Can books transform you?

Short answer is Yes! but not if you just read them.

1. Figure out the WHY?

Figure out why am I reading this book, then you can figure out how you are going to go about reading it.

Lot of people pick up various books and read in the same manner. You can read a i.e. Harry Potter book amidst a busy environment or on the move etc because purpose of the book is to entertain you and disconnect you from your day to day busy schedule. But if you are reading a spiritual book, a self help book or book full of business strategies you should be reading it on a different pace in a different place. Ideally you should be reading it in a solitude. If a successful person has pointed out to a certain book(s) for the reasons for his success ( i.e. There are a lot of elite businessmen out there who point to books such as ‘How to influence people’ by Dale Carnegie or ‘Think and grow rich’ by Napoleon Hill for reasons to their massive success) then you really should be paying a lot of attention to it rather than merely reading it.

2. Speed of reading

I see a lot of YouTube videos created hitting on one topic – reading a book a day! Really??? Who are you trying to fool? Yourself? I know why they are doing it. We have developed such a short span for attention and now we are in need of everything instant. It is convenient for lot of necessities in our lives however it should never be done to acquire knowledge. The practise should be as if a bee collecting honey. Bit by bit , consistently and with great attention.

Why?

• You need to retain what you have learned.
• Dive deep in the knowledge from the surface level.

None of it will happen if you want to read a book a day and it is such a ludicrous way to go about acquiring knowledge. Speed of reading is completely individual and it is your business. Read in a speed where you can handle the information. If you are reading up something that you are already familiar with then you can speed it up a bit otherwise if there are lot of novel terms and concepts that are coming at you, then you need to slow down and make this new learning really ‘yours’. What you should be focusing is not the speed but the knowledge you retain.

3. Chapter highlights

When you read a physical book you find an empty space at the end of each chapter. Get a pencil and write a minimum of three highlights of the chapter that you have read. Once you have read the book in full, go back to the first chapter and read the highlights that you have written and it will refresh the knowledge. Let’s assume the book has 10 chapters so you will learn 30 new things. Isn’t it wonderful!

Avoid saying ‘it’s a good book’ and instead you should atleast be able to say 10 things that you have learned from that book when you are recommending it to another.

4. Chapter briefs – for serious learners

This is a step forward from the above. Instead of writing highlights on the book, you can open up a word doc. and write briefs of each chapter. I mark certain areas, lines, terms etc that I learned from the book. Then once the book is completed, I find them on each chapter and write a concise yet a good brief about each chapter. i.e. for a 200 pages book I normally have a 7-10 page brief. Again, this is for serious good books that can transform yourself.

5. Brief someone

Once you have drafted your own brief from that book, invite someone to brief it. Let that person challenge what you have learned. This is such a marvellous trick to turn what you have learned in to concrete understanding and also debunk any myths trying to creep in to you.

6. Stay unbiased

When we read a book and start appreciating the knowledge we easily become fans of the author or the book. This is natural for all of us. However it also can create blindspots in you that you will carry on in your life. So read consciously. If you do not agree on a concept, highlight it and write ‘ I don’t agree’. Once the book is over, you should know what you agreed, loved and learned and also didn’t agree. Be a smart reader, stay unbiased.

7. Keep it super simple

If you ever find yourself struggling to read a book but you still want to read it, then try this, grab that book and just flip pages. Don’t read it. Then next day do the same and just read the first page and first page only. Close it and open it again on the following day. What we are doing here is breaking the ice so your brain finds it easier to ‘let you’ read while releasing a small amount of dopamine. Remember dopamine is released even when you drink a glass of water. It is just that the amount is very less. So once you started enjoying reading it and has made it simple, you will find yourself reading a lot and then rest is easy.

8. Follow through with ACTION

Remember reading books are a great habit as it develop your own imagination, creativity and also less exhausting than staring at a screen. Researching is even better as you dive deep in a subject.

however nothing ever come close to the power of taking action.

Ask yourself, what are the actions that I am going to take after learning this. This is where the real transformation happens and that is the single most powerful tool in creating leaders in any industry.

Let’s start with this very article, what are the actions that you are going to take after reading this?