So far in this series of blog posts, I’ve covered, “5 Things You Never Knew about Reading Books”, “How I Came to Teach Professionals How to Read Selectively to Accelerate Their Business”, and “5 Common Reading Mistakes You Don’t Realize You’re Making.” Today, I turn my attention to “Before And After You Learn How to Read Selectively” to show you the impact this way of reading can have on your business and career.
Before You Learn How to Read Selectively
Common Reasons Why You Don’t Achieve Your Reading Goals
Reading more books is a top New Year’s resolution. However, many never seem to achieve that goal. The top three reasons professionals tell me why they don’t achieve their reading goals are:
- Lack of time.
- Cannot focus.
- Don’t remember what they read.
I know how frustrating it can be when you don’t achieve goals that are important to you. In this instance, it really isn’t your fault because no one taught you how to read as an adult. The way you read as a child no longer serves you as you grow older. In an age where everything moves at warp speed, there are too many distractions standing in the way of professionals, making it difficult to invest the time to read a book sequentially. And frankly, it’s unnecessary to do so. [Please read 5 Things You Never Knew about Reading Books if you haven’t done so yet]
The Situation
With so many things competing for your time every day, you find you only have pockets of time to spare. Does the following sound like you?
- The books on your nightstand are toppling over because you don't have time to read them.
- When you attend conferences or other events, you purchase professional books you never have the time to read.
- You have an even longer list of books that are sitting right now in the ‘someday’ pile.
Additionally, you could have even attempted to read books in your to-read pile, but abandoned them because you simply couldn’t focus. For some reason, you always seem to get lost in a sea of information that’s irrelevant to you and your business. So you think to yourself, “Why bother?”
The Impact of Not Reading Books on Your Business
Not being able to read the right books limits your access to new ways of thinking and new approaches to solving old problems! It’s also important to consume “brainful” media every day.
Have you read?
Non-Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future by Rohit Bhargava
Feeling Guilty
You may think you’re alone, but you’re not. It’s time to stop blaming yourself because you didn’t achieve your reading goals. I explained what I was doing to a friend – the concept of selective reading – and she called it guilt-free reading. And you know what, it made a lot of sense to me.
People would feel bad if they didn’t read the entire book. I mentioned in a previous post in the series that it took me a while to adopt selective reading because I felt guilty that the author had invested so much time to write a book in the first place. Therefore, I owed it to him or her to read the book in its entirety. After experiencing the impact of reading selectively, I opened the door and asked guilt to leave my home.
After You Learn How to Read Selectively
The SolutionBusiness Knowledge Accelerator
The friend I mentioned previously, introduced me to her business partner. And after a series of discussions, I delivered a Knowledge Accelerator program to their clients. In the program, participants selected seven out of the 12 books I’d chosen for them to read. The program ran for 21 days and course participants read a book every three days. They were introduced to selective reading as a part of the training.
I was confident that the process would work. It had worked for me, and it had worked for people who participated in my Digest 30 Books in 30 Days program. The Knowledge Accelerator program went one step further though. It wasn’t simply about reading only the important sections of a book. Participants developed the habit of picking out the big ideas from the books that they read.
They also combined the ideas, making them bigger and better. And they tested the elevated ideas on projects they were working on. They were synthesizing the information from the books they read. What happened is that Knowledge Accelerator participants were able to shave hours off their reading time. I emphasized the importance of treating nonfiction books as problem solving tools. You have a problem, you dip into books to find the answers you need.
They got it. Now they could read books in the pockets of time they had during the day. Because they were reading only the sections that were relevant to them, they never lost focus. And the act of taking note of the important information caused them to remember more of what they read.
With the feedback from participants, I was able to evolve the program, making it even better.
Before And After You Learn How to Read Selectively: What The Program Is Not
Selective reading is not about speed reading, it's more about you as a busy business owner/entrepreneur receiving valuable information to grow your business aligned with your purpose and values in the shortest time possible.
Learn How to Read Selectively: Next Step in the Journey
You have this business and you want to add more value to your clients, and maximize the effort you put into it. There are so many shortcuts available in books and you already own some of them, but never have the time to read them. I will teach you a process where you can put a dent in your reading list in a short time.
I can help you to read those books in a short amount of time. So that you can start implementing the ideas to change your business and take it to where it needs to be. I also created the Business Knowledge Accelerator program where I choose the books and you decide which 10 to read. I get asked all the time for book recommendations since I often choose books off the beaten path.
I help busy entrepreneurs and business owners like yourself to gather the maximum amount of knowledge that you need in a very short time. So you can solve your most pressing issues and urgent problems.
To do that though, requires a change in definition of what it means to read a book. I teach you how selective reading, as opposed to sequential reading. And you get the opportunity to synthesize the information from the books you read.
What are you waiting for? Join the Business Knowledge Accelerator Program today!
