It has been shown that many successful people continue to take the time to read books to build their knowledge and skills. In a New York Times interview, Bill Gates said that he reads 50 books per year, which equates to 1 book per week (not bad for someone that is worth $100billion). Warren Buffet is said to read at least 500 pages per day to help keep him up to speed on information and new trends.
So ask you – how many books have you read recently? It is known that the more knowledge and information we expose ourselves to the broader our viewpoints, insights and potential will be. So what can you do to help improve yourself?
There are 3 simple strategies that can be used to continue to build your knowledge:
Identify Why You Should Read. The leading thinkers in our society are the ones that are reading and also sharing their ideas by publishing their ideas. Thought Leaders that are admired are the ones that have original ideas and are making things happen. The more you read the more knowledgeable you will become – which often creates new opportunities.
Clarify What You Should Read. Usually, you will only read for 2 reasons: entertainment or education. Going on holidays sometimes it is good to grab a good fiction book and have a bit of entertainment to allow you to follow someone else’s creativity. However, if you want to make things happen, you may need to focus on education. Specifically, this is reading to identify past approaches, trends or new perspectives that can broaden your capabilities or potential.
Make it Easy. I really like Warren Buffet’s approach because it is so simple. Just have a target for how many pages per day that you are going to read and make it a game. Another option is to listen to an audible whilst driving or grabbing one of the many book summary providers to get an overview of a book, which can help you determine if you should read the entire book for deeper insights.
By taking the time to read you can broaden your perspective, skills, and potential. As many of you know I will be speaking at the Future of Leadership Series in August & September this year occurring across Australia and New Zealand. You can get a 10% discount by putting in the code FOLSPEAK when you register.
