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Are business/self-help books a waste of time?

Kevin88660

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So today I was looking at my bookshelf with over 80+ books on it, and was thinking to what I've learnt from it and I look at it and think I haven't really accomplished anything from all this reading. Sometimes I think because these books are not tailored to your situation they won't help you, thus pointless reading them. What was your guys opinion on it?
My experience is that the more you read the higher chance that you will find something useful to you.

Sometimes it is not even books it is podcast of business people talking about their past experience.

No matter what concepts you have learnt there is no escape in picking an industry and grind for the next 5-10 years. The only thing you have a lot of control is to compound your own “growth” in that game. Once you stop expecting that one concept or book can elevate your business result overnight you can treat books as what they are supposed to be.
 
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bartzawada

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Funnily enough I heard today in the morning someone’s saying that ‘you get kind of dopamine rush when you learn something new, hence you tend to fall into a trap of reading, re-reading and then reading some more without doing anything’

Witt that said, I cannot consider reading business or self-help books a waste of time. In fact, they made me who I am today, and I’m incredibly thankful for that. Does it mean that I’ve actioned every single one of them? I wish! It took me about 8 years and 3 x reading of TMJ to finally act. And frankly I consider that to be THE best book on the subject and sort of ‘treasure map’. You just have to follow and you eventually get there.

I believe that @MJ DeMarco said on many occasions that reading/watching/whatever is most or only useful when you’re doing that to solve real problem you or someone else may have. Reading can solve you a problem or be just a funny, feel-good exercise for your brain. You choose.
 

LiveEntrepreneur

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Funnily enough I heard today in the morning someone’s saying that ‘you get kind of dopamine rush when you learn something new, hence you tend to fall into a trap of reading, re-reading and then reading some more without doing anything’

Witt that said, I cannot consider reading business or self-help books a waste of time. In fact, they made me who I am today, and I’m incredibly thankful for that. Does it mean that I’ve actioned every single one of them? I wish! It took me about 8 years and 3 x reading of TMJ to finally act. And frankly I consider that to be THE best book on the subject and sort of ‘treasure map’. You just have to follow and you eventually get there.

I believe that @MJ DeMarco said on many occasions that reading/watching/whatever is most or only useful when you’re doing that to solve real problem you or someone else may have. Reading can solve you a problem or be just a funny, feel-good exercise for your brain. You choose.
I think that is what it is! The dopamine rush. What was your why to reading these books? I get the feeling I'll quickly quit if my "why" is weak.
 

bartzawada

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I think that is what it is! The dopamine rush. What was your why to reading these books? I get the feeling I'll quickly quit if my "why" is weak.

My 'why' was very simple, yet very appealing - 'oh! that one more book is what I need to START my business'.

You have to DO stuff.

If you just read without doing anything with the information you get then you just serving yourself dopamine. It's simple as that.

Put books aside and go and do something with that. Then, whenever you face problem there's definitely a book or a blog post that will help you solve it.
 
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NVious

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It's no coincidence that the richest and most powerful people are fastidious readers, Musk, Buffet, Gates and Bezos are all book worms.

The average person reads like 3-4 books a year, whereas the average millionaire reads 40 minutes a day which is about a book per week.

Using those two data points as a baseline, it''s pretty obvious it's not a "waste of time." Actually, we see a positive correlation between reading and wealth creation.

Waste of time is also relative, waste of time relative to what? I mean what other activities can actually multiply your time, energy, money and opportunity cost evaluation?

We can break this down even further, what is life? Or perhaps, we can ask, how does one lead a good life? Decisions and where do decisions come from? Logic, and where does our logic come from? Mental models and where do they come from? Either from what someone said, from what someone wrote or from our own mistakes.

So the easiest and best way to learn is to read so as to learn what the greatest minds of all time learned and recorded for us to learn from. "Don't try and figure it all out yourself, no one is that smart"-Charlie Munger.
 

Benedict

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I think if you combine reading with a specific problem its GOLD. Its like having mentors on your side helping you solving the problem and move ahead.

Like MJ wrote in his GOLD Thread

It's no coincidence that the richest and most powerful people are fastidious readers, Musk, Buffet, Gates and Bezos are all book worms.

The average person reads like 3-4 books a year, whereas the average millionaire reads 40 minutes a day which is about a book per week.

Using those two data points as a baseline, it''s pretty obvious it's not a "waste of time." Actually, we see a positive correlation between reading and wealth creation.

Waste of time is also relative, waste of time relative to what? I mean what other activities can actually multiply your time, energy, money and opportunity cost evaluation?

We can break this down even further, what is life? Or perhaps, we can ask, how does one lead a good life? Decisions and where do decisions come from? Logic, and where does our logic come from? Mental models and where do they come from? Either from what someone said, from what someone wrote or from our own mistakes.

So the easiest and best way to learn is to read so as to learn what the greatest minds of all time learned and recorded for us to learn from. "Don't try and figure it all out yourself, no one is that smart"-Charlie Munger.

And by the way... How fast can you read? :wideyed: 40 Minutes a day = one book a week? I stopped yesterday and it takes me 2,7minutes to read one page. I have to say, its written in english wich is not my mother language and while reading I had to digest a lot of the information and re-read some phrases. Guess I need to speed up a little. With my pace I have 40*7/2,7 = 100 pages per week....
 

NVious

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I think if you combine reading with a specific problem its GOLD. Its like having mentors on your side helping you solving the problem and move ahead.

Like MJ wrote in his GOLD Thread



And by the way... How fast can you read? :wideyed: 40 Minutes a day = one book a week? I stopped yesterday and it takes me 2,7minutes to read one page. I have to say, its written in english wich is not my mother language and while reading I had to digest a lot of the information and re-read some phrases. Guess I need to speed up a little. With my pace I have 40*7/2,7 = 100 pages per week....

Average native reader reads at around 200-250 words per page.

It depends on what you're reading though, average non-fiction book is like 40-50k words, whereas fiction can be 80k+, obviously a massive difference.

But yeah, I've learned reading in other languages and when you're still learning, it's definitely rough, so just stick with it!
 
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PapaGang

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So today I was looking at my bookshelf with over 80+ books on it, and was thinking to what I've learnt from it and I look at it and think I haven't really accomplished anything from all this reading. Sometimes I think because these books are not tailored to your situation they won't help you, thus pointless reading them. What was your guys opinion on it?
My library documents my progress from a lost loser to someone who has a firm direction, is making money, and is doing things that are in alignment with my values and my goals as a person. There is no way I would be here without my library.

Warren Buffet still puts in hours every week reading.

But I'm sure there are others on the forum who don't read and are killing it.
 

PapaGang

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I'm the other extreme. I'm up over 1,200.

I whole-heartedly believe the knowledge I gained help put me where I am today -- and the knowledge I gain next will help put me where I want to be tomorrow.

Reading books compresses decades into days.

If someone spent their whole life trying to figure out how to do something (build a business, write copy, get in shape, etc.) and they can explain that entire experience in a book? It's cutting years off my learning curve.

But I also read for enjoyment, too -- even if it is a business book. I love to learn.
Agreed 100%.

How can anyone succeed without being curious, then seeking out ways to absorb someone else's knowledge & experience and learn? This is how anyone becomes useful in the world.
 

PapaGang

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We have a to book or not to book thread once every three weeks on a forum that most of us found through a book. Life is stranger than fiction. :rofl:
I started noticing this. :rofl:
 
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WJK

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Agreed 100%.

How can anyone succeed without being curious, then seeking out ways to absorb someone else's knowledge & experience and learn? This is how anyone becomes useful in the world.
I agree. Why re-invent the wheel when you can obtain that knowledge from other people? I read, listen and ask questions all the time. Sometimes I'll get a "snatch" of information from one person or source that I can put together with something else -- all to come up with something new.

I believe that genius is taking ordinary elements and putting them together in a new way. And we're in a rich moment. Anyone can publish a book, a blog, an article, or a video today. The old gatekeepers, AKA publishers, are pushed aside. We're only limited by our time and attention to take in the avalanche of information.

It's wonderful. I listen to my audiobooks while doing chores, driving, exercising or my bookkeeping. My emails are full of new ideas and links. I Google my random questions for a whole range of answers. I have given myself permission to just absorb the information. I don't have to act on it. Not every idea I turn over is relevant to my current day-to-day needs. That's OK. I don't hoard physical things -- just ideas and information...
 

James Klymus

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I can understand how you feel. I have 150+ books and dozens of audio books I've collected over the years. I'll be honest, part of this is action faking. It feels like you accomplished something when you buy a book, even if you don't read it.

Another part of it is I like to read sometimes when I have free time. I just like to learn. I think you should stick to reading books that pertain to your current situation, or that help you learn things you'll need to know for future projects.

There are some self help books on my book shelves, but you have to be careful of getting addicted to self help. Again, it's action faking, you learn all these things and you never apply them.
 

Jonathan Hoch

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I guess bottom line is my "WHY" isn't strong enough. Just curious on what some peoples "why" is to get some ideas. Maybe make my own.


I've read and listened to more than 60 business books over the past year. Every one of them is based on my own personal desire for a SPECIFIC type of information. And they're all wildly different, if you randomly pick two from the list.

To resonate with the others before me: books are not going to do anything for you unless you put them into action. With that logic, you should be seeking books that can help you immediately affect a weak point of your business plans.

As a copywriter looking to hone my skills, I did a bit of reading in the fiction writers world, seeking out books to help describe scenes and emotions. Why? Because this knowledge can be immediately translated into describing the current pain points of potential consumers, and describing a better future to imagine. With this skill, I'm able to subconsciously play mental pictures in potential consumers, to help them avoid pain or seek pleasure.

Recently I've gotten sick of using bloated plugins with wordpress that over-complicate shit and always seem to break mobile viewing for reasons unknown. So I've been devouring books on HTML5 and CSS3 to help me avoid having to use these plugins. My recent sites are loading faster than I could ever imagine. Fastest so far is 223ms as recorded by gtmetrix!

The point is, without a direction, you can read an entire library and not get anywhere. Otherwise, if you are looking for specific knowledge, there is no better way to boil down a decade of experience (I love that analogy!)

Even @MJ DeMarco talked about just RECITING his book for audible took almost a year to complete, while it takes us just a few hours to consume.

A book I recommend to everyone, "fanatical prospecting." A book about setting emotional excuses aside and ... prospecting your a$$ off to keep your sales flowing, while doing it in a systematic way that helps to avoid emotions getting in your way.

On the opposite spectrum one book I don't recommend, "the prosperous coach." While it was narrated wonderful due to the soothing and gentle voices of the coach/author, the advice was pure and total garbage. I won't go into it because I don't feeling like ripping it apart again. Buuuut.... one of the biggest red flags, was the stance AGAINST advertising. "If you want to be successful you need to be exclusive and out of reach to most." Okay, noted. I'll keep that idea with the book: in the trash.
 
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David Fitz

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Did anyone see Bill Gates on Netflix?

He reads about 10 books a week and I mean these are fat books, about 500 pages.

He's one of the richest men that ever lived. So yeah I think reading is really important.

I read a lot of biographies. All the great people from the past were big readers.

Readers are leaders, that's what Jim Rohn used to say.
 

broswoodwork

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Did anyone see Bill Gates on Netflix?

He reads about 10 books a week and I mean these are fat books, about 500 pages.

He's one of the richest men that ever lived. So yeah I think reading is really important.

I read a lot of biographies. All the great people from the past were big readers.

Readers are leaders, that's what Jim Rohn used to say.
I love reading. It's actually my passion, and I have a list of to-read's a mile long from all over the world.

Actual question: how many books per week or day was Bill reading when he and Paul approached Altair about buying their BASIC compiler that they hadn't even started working on yet?

Is there any data on that? If he was reading 10/week back then, while street hustling bleeding edge technology, he is truly remarkable even beyond what we all know about him.
 

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So today I was looking at my bookshelf with over 80+ books on it, and was thinking to what I've learnt from it and I look at it and think I haven't really accomplished anything from all this reading. Sometimes I think because these books are not tailored to your situation they won't help you, thus pointless reading them. What was your guys opinion on it?
You have to apply what you learn. Strive to write down 1-5 points from each book that you can implement right away so that these lessons become habits. Also try to re-read books and you'll find that certain things jump out at you that didn't sink in first time round. Either that or your situation has evolved and now something else pops out at you that helps you route forward.

Its no good reading for the sake of reading, or trying to devour as much information as possible. Look for the key learnings in each book and apply them right away. Allow others to blaze the trail first and show you what to/not do. Not everything is applicable to your unique situation, but there are certain principles that apply almost universally - look for these.

Luck = preparation + opportunity
 
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David Fitz

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I love reading. It's actually my passion, and I have a list of to-read's a mile long from all over the world.

Actual question: how many books per week or day was Bill reading when he and Paul approached Altair about buying their BASIC compiler that they hadn't even started working on yet?

Is there any data on that? If he was reading 10/week back then, while street hustling bleeding edge technology, he is truly remarkable even beyond what we all know about him.

I was thinking that myself. I've read that Bill could work for hours on end, have a quick nap and get back to work again for hours. He was so focused. So I doubt he was reading a lot when Microsoft was starting up.

Warren Buffet is also supposed to spend most of his day reading.

I like reading myself. I hardly watch TV so reading is much better for me.
 

Ismail941

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Man, you are wrong on so many levels. Life is more than just motivation and facing difficult decisions (even though books can help with both of those). And it has nothing to do with 'positive BS about how everyone can be an entrepreneur'. It's about education - and yes, experience is one of the best sources of education, but don't be so quick to say that books can't change who a person is or what their actions are. It's just wrong. Just because they haven't done anything for you or you have nothing to learn from books (which would be a lie), it doesn't mean that books are as meaningless as you paint them to be.

It's sad to see negative comments about books/education on a forum or community that would cease to exist without.... you guessed it - a book.

Thank you Daniel M, like your view on this. Reading books can be very positive and productive, if you choose wisely and are really interested in aplieng it in the real life. As a experienced reader you learn to pick books that are really helping.
In the beginning i did read everything with the word millonaire on the cover, but in time i really searched more specifick books with things I was really interested in and things i want to learn. Forums like this can help with this search.
And ofcourse without books like Fastlane en unscripted i never found this forum ;).
 
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GoodluckChuck

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I have over 100 books on my shelf and of ally belongings, they are my most treasured. I've read 20% of them cover to cover, some multiple times. 50% or so I have skimmed and spent time pondering the words on the pages. It's like hanging out with the author.

The other ones sit and wait for the day where I pull them off the shelf and blow the dust off to see what's inside.

A lot of business and self help books are very similar. That's great! Part of learning is repetition so I don't mind reading the same ideas over and over because each author has a different spin and I get to think about things in a new way.

Recently I have developed a system for getting more out of my reading. It's a brand new idea that's never been done. Just kidding, it's flash cards.

There's a sweet app called Anki that is open source and perfect for taking notes. Since recalling information is how your store it in long term memory, I make flashcards for the ideas I want to remember and review them until I have them memorized.

I also use a technique called a memory palace to organize visualizations and mentally walk through them daily so I can spend time with these thoughts in mind.

My biggest issue with not only books, but life in general is that life moves so fast that I don't spend adequate time with new ideas before they are replaced with newer ones only to be forgotten. I think this is the issue OP is noticing.

The cure is to spend more time with ideas you think are worthwhile. If you consume half as many books but get 1000% more use out of the ones you do read ... Well, that's what I'm after.

Books have helped me change the person I am down to the core, and it only took a couple years. I wouldn't trade that for any TV show or seminar.
 

Andy Black

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Primeperiwinkle

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There's a sweet app called Anki that is open source and perfect for taking notes. Since recalling information is how your store it in long term memory, I make flashcards for the ideas I want to remember and review them until I have them memorized.

I also use a technique called a memory palace to organize visualizations and mentally walk through them daily so I can spend time with these thoughts in mind.

Learning how to effectively utilize the above two techniques is worth the price of at least 79 books. Js.
 

Antiseed

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Here's my thing , I don't even why why I want to read them. When I first started, I was looking for business books and accidently discovered the 7 habits of highly effective people and liked the genre and told my self "I'm doing it to improve myself" but with time I got over it and like alot of things I didn't see the point in it anymore.

Even these days sometimes I get excited to start reading again, then ask myself "why?" I can never come up with an answer.

MJ's term "action-faking" fits here. It makes you feel busy and "productive" while you're actually moving no closer to your life goals. If what you're reading isn't measurably moving you closer to your goals, you don't need it -- at that point it's just entertainment. If you're asking "why?", maybe that's a clear indication that you need to spend that time executing what you already learned instead of entertaining yourself with more.
 

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If I gave 10 people a detailed map to a hidden treasure, ONLY ONE would go use it, follow it, and start digging. The other 9 would let the map sit on their desk, only later to ask, "was reading this map a waste of time?" Hence why most of the world will never start a business, never quit their job, never succeed, never lose weight, never accomplish a dream, never do x, and never do y.

Human nature is to do nothing and to seek the comforting path of least resistance.
What a great way to put it. Knowledge without action is a like a race car without fuel. I don’t take notes because I consume 90% of my books through audio while trucking, but when a book completely changes my beliefs I have to do some sort of action to align with my new knowledge and beliefs. For me this installs a software update in myself until I have enough new valuable information. I find this helps me to retain the most important content.
 
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2 cents from a commute audiobook king:

If you find time where you have menial tasks, or you're doing something that requires structured labor you can do mindlessly... why not listen to e-books? Driving, cooking, laundry, bathroom... the opportunities are endless. Just make sure you're devoting enough time to resources that further your mission towards your system/goal first.

Seriously, there is no better thing to do than to fill yourself with information to set you up for later success if you're having serious downtime in the moment.

Another good tactic is to murder your youtube/netflix/videogame habits and switch to reading and purposed learning. Killing distractions pays off in dividends, and can be the jet fuel some people need.

Godspeed, don't read 100+ books in a year like I did because it's pretty dumb when courses on udemy are 9.99$ and teach you real world skills ($$$)
 

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