The Heartache
In my previous post, “5 Things You Never Knew about Reading Books,” you picked up some tips on why you may not be achieving your reading goals. And changes you can make in how you read a book. Today, you might be interested in learning how I came to teach professionals how to read selectively, and accelerate their business in the process. Every time I share my story, the other person would say, “thank you for telling me that.”
And I’m always blown away by the response.
My life changed in October 2012 when I heard that my mother had died unexpectedly from a heart attack. My heart shattered into a million pieces. A mother and daughter have a unique bond. And now this bond with my mother was suddenly broken — without any warning. To heal my broken heart, I realized that I needed to do something that I loved.
The Solution
That activity is reading. I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn’t enjoy reading. In fact, when I was in high school, I used my allowance to buy books and magazines. So to heal my broken heart, I created the Virtual Literary World Tour. I know, I know that’s more than a mouthful. What was I thinking?
Anyway, I decided that I’d visit 30 countries via the books I read. And I’d used where the author was born as a metric for the country visited. In the end, using that metric, I visited 29 countries and read 80 books. Evaluating the situation, I visited more countries than the 29 recorded because in several instances, the author was born in one country but had lived in several. And the stories were set in those countries, so I got a taste of what life was like in more than 30 countries.
The Discovery: How I Came to Teach Professionals How to Read Selectively
Anyway, the point is that I recognized the benefits of reading the world and reading diversely. I learned to be more culturally aware. But I also discovered something along the way while reading nonfiction books. I kept on experiencing déjà vu. Haven’t I read this before, haven’t I read this before? It was a frustrating experience and I realized there had to be a better way. Who wants to keep on reading the same information over and over again. The text in these books was like a broken record that kept on playing the same part of the song over and over.
Think back to the last 10 nonfiction books you read, and let’s be honest here. Looking back, how many of those books deserved your investment of time to read them cover-to-cover?
Having a Purpose and Previewing a Book Before You Read It
I’m thinking none of them deserved that level of time commitment. It took a couple of years for me to discover the solution. I immersed myself in reading books on reading, learning, and memory. I kept on reading about the importance of having a purpose for reading every book, as well as the importance of previewing a nonfiction book before you read it, to determine which sections of the book to read and focus on.
Something started to click for me. I researched strategic and selective reading on Google. And much to my delight, I discovered there was such a thing. It was now time to read differently and change the definition of what it means to read a book. I recognized that the most successful people, most, not all, read strategically and not sequentially.
The Barrier to My Solution
I’d love to say it was smooth sailing after that, but it wasn’t. The barrier? I kept on thinking about how many hours an author invested in writing the book. And that it would be a disservice to him or her not to read the book cover-to-cover. I also felt it would be disrespectful not to read all of a book. So, I kept on reading books the old way cover-to-cover.
Quite frankly, one day, life became too busy. And I had to make a change in the way I read. I didn’t have the luxury of reading nonfiction books in their entirety. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t give up my favorite pastime because reading gives me such pleasure.
Finally, the Change
I intentionally changed my definition of what it means to read a book. I started applying the 80/20 Rule to Reading. If you read 20 percent of the book, it was possible to understand 80 percent of the text. However, you had to read the right 20 percent. And I was able to do that by having a purpose for reading, and previewing the book first. That was an “aha” moment for me.
For every book I wanted to read, I started to write down my one-sentence purpose for reading it. As an information researcher in a previous life, I recognized the importance of always asking the right questions. Many times, when you decide to read a nonfiction book, you have questions you want the book to answer. I formulated the questions I wanted each book to answer. Then I would read the Preface, Foreword, and Introduction, then review the Table of Contents to determine which chapters and sections of a book to read.
Along the way, I discovered that most of the time, you could find the main idea of the book in the Introduction. Going through this process allowed me to distinguish between essential and nonessential information in a book.
Although I was only reading chapters and sections of a nonfiction book, I was still getting exactly what I needed from it. I continued using this process, evolving it. At the same time I included sections of the process in the reading challenges I hosted. Additionally, I started to mention the process to friends, and they tried the process and started saving time reading books. Some of them were saving hours off the time it took them to read a nonfiction book, especially a business one.
One Small Thing
For years, I’ve been offering reading challenges as a leadership development tool to professionals. Although selective reading was an aspect of the program, it was never emphasized. It was now time to flip the switch, and let participants learn how they could easily read a book a week by reading selectively. The selective reading process should take place before they start reading any of the books.
I realized that senior level executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs could benefit from this just in time learning. Reading only the sections of books that enabled them to solve urgent problems and pressing issues.
More Than Selective Reading
In my quest to streamline the selective reading method, I came across a model called the Haystack Method created by Rohit Bhargava. The author created the model to curate trends. But I noticed that the process could also be used to read books in such a way that they could see what others missed. That was the point of Bhargava’s model, to identify trends in the accelerating present. And to do so you’d pick out ideas in all the raw materials you consumed.
This process would work when reading books I thought, since you’d be picking out the big ideas from the books you read. In one step in the Haystack Method, you combined the ideas to make them bigger and better. I knew this process could work, so I tested it on myself. And it worked beautifully, so I taught the process in a paid program I offer. And the senior level executives, business owners, and entrepreneurs in the program loved the process. It worked for them, shaving hours off their reading time. And they started to read a lot more books.
Based on feedback from course participants, I’ve evolved the process again. Today I teach professionals not only how to read selectively, but also how to make ideas bigger and better to creatively solve their urgent problems and pressing issues. I tell them that a nonfiction book is a problem solving tool.
Conclusion: How I Came to Teach Professionals How to Read Selectively
When I explain what I do to others, they totally get it. But I didn’t want to stop there. I wanted to take things a step further, so clients could synthesize the information from the various books they read. And I have done that. Going through this involved process is how I came to teach professionals how to read selectively to get what they need to accelerate their business. And they learned how to synthesize the information from the various books to creatively solve their own problems.
As a business owner or entrepreneur, is this something you could use? If yes, why don’t you join the Business Knowledge Accelerator program and learn how to shave hours off your reading time, as well find the answers to any problem you encounter. The program is a blend of selective reading and business development.
Although the Business Knowledge Accelerator is a self-directed program, you get emails reminding you to read. This is something my clients tell me they value. I’ll also be hosting office hours, so you can ask me questions. I’m here to serve you. Get the Business Knowledge Accelerator program today!
By the way, are you interested in writing articles on platforms like LinkedIn, Forbes, and Quartz to build your personal brand? Reading and synthesizing the text from the books you read will give you unique insights to share. Let me help you!
