Reading Habits, suggestions?

[Olimac21]

So I was wondering what are your reading habits?

In the past I absorbed as much information as possible from books, but now I am becoming selective and even want to have a restriction of maximum books I should read during the year, focusing on application of whatever I am reading and thinking about the ideas I just got from them.

Is anyone trying a similar approach? In order to avoid over information-action faking.

 

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

[Andy Black]

So I was wondering what are your reading habits?

In the past I absorbed as much information as possible from books, but now I am becoming selective and even want to have a restriction of maximum books I should read during the year, focusing on application of whatever I am reading and thinking about the ideas I just got from them.

Is anyone trying a similar approach? In order to avoid over information-action faking.

Yes. I’m selective of the input I allow. There’s enough going on in my brain that I need quiet and space to figure things out myself.

I read, listen, and watch stuff regularly, but normally to solve a specific problem in front of me.

I will listen to a book on audible every now and then, but if it bores me or isn’t resonating then I just drop it.

Remember that the market doesn’t pay for input.

Maybe check out this thread:

• NOTABLE! - What if you already know enough?

 

[Champion]

30 Minutes in the morning, before facing the rush of the day.

Ideally, I would actually prefer to read at night. In reality however, I always end up being too tired and not able to focus on any reading, so I just end up falling asleep.

If you are VERY BUSY executing, then its also ok to not read at all for a couple of months (in my opinion atleast).

Best

 

[Olimac21]

Yes. I’m selective of the input I allow. There’s enough going on in my brain that I need quiet and space to figure things out myself.

I read, listen, and watch stuff regularly, but normally to solve a specific problem in front of me.

I will listen to a book on audible every now and then, but if it bores me or isn’t resonating then I just drop it.

Remember that the market doesn’t pay for input.

Maybe check out this thread:

• NOTABLE! - What if you already know enough?

"Remember that the market doesn´t pay for input" That is a really good truthbomb thanks for sharing your thoughts Andy!

 

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

[Olimac21]

30 Minutes in the morning, before facing the rush of the day.

Ideally, I would actually prefer to read at night. In reality however, I always end up being too tired and not able to focus on any reading, so I just end up falling asleep.

If you are VERY BUSY executing, then its also ok to not read at all for a couple of months (in my opinion atleast).

Best

I have thought about that too, do not feel guilty of not reading if I am busy executing.

 

[mindfulimmortal]

Yes. I’m selective of the input I allow. There’s enough going on in my brain that I need quiet and space to figure things out myself.

I read, listen, and watch stuff regularly, but normally to solve a specific problem in front of me.

I will listen to a book on audible every now and then, but if it bores me or isn’t resonating then I just drop it.

Remember that the market doesn’t pay for input.

Maybe check out this thread:

• NOTABLE! - What if you already know enough?

Andy the post you made in the thread "What if you already know enough?" is now in my holy grail book of wisdom! Although I thought my "attention to detail" and wanting to produce a near perfect service or product has been one of my strong points I am now realizing that sometimes it was and is my biggest weakness. I am an IT Director at a defense contractor and always take pride in quality over quantity. Finding the best value stream, the most efficiency, the most bang for the buck. Your story about the lad who goes door to door to get lawns to mow hit home as a "lad" myself that is exactly what I did - and it worked! Looking back you are 100% correct in that I lost that edge to take action and adjust accordingly from many years of scripted consumption! As I now want to move from the IT Director Employee to a self employed business creator the "must learn more" mindset is what has been holding me back. Holy cow Batman this is worth the price of admission in itself! Thank-you Andy Black and Olimac21 for posting this!!! Will either one of you be at the Fastlane Summit? I owe you a personal thank-you and coffee or drink at the least! Cheers

 

[Olimac21]

Andy the post you made in the thread "What if you already know enough?" is now in my holy grail book of wisdom! Although I thought my "attention to detail" and wanting to produce a near perfect service or product has been one of my strong points I am now realizing that sometimes it was and is my biggest weakness. I am an IT Director at a defense contractor and always take pride in quality over quantity. Finding the best value stream, the most efficiency, the most bang for the buck. Your story about the lad who goes door to door to get lawns to mow hit home as a "lad" myself that is exactly what I did - and it worked! Looking back you are 100% correct in that I lost that edge to take action and adjust accordingly from many years of scripted consumption! As I now want to move from the IT Director Employee to a self employed business creator the "must learn more" mindset is what has been holding me back. Holy cow Batman this is worth the price of admission in itself! Thank-you Andy Black and Olimac21 for posting this!!! Will either one of you be at the Fastlane Summit? I owe you a personal thank-you and coffee or drink at the least! Cheers

I am glad you liked it, unfortunately I will not be able to attend the summit.

 

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

[Andy Black]

Andy the post you made in the thread "What if you already know enough?" is now in my holy grail book of wisdom! Although I thought my "attention to detail" and wanting to produce a near perfect service or product has been one of my strong points I am now realizing that sometimes it was and is my biggest weakness. I am an IT Director at a defense contractor and always take pride in quality over quantity. Finding the best value stream, the most efficiency, the most bang for the buck. Your story about the lad who goes door to door to get lawns to mow hit home as a "lad" myself that is exactly what I did - and it worked! Looking back you are 100% correct in that I lost that edge to take action and adjust accordingly from many years of scripted consumption! As I now want to move from the IT Director Employee to a self employed business creator the "must learn more" mindset is what has been holding me back. Holy cow Batman this is worth the price of admission in itself! Thank-you Andy Black and Olimac21 for posting this!!! Will either one of you be at the Fastlane Summit? I owe you a personal thank-you and coffee or drink at the least! Cheers

I’m a sucker for a chat over a coffee, but your writeup means more than you know. Glad it helped you get unstuck.

 

[Andy Black]

"Remember that the market doesn´t pay for input" That is a really good truthbomb thanks for sharing your thoughts Andy!

That’s not my line but it sure resonated when I heard it.

“The market doesn’t pay for input.” (Blaise Brosnan)

Here’s anothet from Blaise that is related:

“You can’t invoice for activity.”

 

[Nice_home]

So I was wondering what are your reading habits?

In the past I absorbed as much information as possible from books, but now I am becoming selective and even want to have a restriction of maximum books I should read during the year, focusing on application of whatever I am reading and thinking about the ideas I just got from them.

Is anyone trying a similar approach? In order to avoid over information-action faking.

These days I am really into reading as, actually through this forum (and other resources), I came to see and realize how powerful studying other people's successes can be when it comes to business growth. Plus, library books are free.

Here are a few very recent thoughts that are helping me:

1) What if you could read "better"? I finished a speed reading book I'd had on my shelf which promised to increase reading speed by 40x while increasing comprehension. With all the drills, etc that needed implementation during the book, it took me 7 months (!) to finish. That said, I actually increased reading speed by 50x (!) while yes, increasing comprehension. Now speed reading is a part of my skill set, and I plan to use this greatly in the weeks and months to come. I already have my next book on "speed reading" lined up - in hopes of continuously improving my own reading skills

2) Reading related to goals. I started a chain a while back and numerous really, really helpful replies came in, about whether reading is really the #1 habit of wealthy people. My summary of that chain was like this:
*Goals
*Reading (related to goals)
*Thinking (related to goals)
*Action (related to goals)
These (and in this order) are the keys to new and fresh results. So far this is helping me greatly to attack priorities in exciting ways.

3) So far (aside from speed reading) I have been reading about 10 books per year. Let's say I have 30 years ahead of me of useful reading life. That means I can only read 300 books in my whole life!!! If you knew you could only read a max of 300 books in your whole life, how would you choose those books? Out of the millions of books on the market? Hence why "reading material related to your goals" is such a powerful and important concept.

Hope these thoughts somehow help you!

 

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

[GoodluckChuck]

• 10 pages per day.
• Finish all books I start. (Makes me more selective)
• Will read a lot to solve a specific problem

I try to maintain the habit of reading every day hence the 10 pages. I typically have 5+ books going.

 

[Dan_Cardone]

Mon - Fri I do 30 minutes a day. I would do more if I wasn't so busy and often will do more if im working on improving a particiular skill set.

On Saturday ill read for two hours first thing in the morning and then on Sunday ill spend the first two hours transcribing my book highlights into notes.

I get through 1-2 books a week.

 

[GoodluckChuck]

Mon - Fri I do 30 minutes a day. I would do more if I wasn't so busy and often will do more if im working on improving a particiular skill set.

On Saturday ill read for two hours first thing in the morning and then on Sunday ill spend the first two hours transcribing my book highlights into notes.

I get through 1-2 books a week.

That's interesting that you transcribe highlights. Can you elaborate on this process and the benefits you've noticed? Do you always do this?

 

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

[Dan_Cardone]

That's interesting that you transcribe highlights. Can you elaborate on this process and the benefits you've noticed? Do you always do this?

Just faster than writing or typing them out and my retention seems to be the same.

As im reading a kindle book I highlight tye main points and any other info I want to keep. At the end I put on my bluetooth microphone, open up a document, start windows dictation, and summarize the highlights in my own words.

 

[Ethan S]

Generally I finish 1-3 books a week depending on the size..

But I don't read them cover to cover! What I do is speed reading a Mind Mapping.

Here is the basic process that I find cuts back my reading time but makes it much more effective.
(Each book takes 3-5 hours max but it's also training my thinking).

1. Only read books that relate to topics I'm interested in.
- Quick tip here is not to ask for recommendations from just anyone.
- Reach out to people who you admire and would change lives with and ask them for 3 books.
- Follow up w/ them to discuss those books afterwards to keep you motivated to read them.
*Scripted people who read one book a year will tell you every book was their favourite.. Most of them suck.

2. Whenever I pick up a new book I immediately start a Mind Map of the book.
- This again increases motivation but it also gets my mind thinking about the contents of the book.
- What do I want to learn? Why am I reading this? What do I expect from the book?

3. Read the intro and conclusion and study the table of contents.
- This is the 80/20 principle at work.. Most of the info is in these 3 places.
- Most people skip the table of contents.. That's like starting a journey without a map.
- Read deeply into the conclusion.. Can you see how they got there without reading it?
- If you can.. Maybe it's not worth it! Unless you are interested in cementing beliefs.

4. Start my Mind Map w/ the first nodes being the chapters or topics I'm interested in.
- This might not be smart.. But I don't read every chapter in the book! On purpose.
- Imagine reading or listening to a book all the way through.. Your brain is in processing mode for 5+ hours. How is that going to be useful?
- So after every chapter that I read I stop reading and go back to Mind Mapping instead.

5. Finally when I read over the key points in the book I use the 4MAT learning model.
- This creates what Benedict Carey called 'Desirable Difficulty'
- Basically we are trying to take the authors information and directly apply it to ourselves..
- Something much more difficult than reading itself! This requires thinking and stimulates learning.

4MAT Learning Model
Why - Why is the information important?
What - Theoretical breakdown of the information.
How - Create a process I could use to implement it.
What If - Where else could this information be used?
Ps. This is great when used in any area of life not just reading. I believe copywriters use it too.

Here I will try to attach one of my Mind Maps and you guys can see what I mean. (Hope it works).


*This is the overall Mind Map (Gold ones are most important points IMO)


*This is a single node which encompasses authors points (why+what) and my own (how+what if)

 

[Dan_Cardone]

Generally I finish 1-3 books a week depending on the size..

But I don't read them cover to cover! What I do is speed reading a Mind Mapping.

Here is the basic process that I find cuts back my reading time but makes it much more effective.
(Each book takes 3-5 hours max but it's also training my thinking).

1. Only read books that relate to topics I'm interested in.
- Quick tip here is not to ask for recommendations from just anyone.
- Reach out to people who you admire and would change lives with and ask them for 3 books.
- Follow up w/ them to discuss those books afterwards to keep you motivated to read them.
*Scripted people who read one book a year will tell you every book was their favourite.. Most of them suck.

2. Whenever I pick up a new book I immediately start a Mind Map of the book.
- This again increases motivation but it also gets my mind thinking about the contents of the book.
- What do I want to learn? Why am I reading this? What do I expect from the book?

3. Read the intro and conclusion and study the table of contents.
- This is the 80/20 principle at work.. Most of the info is in these 3 places.
- Most people skip the table of contents.. That's like starting a journey without a map.
- Read deeply into the conclusion.. Can you see how they got there without reading it?
- If you can.. Maybe it's not worth it! Unless you are interested in cementing beliefs.

4. Start my Mind Map w/ the first nodes being the chapters or topics I'm interested in.
- This might not be smart.. But I don't read every chapter in the book! On purpose.
- Imagine reading or listening to a book all the way through.. Your brain is in processing mode for 5+ hours. How is that going to be useful?
- So after every chapter that I read I stop reading and go back to Mind Mapping instead.

5. Finally when I read over the key points in the book I use the 4MAT learning model.
- This creates what Benedict Carey called 'Desirable Difficulty'
- Basically we are trying to take the authors information and directly apply it to ourselves..
- Something much more difficult than reading itself! This requires thinking and stimulates learning.

4MAT Learning Model
Why - Why is the information important?
What - Theoretical breakdown of the information.
How - Create a process I could use to implement it.
What If - Where else could this information be used?
Ps. This is great when used in any area of life not just reading. I believe copywriters use it too.

Here I will try to attach one of my Mind Maps and you guys can see what I mean. (Hope it works).

View attachment 28022
*This is the overall Mind Map (Gold ones are most important points IMO)
View attachment 28023

*This is a single node which encompasses authors points (why+what) and my own (how+what if)

Id love to see you start your own thread and expand on this.

 

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

[Ethan S]

Id love to see you start your own thread and expand on this.

Really? Okay I will! What specifically do you think I could expand on?

 

[GoodluckChuck]

Really? Okay I will! What specifically do you think I could expand on?

You might tell the story of how this method came to be and lessons you learned after practicing it.

More examples of your mind maps might be interesting to see and provide an inside look to some books that others may find interesting.

 

[Champion]

I have thought about that too, do not feel guilty of not reading if I am busy executing.

Yeah man! The world is full of people who read, read and read more. However, never executing on anything.

Be the one that executes on what you know. If you really face a problem you cant solve, grab a book, learn information, then go and execute to solve it!

 

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

[pmaloneus]

Just start reading one page and go from there.

 

[Itzemp3]

Audible is my favorite way to "read". You can do it pretty much on the way to work, on the subway and even slot in some time whilst on the treadmill. Generally, this listening/reading helps me get through 3 books a month.

Then, there's a great way to read faster by learning to speed read. I found some great advice in Tim Ferris' book and blog here. This helps to get through a few books a month as well.

And then there are great tools that summarise the main points of a book for you like the Blinkist app.

Of course, you should be selective in your approach. And niche down on your focus area at present in your business.

Yet, sometimes the most interesting insights come to me from non-business books. My recent favorite has been Sapiens by Yuval Harari.

And you should also keep a hit list of books, on your phone notes app. Then, scratch each title off as you complete it for a hit of dopamine to help you keep reading

 

[BrunoRastablasta]

Read books which help you think better, not just to solve problems in front of you.
Yes, books about business are amazing and you should definitely read them, but their purpose is to fix short-term problems.

Read books who don't "promise to teach" you anything, but which give you a fundamentally different approach to life, breed new ideas in your mind and help you think better about life in general.

Example of books like that:

- Incerto book series by Nassim Taleb
- Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
- A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck etc.

So read books to fix the problems of here and now, but also read books which help you become a better human being

My2Cents

 

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

[WJK]

So I was wondering what are your reading habits?

In the past I absorbed as much information as possible from books, but now I am becoming selective and even want to have a restriction of maximum books I should read during the year, focusing on application of whatever I am reading and thinking about the ideas I just got from them.

Is anyone trying a similar approach? In order to avoid over information-action faking.

I hate to be stupid, but what is "over information-action faking"?

I read and listen to books and podcasts all the time. I get interested in one subject and then get tired of it. NEXT. I find something else that's interesting. At times, I tend to be a serial reader or listener. Sometimes I'm solving a problem in a particular area. Then I worry about the application of that information. Most of the time, I simply listen to or read anything that catches my fancy. I find that free association in my mind makes for the most interesting bedfellows. Ideas fit together that I had never associated together before. I have wonderful aha moments. It's all part of the creative process.

 

[BellaPippin]

I hate to be stupid, but what is "over information-action faking"?

First of all you are not stupid, second, I'll give you two examples

At one point I had read so many entrepreneurship books they were all the same. That gave me the cue there was nothing new to learn, I had to act on it (and when reading, pick a different subject)

Another example: Binge watching painting demos giving me the fake perception that I am practicing or getting anywhere when I should be ACTUALLY painting, not watching someone paint only. If I only do that at the end of the day I didn't really get better at painting. I have to paint.

 

[WJK]

First of all you are not stupid, second, I'll give you two examples

At one point I had read so many entrepreneurship books they were all the same. That gave me the cue there was nothing new to learn, I had to act on it (and when reading, pick a different subject)

Another example: Binge watching painting demos giving me the fake perception that I am practicing or getting anywhere when I should be ACTUALLY painting, not watching someone paint only. If I only do that at the end of the day I didn't really get better at painting. I have to paint.

Yes, humans are herd animals -- moving and thinking in unison. And the great truths are pretty elegantly simple when you figure them out. But, they sure look complicated when you are on the outside looking in...
Thanks.

 

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