5 Simple Tips To Learn Much More From The
Books You Read
If
there’s one habit that almost all high-performers share, it’s that they read
books. A lot of books. Books truly hold the power to accelerate your personal
growth and take your life to the next level. I have to admit, without the
business and self-help section of Amazon I wouldn’t be where I am today.
However,
there is something very important that most people get wrong when it comes to
reading. You see, it’s not really about how many books you
read, it’s about how you read them. It’s quality over
quantity.
The
truth is, most people read in a very ineffective way, without even realizing
it. They forget most of what they read and only retain a small part of the
valuable lessons that their books contain. Most people focus more on the number of
books instead of how much knowledge they actually retain and implement per
book they read. And that’s a shame, as they could get so much more out of a
book by applying just a few simple tips..
Tip 1: Highlight Important Sentences and Paragraphs
By
highlighting something, you tell your brain that it should pay attention to
that particular segment and therefore you tend to remember it better.
Personally, I highlight every single useful piece of advice that I come across.
This way, I’m forced to take a few seconds to really analyze the lesson or
piece of advice and let it fully sink in.
If
you just rush through the book without highlighting or giving yourself a break
to let the information sink in, you simply won’t remember a lot of what you’ve
read. You could as well be doing something different with your time.
Tip 2: Take Notes Of The Most Valuable Lessons
Besides
highlighting important sentences and paragraphs, I noticed that actually
writing down the most valuable lessons (in my own words) is one of the best
ways to memorize and internalize the information.
I
don’t just blindly copy the exact sentences as it’s written by the author.
Rather, I try to write it in my own words so that I really make sure I
understand the information and that I can relate it to my own personal
situation.
For
my note-taking process, I prefer to use SmartMarks as they’re easy to use and
you can conveniently put them between your book. This way you’ll never lose
your notes or forget to take them with you (which used to happen to me all
the time before I started using SmartMarks).
In
my opinion, taking notes and re-writing the most valuable lessons in your own
words is key in accelerating your personal growth. Yes, it may take some time,
but it’s definitely worth going the extra mile as you’ll retain a lot more
knowledge this way.
Tip 3: Summarize The Entire Book
Based
on the highlights and the notes that I gathered, I create a summary of the
book. I make sure this summary is crafted in such a way that I can easily link
the lessons to my own situation. Of course, I won’t summarize every single
chapter that I read, as that would be a waste of time. Instead, I base my
summary on the lessons and insights that I found to be highly important (aka,
the ones I highlighted and written down in my notes).
Yes,
this takes about an hour of extra work, but the time investment is well worth
it. Firstly, by making a summary of a book you retain much more of the
knowledge, as you go over the most important lessons once again. Secondly, by
making a summary you create an awesome tool that helps you access information
about a specific topic very quickly. For example, instead of flipping through
the entire book (which is often not even possible as I work remotely), I now
only have to open the book summary on Google Drive and search for the keywords
that I’m looking for. This way, I can easily gather information for when I’m
writing a new blogpost or book, or for when I need to solve a challenging
business problem. So, although it may take me about an hour to summarize the
entire book, I save much more time in the long run because of it.
Tip 4: Recap Every Chapter
After
reading a chapter, don’t just quickly rush to the next chapter or put the book
away. Instead, take anywhere from 1–5 minutes to recap the chapter (in your
mind) you just read. This way, you’ll make sure you process the information
much more effectively. If you go to the next chapter too quickly — or if you pick up another
activity right after reading a chapter, it’s very likely that you won’t remember
a lot about what you’ve just learned. Your brain needs a little while to put
all the information in the right place, and taking just a few minutes to recap
the last chapter will help you do so.
Tip 5: Take Action On The Material
This
is by far the most important tip that I can give you when it comes to learning
more and accelerating your personal growth as fast as possible. It truly
surprises me how many people just read a book and then never take action on it
(or only just a tiny bit).
Though
I must admit, that’s also what I did at the beginning of my personal
development journey. I read many books about anything from success habits to
building an online business, and I would feel amazing because of all this
‘knowledge’ I had gained. Yet, in reality, I was still broke and I didn’t
achieve any of the goals that I had set for myself (not even
close). I was a knowledge junkie who merely consumed, consumed
and consumed. I thought more knowledge would be the answer to my problems, but
it definitely wasn’t.
Do
you know what was the answer? More action. Instead of being a knowledge
junkie, I decided to become an action junkie and actually
take action upon all the valuable lessons that I gained. Only after I made that
decision did I start to see real results, progress and growth. I actually
achieved some of the goals I had set for myself, and I felt a lot more confident
and knowledgable as I actually knew how things worked in reality — and not just in theory.
Keep
in mind, authors put months, years or even a lifetime of experience into just
200–300 pages..
What would be possible for you and your life if you
actually started to do what the author said?
What would be possible if you’d actually do the
exercises that 90% of readers skip?
And if you’d actually follow the advice and tactics of
the author?
Well,
if it’s a good book and a credible author, you could actually start to achieve
amazing things in life. And that’s what I want for you.
If
you like to read a lot of books, but hardly take action upon the things you
read, I’d highly encourage you to make a list of 1–10 actions that you’re going
to take based on the book that you’re currently reading. That’s exactly why I
designed my own book ‘Stop Procrastinating’ in such a way that it is action
focused. At the end of every chapter, I encourage you to take action upon
the things you’ve just read so that you actually make progress and achieve
more.
Remember,
only by taking action will you be able to see the results that you desire — and make your goals and
dreams a reality instead of keeping it a fantasy.
Now Do It
As
an action point, implement at least 3 of the tips of this article with the book
that you’re currently reading. Highlight the important lessons, make notes and
re-write them in your own words, summarize the book, mentally recap each
chapter and (last but not least) take massive action upon the
lessons you’ve learned. That’s the way you’ll learn much more from the books
that you read :)
Jari Roomer
https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/5-simple-tips-to-learn-much-more-from-the-books-you-read-25b738579ae0
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