(bright music)
- Hey, what's up?
This is Seth from Retipster.com.
I wanted to let you know about a cool thing
I discovered not long ago.
My wife and I went on vacation to Cancun, in Mexico.
And while we were in Cancun,
we spent a lot of time layin' around at the beach,
that's what my wife loves to do.
I, on the other hand, I'm one of these people
where my brain always has to be engaged with something.
I have to be, like, thinking about something,
or doing some kinda work.
So, I was kinda starting to go crazy,
but then I remembered when I was at the beach there,
sitting out and burning in the sun,
there's this app I heard about, called Blinkist.
The idea behind this app is that they take
these really popular books, mostly like self-help,
business kinda books, at least that's the kinda stuff
that I always read and listen to,
and they have this team that will scour the entire book
and put together what they call blinks.
These blinks are basically like the most important parts
of the book, so you can kinda like skim
through it really, really quick, in like 15 minutes tops,
and get through the whole book.
And these are put together both in written format
and in audio format.
So if you wanna just listen to what they have to say,
you can do that.
That's what I chose to you.
Or if you'd rather just read,
and like skim through it really quick,
you can do it that way, too.
I think you do kinda miss something here,
when you don't actually read a book in its long form,
or even listen to an audiobook and hear everything
that that author intended to say.
I mean, it's just inevitable that you're gonna miss out
on some of that if you choose
to take in the Blinkist version of the book,
as opposed to the original, unabridged version.
But still, I gotta tell ya,
something in my line of business
that I hear all the time are book recommendations.
This happens a lot when I'm interviewing people
on podcasts, people say, hey Seth,
you gotta check out this book, it's great.
And the thing is, like, I believe 'em,
I'm sure it is a great book.
But like, I just don't have time
to sit around and read books all day.
First of all, I'm a really slow reader,
so I usually choose to listen to audiobooks
when I'm working out or driving around.
And even then, I mean, the average audiobook can be
like eight hours long.
I mean, that's a long time.
Even when your listening to it at like 1.5 times,
or even two times the original speed.
If that's the only way I'm able to consume a book,
it's just not gonna happen.
Like, I just have way too many things
on my plate to do that.
Which is kind of a tragedy.
However, that's where something like Blinkist comes in,
because yes, it's true, it's not quite the same
as reading the original book.
But the alternative is, I just read no books,
and nothing new enters my head
in terms of stuff that highly qualified,
professional authors have put together.
So it's kinda like a happy medium.
That like, for somebody like me,
it's kind of a huge deal.
When I was sittin' there, in one day at the beach,
I didn't just read through one book,
I didn't just read though two books,
I read through 22 books.
This one, and this one, and this one,
and this one, and this one, and this one,
and this one.
You get the idea.
The average one of these books would've taken me probably
like a day or two to read through myself,
or even like four to eight hours if I was to listen to it,
through like audiobooks.com or Audible,
or something like that.
And I can tell ya, like, I legitimately got a lot out
of each one of these summarized books
that I listened to.
So it's not like it was just like a throwaway.
I actually walked away with a lot of incredible insights
that I otherwise just never woulda gotten
if I hadn't listened to the Blinkist version
of these books.
The best way I could describe Blinkist is,
it's kinda like listening to somebody's summarized notes,
if they were to just, like, write 'em out
in a very clear, concise, organized fashion,
or just read them off to you,
and you're kinda listening to their key takeaways
from the book.
They do a pretty good job.
And even the narrators for the audio portion,
which I listened to a lot,
are all really good.
As somebody who has listened to tons and tons
of audiobooks over the years,
I've come to learn that the voice
of the narrator can kinda like make or break the experience
of listening to that book.
If you got somebody with a really annoying voice,
or somebody whose voice, I dunno,
I just don't wanna listen to for eight hours,
it can really detract from my ability
to focus and pay attention,
and listen the what that book has to tell me.
But all the narrators
I heard on the Blinkist app were all, like,
really, really, solid.
None of them annoyed me or got in the way.
And maybe it's because each one only lasts
for about 15 minutes, so I never even really had a chance
to get annoyed by them.
But I gotta say, they do a pretty good job,
I was impressed.
I think Blinkist is great for probably like 80%
of the books out there that you're mildly interested in,
but you don't, like, really, really, really care
if you get every possible detail.
You just wanna get the key takeaways.
That, I think, is the perfect fit for Blinkist.
However, I will say, I actually took the time
to listen to Blinkist's rendition
of a couple books I've already read
in their full length.
One of them was How to Win Friends and Influence People,
the other one was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
And I can confirm I did actually get a lot more out
of those books when I read the whole things
from start to finish.
But again, like, if you're a busy person
and you're just not gonna read it any other way,
it's a great way
that Blinkist can take these legitimately awesome books
and find a way to fit them into your life,
when you otherwise just wouldn't consume these kinds
of books.
I can also tell you something really interesting
that I wasn't expecting when I was listening
to Blinkist's version
of How to Win Friends and Influence People.
I actually walked away with a few new takeaways
from that, that I had never even picked up
in the original book when I read it.
And I think it's because I'm one of these people
where, when I read stuff, like,
if it's not really, really engaging,
or if my brain isn't sharp when I'm reading it,
I kinda like start to glaze over and miss stuff.
But when I listened to Blinkist,
I was able to pull some new stuff out of it
that I had never gotten before.
So I think that's another thing
that some people may kinda overlook.
But for me, I actually got a lot of value out of that,
that I wasn't really even expecting to get
from a book I had already read years ago.
If you're someone who's a huge fan of, like,
the 80/20 principle, like just getting the 20%
of the book that's most powerful,
and ignoring the other 80%,
it kinda falls into like the fluff category,
I don't know of a better way
to get that than through something like Blinkist.
'Cause for me the thing is, like,
I generally don't care about the fluff in the book.
And I think if we're honest, we can all admit
there's a lot of fluff in a lot of books out there,
where people spend chapters
and chapters just like laying the foundation
of the subject that you already know you're reading about,
or telling stories that are, you know, somewhat relevant,
but I don't really need to hear that story to get the point.
You know, like, you can just come out and tell me.
I don't need to hear pages and pages
of narrative that doesn't really matter.
I'll also say, when you're listening to
or reading these blinks from the Blinkist app,
you need to stay engaged.
Do not zone out.
It's okay to zone out here and there
in a long-form book, because it's not nearly
as concentrated of an experience.
But with Blinkist, I mean, you're kinda drinking
from a fire hose in a way.
And if you start daydreaming for even 60 seconds
while the narrator is reading the summary of the book,
I guarantee you you're gonna miss somethin' important.
So if you're in a place
where you can't pay attention,
or if your brain isn't in the right spot
where you're ready to focus and listen,
then don't do this until you actually have the time
and the mental energy to dedicate
to absorbing that material.
For me there were actually a lot of full-length audiobooks
that I had just kinda given up on
because I got bored with them,
or the narrator was too annoying
for me to handle.
And Blinkist really breathed new life
into those books for me,
books that, like, I thought just kinda weren't good,
they were actually awesome,
it's just that the delivery of the message
through the particular audiobook
I was listening to, wasn't the best.
And Blinkist was able to kinda put a new spin on that,
and redo it, and helped me to take in this content
that I otherwise just kinda thought wasn't good
or wasn't worth my time.
So in summary, I think Blinkist is a awesome resource
that you should definitely be aware of.
I won't say it's for everybody.
Some people really like reading just for reading's sake.
But speaking for myself, I do not.
Reading is usually pretty painful,
unless I'm intensely interested in the subject matter.
And even then, if there's a faster way
to get that in my system, that doesn't take me hours,
and hours to read through, I'm totally gonna take
that path of least resistance.
So, if you're anything like me,
if you're short on time, if you're short on attention,
if you just wanna get through a book as fast
as possible, check out Blinkist and see
if they've got that book on their system.
It could be a much better way
of gettin' through that.
And to be clear, this is not a paid endorsement,
Blinkist is not payin' me to make this video.
I do not have an affiliate relationship with them.
I just wanted to put this together
'cause I thought Blinkist was super, super helpful,
and I thought you might enjoy it, too.
Thanks for watchin', talk to ya next time.