Get Mentors, If You Want to Learn New Skills in 2016!
January is National Mentoring Month, so mentors and mentorship is on my mind. But the mentors that I am thinking about are of the book kind. Most of my readers know by now that I am hosting a Read the World Challenge. Yes, we are reading books by authors born in countries other than our own, but a big part of the Challenge is to read books that will enable us to perform more effectively at our jobs. My thinking is that, by the end of 52 weeks, participants will be perform the job more effectively. Let the right books act as your mentors, teaching you new skills in 2016.
Related Posts
Mentoring: How to Mentor Yourself (when you want to learn something)
A lot of thought went into creating the Read the World Challenge, and I created the elements, so that we will read broadly and read diverse books. Although I created the reading challenge, I am taking it very seriously. At the end of 52 weeks, I expect to be at a different level in my life – a much higher one. There are certain things that I am failing at, and I am using books to mentor me. I have mentioned a few times that for the time investment in social media, I am not getting a great Return on my Investment. Since many people are doing much better than I am, I believe that there are many things that I am not doing correctly, so I set out on a journey to change things. Change happens over time, so I am taking my time to understand the basics of social media on which I can build.
How to Use Books as Mentors
I want to understand virality – how ideas spread – because my posts and ideas do not go viral, ever. Take for instance my post to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day, I got 13 shares, yet on Success.com, You Know ‘I Have a Dream.’ Here are 10 MLK Quotes You May Not Know, they got over 650 retweets and 24,000 likes on Facebook. See the big difference? They are much bigger than I am, but I still have a lot of work to do. And the funny thing is that they used some the same quotes that I did.
To understand virality, I read books about how ideas spread, but I also read complementary books because I want to understand the full picture. Some of the books on virality included models that I plan to test, and that’s why I took such detailed notes. Two of the complementary books include a book on writing and the other provided information that demonstrates how to write articles that will make Google view you as an authority on the subject matter. For books to become mentors, you have to apply what you learn.
I have typed up my handwritten notes and have them in a binder. I am now slowly going through the process of reading through my notes carefully, extracting the big ideas. Then I will use models that I updated – Monthly Reading Matrix – to cross-pollinate ideas. After going through the process, I will be able to start applying what I learn, to write better posts and status updates. Will my ideas go viral? There is no guarantee that they will go viral, but the difference is that I now have a process to follow to develop authority.
How to Get the Most from the Books You Read
Now that I provided a personal case study, let’s focus on you, so that you can use books as mentors to improve your situation at work. In a dynamic world, what are some of the skills that you have to acquire, as well as update to perform at peak? Spend some time reflecting on this question before you write down your responses. After deciding, find the top five books on the topic, and these are not necessarily the books that are bestsellers. If you need help figuring out what the top books are, ask a librarian, friends and colleagues, or ask the question on social media. Most people genuinely want to be helpful.
When you have secured the top five books, you can either read them the way I did, in great detail. Or you can read them in relation to each other. I read the books on virality in great detail because I knew nothing on the topic, and I wanted to grasp the most important concepts. Only you can decide what’s best for you. For each book that you read, take detailed notes, and when you are reviewing your notes, identify the five big idea from each book. When you have read all the five books on the topic, and extracted the five big ideas from each book, start combining ideas from different books to cross-pollinate ideas. Going through this process will help you to make the information yours. And you never know what hybrid ideas you will generate. It takes one big idea that will transform your life for the better.
The next step in the process is to start using the information. Apply the idea in the workplace – use the information to help you evolve and elevate your role. There is truth to the adage that if you don’t use then you’ll lose it. Additionally, teach the skill to another person because you will be building goodwill.
Further Reading
