I lost the purpose of reading books

[NIK4658]

I am completely aware and will never forget how books have seriously opened my eyes, taught me so much and changed my life.
I always think this, especially considering that I am still very young and everything I learn will have really high returns.

I haven't read many books, around 20-30, all read in just over a year, but all the ones I've read have truly changed me for the better.

Lately (magnitude of months) I have lost the purpose of reading.
I feel stuck and am no longer making progress with this previously daily habit because I don't know what to read.
My biggest fear is wasting time reading when I should just keep working and invest time in my business, or just use that time to relax and be with friends/family. At the same time I'm torn because I know that reading books to acquire new knowledge and see the world from another point of view is EXTREMELY important.

I know that I should also focus on books that can help me solve problems I have right now and I shouldn't read books completely at random.
Maybe I should just opt to reread books again that I know have helped me? Although this option doesn't convince me too much.

I am aware that there are many "I"s in this post, but I would like to be able to ask these questions to someone who I know can help me with this "problem".

Tell me your opinion, I would be truly grateful.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Black_Dragon43]

I am completely aware and will never forget how books have seriously opened my eyes, taught me so much and changed my life.
I always think this, especially considering that I am still very young and everything I learn will have really high returns.

I haven't read many books, around 20-30, all read in just over a year, but all the ones I've read have truly changed me for the better.

Lately (magnitude of months) I have lost the purpose of reading.
I feel stuck and am no longer making progress with this previously daily habit because I don't know what to read.
My biggest fear is wasting time reading when I should just keep working and invest time in my business, or just use that time to relax and be with friends/family. At the same time I'm torn because I know that reading books to acquire new knowledge and see the world from another point of view is EXTREMELY important.

I know that I should also focus on books that can help me solve problems I have right now and I shouldn't read books completely at random.
Maybe I should just opt to reread books again that I know have helped me? Although this option doesn't convince me too much.

I am aware that there are many "I"s in this post, but I would like to be able to ask these questions to someone who I know can help me with this "problem".

Tell me your opinion, I would be truly grateful.

I sympathize, I struggle to read nowadays. But unlike you, I’ve read thousands of books, I’m like a walking library. Starry eyed entrepreneurs name books and I struggle to come across one I haven’t read, UNLESS it was written in the last 4-5 years.

Most of the new books, btw, are shit. The old ones are much better.

 

[Jon822]

Reading books that don't solve problems immediately in front of you is an action fake. The beauty of reading what is needed is that it takes care of all of the "motivation" for you: when you have a problem that needs solving, you won't have any issue wanting to read the book that solves it so you can move on to the next one.

Save the entertainment or "just in case" reading for when your business is fully or mostly automated. This is how I would approach it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Put some problems in your life that need solutions.

Clearly you don't have any problems and your life is perfect.

Congrats.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[LiveEntrepreneur]

I am completely aware and will never forget how books have seriously opened my eyes, taught me so much and changed my life.
I always think this, especially considering that I am still very young and everything I learn will have really high returns.

I haven't read many books, around 20-30, all read in just over a year, but all the ones I've read have truly changed me for the better.

Lately (magnitude of months) I have lost the purpose of reading.
I feel stuck and am no longer making progress with this previously daily habit because I don't know what to read.
My biggest fear is wasting time reading when I should just keep working and invest time in my business, or just use that time to relax and be with friends/family. At the same time I'm torn because I know that reading books to acquire new knowledge and see the world from another point of view is EXTREMELY important.

I know that I should also focus on books that can help me solve problems I have right now and I shouldn't read books completely at random.
Maybe I should just opt to reread books again that I know have helped me? Although this option doesn't convince me too much.

I am aware that there are many "I"s in this post, but I would like to be able to ask these questions to someone who I know can help me with this "problem".

Tell me your opinion, I would be truly grateful.

Too be honest, I think most self-help books is just indulging in mental masturbation. It's all feel-good material that doesn't help solve any actual problems. Now sure when you're new, you might find some new ideas and it might seem revolutionary at the time but you've probably noticed the diminishing returns and they diminish quite quickly. Like @Jon822 said, it's about solving problems. A good example of this is a book like the power of habit that helps you break a habit or build a good one, that solves a specific problem.

People always say it's about the implementation and not so much the knowledge but I say to that, but what's there to implement? Books provide general information and a lot of it likely isn't applicable to your life, at least now right now. I think that's the reason on this forum people say it's hard to give advice because they don't know the ins and outs of our lives, which as time goes on has made much more sense to me.

Reading your post also, it sorta sounds like you have a fear of missing out and that if you don't read this next book you are potentially missing out on some important knowledge. I've definitely been there, and it's not true in my experience. The only knowledge you're missing out is real world experience and taking action.

 

[Hobrecht]

Learning to read is very important. Learning to learn. Ect. Ect.

 

[NIK4658]

Maybe my only problem is that I'm focusing on what books to read before focusing on what problem I need and want to solve..

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Johnny boy]

How has it changed your life?

You aren't allowed to use panzy a$$ emotional words like "feel" "see" "understand" "sympathize" "learned the importance of" "control" "emotional" "mindset" "shift" "perspective" "new" "connect".

Did you get in better shape, make more money, get a cuter girlfriend, or do more cool shit?

"No none of that, but I now see things completely differently. I connect with others and sympathize on a whole new level. I can control my mindset and have made a huge perspective shift. Things are totally different. I feel like a new person and understand so much more now!"

What's your business? How many hours do you spend on it each day? How much money do you make? How's your fitness? How's your dating life? You got money saved up? Did you retire your parents yet? Do you drive your dream car yet? Can we come visit your house on Lake Como?

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

How has it changed your life?

You aren't allowed to use panzy a$$ emotional words like "feel" "see" "understand" "sympathize" "learned the importance of" "control" "emotional" "mindset" "shift" "perspective" "new" "connect".

Did you get in better shape, make more money, get a cuter girlfriend, or do more cool shit?

"No none of that, but I now see things completely differently. I connect with others and sympathize on a whole new level. I can control my mindset and have made a huge perspective shift. Things are totally different. I feel like a new person and understand so much more now!"

What's your business? How many hours do you spend on it each day? How much money do you make? How's your fitness? How's your dating life? You got money saved up? Did you retire your parents yet? Do you drive your dream car yet? Can we come visit your house on Lake Como?

This is interesting, I know someone who I've known for a long time and they've been stuck in a rut for many years, and they recommend reading all these philosophy books and such and talk about how their mindset has changed but when I compare their life from today to the last 7 years, it's exactly the same, basically not an ounce of difference.

Maybe going too deep into this mindset stuff does more harm then good? At least if people are not taking action. That's part of the reason I stopped reading books, I realised after a couple of years I hadn't made any achievements and was deluding myself into thinking that I was progressing.

 

[Johnny boy]

This is interesting, I know someone who I've known for a long time and they've been stuck in a rut for many years, and they recommend reading all these philosophy books and such and talk about how their mindset has changed but when I compare their life from today to the last 7 years, it's exactly the same, basically not an ounce of difference.

Maybe going too deep into this mindset stuff does more harm then good? At least if people are not taking action. That's part of the reason I stopped reading books, I realised after a couple of years I hadn't made any achievements and was deluding myself into thinking that I was progressing.

It’s pretty simple, whatever your mind focuses on is what grows.

If you seek something concrete and objective and measurable then you will get it.

If your mind focuses on other things you will get those things.

“You become what you think about” is the great secret of life.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Plushy]

I've finally reached that point of diminishing returns too. I feel like the graduate and final lesson books have taught me is that you have to listen to the beat of your own drum. This... came from a book, the Low Self Esteem workbook. And guess what, literally it spells put

"You cannot build confidence any other way other than taking action on what you said you were going to do and listening to your own intuition, trying things and failing." (Paraphrase)

So the last lesson we learn from the self help maturation category of books is simply, you learn by doing. You gain confidence by doing. You cannot get that confidence or mindset shift by reading. Reading, I think, is for learning new skills, like marketing or programming.

I feel like the final author is you. You sit down and meditate and journal and start thinking and observing for yourself, and start learning from life, your action, your failures, rather than ONLY from other people's lives and failures. Books like to advertise themselves by convincing you and reinforcing the cycle that "just one more book" will teach you. That's why I think at least the low self esteem work book wasn't a scam, because it said stop reading and just do it. You cannot gain the motivation or confidence to do a thing in any way other than doing that thing. years of my own mental maturation has lead me to that conclusion.

I feel like I've reached a singularity of being able to predict every single gimmick and technique a book is going to use for changing your mindset or thinking positively, that I've had enough of this wild goose chase for the magical formula that will give me the confidence to start or to prevent failure. The magical formula is that it's going to suck and feel scary but the only way to get confidence is to take action, not read more. In fact reading more may contribute to insecurity and the idea and identity that you're not ready yet.

 

[NIK4658]

I don't know why I missed the notifications for this post, sorry for the late reply.

How has it changed your life?

When I say they changed my life, I mean they really changed my whole life, and especially its final direction.

Thanks to many of the books I have read, I have learned how to manage my thoughts, how to use a growth mindset, and how to see obstacles in my life as opportunities for growth and not as negative things,
And also because of this, I have actually made progress in life that some of which I couldn't even think was possible before.

These are just a few examples:

Right now I'm in the best shape I've ever been.
I have been training consistently in the gym for 2 years without NEVER missing A SINGLE WORKOUT.

At the beginning of my fitness journey I was skinny-fat and NEVER had a consistent, active period in my life.
This was one of the "worst" body types you can have before you started training, because you don't know if you should cut or bulk up.

I decided to bulk up in the winter and I gained more than 8kg in 4 months, a lot of which was fat, I was around 25-28% bf. I was in a very difficult position, because I didn't even know if I could ever achieve the goal I had set for the summer: to be fit and around 10% bf.

The only things that drove me were the end goal, the discipline I built during this time (while I was also reading books about it) and the love for myself that wanted to improve his life, and in this case be healthy and fit.

It took 6 months of constant deficit and cardio every single day, but during this time I managed to reach my goal, reaching 10% bf for the summer while losing 18kg of fat.
I discovered a new me, a goal that I never, ever thought I would be able to reach.
I realized what my body really looks like, and it was funny because I didn't even know what my abs looked like since I'd never been in a situation like this before.

This "little" journey changed my life forever, the emotions I felt during this period and the gratitude for myself knowing that I was able to do it ALONE, ONLY WITH MY KNOWLEDGE AND MY WILLPOWER, was incredible.

And THAT's just ONE thing I have to be thankful for. I don't know if I could handle all of this without having the right mindset and discipline that some books have helped me have.

Thanks to the change in mentality and also the transformation of my body, my dating life has changed drastically.
I've been in a super toxic relationship for over 2 years, we broke up right before I started my fitness journey (I've also used it as motivation during tough times). Because of this I entered one of the darkest and most depressive periods of my life that I could ever think of.

But right now, after more than 2 years, I have only been in a relationship with this girl for a few months and I have never been so happy in my life with a girl.
Only thanks to my improvements could I reach a high-quality woman like her.
I realized a lot of things during this relationship and realized how bad a lot of things about the past relationship were.

So yes, thanks to books I have also improved my love life a lot.

Thanks to some books, and also thanks to @MJ DeMarco's, I finally started a business I've been dreaming about for YEARS. I finally took action I'm also making a progress thread right here:
Building Products And Sell Them Via E-Commerce [Progress Thread]

It still won't be an established business with huge cash flow that could send me into retirement at a young age. But I've been working on it for almost a year and now more than ever I'm dedicating all my free time to it and I want this "project" to achieve a result that can make me live well in the future. Starting was one of the most difficult points, it is also thanks to the books that I was able to make a decision and start this adventure.

If it weren't for the change in mindset with some of the financial and personal development books I read, I would have continued walking directionless and probably fallen into the rat race for the rest of my life, like my parents wanted.

These are just some of the things I have managed to achieve thanks to reading books.

I don't want this post to pass as if I wanted to brag about the goals I have achieved in my life, I just wanted to basically tell you what I managed to achieve thanks also to the books I have read during my life.

This is also why I will never stop advising my friends and relatives to start reading books that can change their lives.
If with this post maybe I can also convince someone to start this habit it would be really wonderful.

That's why I'm so worried about my untapped potential since I haven't been reading books lately.

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

I've finally reached that point of diminishing returns too. I feel like the graduate and final lesson books have taught me is that you have to listen to the beat of your own drum. This... came from a book, the Low Self Esteem workbook. And guess what, literally it spells put

"You cannot build confidence any other way other than taking action on what you said you were going to do and listening to your own intuition, trying things and failing." (Paraphrase)

So the last lesson we learn from the self help maturation category of books is simply, you learn by doing. You gain confidence by doing. You cannot get that confidence or mindset shift by reading. Reading, I think, is for learning new skills, like marketing or programming.

I feel like the final author is you. You sit down and meditate and journal and start thinking and observing for yourself, and start learning from life, your action, your failures, rather than ONLY from other people's lives and failures. Books like to advertise themselves by convincing you and reinforcing the cycle that "just one more book" will teach you. That's why I think at least the low self esteem work book wasn't a scam, because it said stop reading and just do it. You cannot gain the motivation or confidence to do a thing in any way other than doing that thing. years of my own mental maturation has lead me to that conclusion.

I feel like I've reached a singularity of being able to predict every single gimmick and technique a book is going to use for changing your mindset or thinking positively, that I've had enough of this wild goose chase for the magical formula that will give me the confidence to start or to prevent failure. The magical formula is that it's going to suck and feel scary but the only way to get confidence is to take action, not read more. In fact reading more may contribute to insecurity and the idea and identity that you're not ready yet.

Great writeup mate, love the line "you gain confidence by doing. You cannot get that confidence or mindset shift by reading" I can definitely relate to this, and I think most people can.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

I'm so worried about my untapped potential since I haven't been reading books lately.

Who are you going to invoice for reading all those books?

NOTABLE! - What if you already know enough?

The most obvious danger of consuming too much is that it turns you into a consumer. A lot of that “free” (and paid) content out there is designed to turn you into someone else’s consumer. (And it’s not free btw... not unless you put zero value on the time it took to consume that “free”...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

NOTABLE! - MEETUPS - [TFLF Call Replay] - For teens & students getting started

Hi all. @Lawtiti (who changed his forum name to @Chet Shen) created a Meetup Thread a few days ago and had a Zoom call with @ZCP who gave advice on getting started etc. I offered to do a Zoom where I'll go through some of the main things I think holds people back when getting started, and how...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Keeton]

Reading books that don't solve problems immediately in front of you is an action fake. The beauty of reading what is needed is that it takes care of all of the "motivation" for you: when you have a problem that needs solving, you won't have any issue wanting to read the book that solves it so you can move on to the next one.

Save the entertainment or "just in case" reading for when your business is fully or mostly automated. This is how I would approach it.

I usually like to read 3 books at a time: a business book/autobiography/biography for entertainment, a business book to solve a problem I'm facing at the time, and then my scriptures. But I agree, if you're only going to read one book, it should be one that is helping you solve a current problem in your life or business.

 

[Martin-39]

I usually like to read 3 books at a time: a business book/autobiography/biography for entertainment, a business book to solve a problem I'm facing at the time, and then my scriptures. But I agree, if you're only going to read one book, it should be one that is helping you solve a current problem in your life or business.

I find it very difficult to read multiple books at a time. I try to keep it to just 1 or I get distracted and find it hard to keep multiples moving along.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kevin88660]

I am completely aware and will never forget how books have seriously opened my eyes, taught me so much and changed my life.
I always think this, especially considering that I am still very young and everything I learn will have really high returns.

I haven't read many books, around 20-30, all read in just over a year, but all the ones I've read have truly changed me for the better.

Lately (magnitude of months) I have lost the purpose of reading.
I feel stuck and am no longer making progress with this previously daily habit because I don't know what to read.
My biggest fear is wasting time reading when I should just keep working and invest time in my business, or just use that time to relax and be with friends/family. At the same time I'm torn because I know that reading books to acquire new knowledge and see the world from another point of view is EXTREMELY important.

I know that I should also focus on books that can help me solve problems I have right now and I shouldn't read books completely at random.
Maybe I should just opt to reread books again that I know have helped me? Although this option doesn't convince me too much.

I am aware that there are many "I"s in this post, but I would like to be able to ask these questions to someone who I know can help me with this "problem".

Tell me your opinion, I would be truly grateful.

There are just too much content online available that they compete with books for our limited attention.

We just changed from reading to searching youtube tutorials most of the time.

Keep learning. It doesn’t have to be books.

 

[Martin-39]

There are just too much content online available that they compete with books for our limited attention.

We just changed from reading to searching youtube tutorials most of the time.

Keep learning. It doesn’t have to be books.

There are some great learning resources on YouTube these days to be fair