Why Start at the Bottom?
If we study those who have achieved extra-ordinary levels of success.
It will reveal that many great sportspersons, presidents, lawyers, doctors, bankers, actors, musicians, etc., all read more than average.
The reason is that life is too short. It is extremely difficult to achieve great success by learning everything from first-hand personal experience.
Therefore, it makes strategic sense to learn from those who have come before us.
By reading books, we will be allowing ourselves to benefit from tens, if not hundreds and thousands, of years of life experience from the work of different writers so why would we do anything else?
The Strategic Reading Question
To decide what to read, strategically, we may ask ourselves this key question:
- What is the most important challenge that I face in my life right now, which if I do not overcome, it will prevent me from moving forward?
Once we have the answer to this question, then we must buy a book that will help us to overcome the specific problem or challenge that we identified.
Remember that, generally, whatever it is we need to know in life, somebody has already written about it. There is nothing new under the sun.
All we have to do is find the book or search for this person’s biography. For us, this book will be the difference between life and death so we must find it then take the book everywhere we go.
If we are losing time either waiting; travelling; walking; relaxing, etc.; we must not waste it, we must read unless we need the period to recover.
As we complete the book, and implement the things that we learn, we must revisit the key question:
- Have I overcome my original challenge?
If not, then we must start again. Search for another book, read it, then apply the new things that we learn, and keep doing this until we are successful.
We may use this approach to overcome all the challenges that we face in our lives. This method is highly likely to cause us to become truly effective and successful people, no matter who we are, or where we come from.
Reading Guide
When reading, we can easily use a pencil as a reading guide to improve our reading speed.
By moving the pencil smoothly underneath each word, just like a child who uses his/her finger to read, it will focus our eye movements and in turn improve our concentration and comprehension.
Without a reading guide, our eyes will tend to move around a page, causing us to suffer less focus, less concentration, and drastically less speed.
We must not waste time: why take a month to read a book that could easily take a week using a reading guide!
Free-noting
As we read, with a pencil we may underline any sentences that strike us as being important, and for no more than 10 seconds make a brief note beside the underlined text.
Our note must refer specifically to the first thoughts that came to our mind whilst we were reading. It is vital that when we read we make these notes.
They will allow us to retain, recall, and absorb more and more information from our book effortlessly.
We must read for no longer than 45 minutes to 1 hour, take a long break, then start again. Because reading is to be enjoyed and not to be carried out like a form of punishment.
When we have completed our reading, we must take some time away from our books and allow our minds to focus on other things.
After we have rested our minds sufficiently for maybe a few hours, a few days, or even a few weeks, we may return to our books and start reading our underlined sentences and side notes only.
Whilst doing this, we should try listening to our favourite music, as it will increase our sense of enjoyment and mental capacities (access other parts of the brain).
As we flick through, we may start transferring the underlined sentences that we really want to remember onto computers or separate sheets of paper.
Once we have transferred all of our sentences, we may re-read each one while asking ourselves the following questions:
- What have I learnt from this sentence?
- How will I implement what I have learnt in my life?
- Based on what I have learnt, what do I feel is now my purpose in life?
- Based on what I have learnt, what will I do in my life this week?
We must write out our answers to any of these questions, as it will bridge the gap between our conscious and subconscious minds.
Once we have written our answers, our minds will feel empty and clear, and we will now be ready to commit fully to our next challenge.
Repeating this process from book to book will radically develop our strategic ability, eventually, enabling us to see and act upon things that cannot be seen or acted upon by others.
#involgize