I want to share a couple thoughts and tips on how to get more from reading books, or really any content that you watch, read or listen to.
The amount of information you and I have to deal with on a daily/weekly basis is just astounding.
It truly is a challenge of modern life.As a therapist, private practice owner and likely an entrepreneur you need to manage all of this in order to be successful and keep your head above water.
- Consume less content, take more notes
- Leverage technology whenever possible
- Just in time vs. just in case
Just in time content are things that directly relate to your current projects and/or goals, while just in case content is something that is interesting and maybe useful someday.
Use this as a filter to choose what to read, watch and listen to on a regular basis.
This year I am working on making better use of my time spent reading.
That means reading less books than ever, but retaining more of the info and making it usable for current and future projects.
On a practical level, I am trying to read more books on Kindle while highlighting anything that stands out to me. I still love audiobooks and they are super convenient, but it is tough to translate that content into something useful, unless I take notes while listening (not a bad idea actually).
I have started exporting all of my Kindle highlights and storing them in a note taking app called Evernote. Then I have access to those highlights and related notes and can reference them when needed.
I also started using a service called Readwise that has some nifty features. They send me one email per day with a sample of my book and article highlights, which I have found both randomly inspiring and useful in sparking ideas. Readwise also makes it super easy to automate the process of getting highlights from the Kindle to Evernote or other locations. I’m enjoying it so far.
Quick mention of an app that allows you to highlight and share the best moments from podcasts. Looks pretty cool and worth checking out. https://www.airr.io/
I am starting to reread more books every year.
I am finding that there are a handful of books that contain the frameworks and big ideas that I consistently use to run/grow my businesses. I get a lot out of reading these books over and over again. A few examples include Profit First by Mike Michalowicz and Traction by Gino Wickman.
Ok, here is my reading list . . .
- A Very Punchable Face – Colin Jost
- The Secret – Rhonda Byrne
- Still Foolin’ Em – Billy Crystal
- The Five-Hour Workday – Stephan Aarstol
- Maybe you should talk to someone – Lori Gottlieb
- How I built this – Guy Raz
- Who: The A method for hiring – Geoff Smart & Randy Street
- The Common Path to Uncommon Success – John Lee Dumas
- The Big Leap – Gay Hendricks
- No-Fail Habits – Michael Hyatt
- The Richest Man in Babylon – George Clason
- Win at Work & Succeed at Life – Michael Hyatt
- A World Without Email – Cal Newport
- Effortless – Greg McKeown
- Steal Like an Artist – Austin Klein
- The Millionaire Morning – Lewis Howes (2nd time)
-
Clockwork – Mike Michalowicz (2nd time)
- Radical Candor – Kim Scott
- The Replaceable founder – Ari Meisel
- How Y’all Doing – Leslie Jordan
-
The Gift of Struggle – Bobby Herrera
-
The Hail Mary Project – Andy Weir
October
- Business Made Simple – Donald Miller
- The Storyteller – Dave Grohl
- Fix This Next for Healthcare Providers – Kasey Compton
November
- I read zero books this month!
December
- Get Different – Mike Michalowicz
- Be Our Guest – Disney Institute
- Digital Body Language – Erica Dhawan