. It's only occasionally that you come across something unique and helpful like Millionaire Fastlane . With that said, I'm reading thru about 30 books a year. Not so much, motivational or self help anymore, but technical or career specific. I'm working on establishing a real estate portfolio that is my fastlane vehicle. All I read is geared toward expanding my knowledge in that field. I'm sure Steve Jobs wasn't ever sitting around, in the early years, reading autobiographies on successful people. He was reading everything on computers he could get his hands on. Like MJ says, do something EVERY DAY that helps you get closer to your goal. I see reading 20 pages from a book that is about the subject of your vehicle is ONE of the things you can do that can ONLY HELP in your endeavor.

 

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[splok]

One thing that sometimes gets missed is that there are lots of different kinds of people, and not all advice applies equally.

If the thought of reading 50 books this year sounds impossible, terrifying or even boring, then you should probably do it.
If it sounds easy or like you'd enjoy it, then you should probably put the book down and get to work.

Of course, both of those situations assumes that you're reading books relevant to your business or self-improvement. I know people that love fiction or historical non-fiction, but in most cases things are basically entertainment... better than TV maybe, but probably not going to change your life.

There's a pretty quick point of diminishing returns when reading about any topic, but hitting that point might be incredibly valuable to you, especially if you're not someone who reads as a habit. It's also worth considering that going beyond the point of diminishing returns is what separates experts from other people. You may not need to be an expert in any given topic to do what you want to do, but then, maybe it would help in ways that aren't obvious yet. I know that the way I think has been fundamentally changed by some of the things that I've read, but I also know that it's time to stop reading and start doing.

For example, I can't imagine (in almost any field) anyone reading, Gladwell, Ariely, and Taleb's books without having a pretty profound shift in your thinking process. Most of us have been exposed to many of the highlights through blog posts and presentations (like TED talks, my BnP presentation last year, or MJ's this year), but those typically only give a very superficial covering of the topic. Reading the books that inspired those posts and presentations will take you from a vague awareness of a concept to an understanding of it.

And if you really want a deep dive into a specific concept, check the sources that the book cites (often academic papers) and read those as well. You know how people say stuff like "a study shows..."? Well, you can often google up the source study and find out what exactly the researcher did to produce those results, and a LOT of those times, you'll find that people who report on the results are taking things WAY out of context.

 

[Maka702]

Pssshhh..... Knowledge is Power man. I'll sit my happy a$$ down and read. Rather than watch my Wicked Tuna reruns or my new Law and Order Episode that is coming on. Sure some of them are rehashed but the ones that are not you’re going to get a lot more value, then slaving in front of a television. But I would never set a limit of how many books I'm forced to read. That doesn't seem like a good way to retain what you just read.

 

[Leo Hendrix]

When asked how to get smarter, Buffett once held up stacks of paper and said "read 500 pages like this every day. That's how knowledge builds up, like compound interest."

"No," says Warren. "We don't read other people's opinions. We want to get the facts, and then think."

Source: http://theweek.com/articles/460783/warren-buffett-formula-how-smarter

Not directly applicable but something can be drawn from it, although probably a better strategy for investing rather than Entrepreneurship.

 

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[Napoolion]

I put 52 books goal last year as well.
Fully read 30 of them and I guess you can mix up another 30 from the books I partly read and took the information I needed. However I think that much books to read might be too much, since you start to think if it gives you that much value. Sometimes reading book partly and taking the action is much more powerful than just reading.

This year I have went with other tactic. I only hand picked few important books out and I am reading them 10-12 times, so I will act on information naturally. Sure I still read other books, but only to get information I can put in use as fast as possible.

 

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

Reading will only take you so far - i did this for a while. Read read read. Eventually, you're going to realize simply reading isn't nearly enough to produce results.

You can read 52 books a year but if you never apply one you're wasting your time, and it takes a lot longer than a week to apply the actual principles from a book into your life. I'd say it takes more like a month to apply even ONE principle and make it a habit

 

[LeftofLucky]

Like everything else in life and business it's a matter of directing your energies toward the right thing at the right time.

Can 52 books in a year be valuable? Absolutely, if it's what your success demands of you but it can just as easily be an exercise in mental masturbation if your reading takes priority over what the Fastlane is asking you to do.

 

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[Ravens_Shadow]

It also really depends on your stage in business. For me personally, It is absolutely necessary for me to read, as I need knowledge to complete this particular part of my journey, and the knowledge comes rather easily from books. I've got about ~20 books i'm planning to read within the next few months. The most relevant books will be read first, and who knows, maybe the most important ones will tell me what I need to know.

There comes a time when you find out you need both knowledge and skill, and frankly, a book is a great way to learn both.

 

[DeletedUser394]

I read a book a day... because KNOWLEDGE.

j/k, the only words I read are on the the cheques and banknotes as they come in.

 

[Daniel A]

I place a very high value on the Kindle and Audible books that I have, but self-study courses would be much more useful to me right now. I definitely need to cut down on the reading, start going through the courses I have and implement what I learn / have learned more.

I get where you're coming from with your rant.

And I've also considering Las Vegas, haha. In time though...

 

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[obrian]

if you want to read 52 books a year well i am fine with that, but to make your brain become a big storage warehouse instead of a working factory that's where i have a problem.

 

[BellaPippin]

Honestly, how many books can you read before the same information gets rehashed in a different way? I'm all for reading, but when you put a number on it that high it's almost a self induced paralysis by analysis.

Amen to this. My problem right now. Not saying I won't read any more, but I think what my mind is trying to tell me is GET TO ACTION