Improvement Pill here, now - I know a lot of people like to talk about things like speed
reading.
about reading at least one book every single week.
But I think what's most important is that you actually remember the lessons that you
come across in the books that you read.
Because I'm sure something like this has happened to most of us before.
We read a book, have a couple of those aha moments, moments where we learn about something
that's game changing, where the gears in our head click and we say aha it makes sense,
but then a couple of months pass by, and we can't seem to recall a single thing we learned.
Or if we do, we only have a vague idea about what it was.
I think it's extremely important to be able to go back and relive those aha moments.
Because most of the time, it takes a while for these powerful concepts to get drilled
into our head.
Chances are – coming across it just one time in a book isn't enough.
You have to be able to go back and refresh it if you want that wisdom to stay with you
for the rest of your life.
So today I'm going to show you guys exactly how I do just that.
This is how I get the most out of my reading.
So first and foremost, I don't really physically read books anymore.
I will occasionally when I want to slow down and take my time with a book but more than
90% of the time I choose to listen to audiobooks.
And that's because it's just more convenient.
See there's always periods of time throughout the day – commuting to work, grocery shopping,
working out at the gym, doing chores at home, even while you're eating.
Where you're not really doing anything.
You're brain is on autopilot and your mind is just wandering - daydreaming about random
things.
You can't really pull out a physical book and read while you're shopping for groceries.
But you could easily listen to something.
So I choose to listen to audio books.
Another great thing about listening to books is that you can go through a book up to 2-3
times faster than you would if you were to physically read it.
When you listen to audio-books you can control the speed of which the narrator talks, personally
I like to listen to most books at the speed of 50% faster.
Sometimes if I feel like a book has a lot of fluff I'll even bump that up to 75%.
This means a book that would normally take you 10 hours to read can be finished in half
the time or even less.
Now some of you might be thinking well Improvement Pill – if you're listening to these books
that fast won't you accidentally skip some of the valuable information?
Well here's where I do things a bit differently.
And it's going to address that.
So for every single book that I read or listen to – I'll start a text document on the notepad
app that comes with my phone.
Every single phone nowadays has a basic notepad app.
It look something like this.
Most of the time when you read a good book you'll come across again what I like to call
aha moments.
Moments where you feel like you've just learned about something new that's very powerful.
Now whenever I come across a moment like this – I will immediately pause the audiobook,
open up the notepad app and write down what I just learned.
And I try to do it in a way that really captures the idea.
Here is an example of what I mean from a book I read pretty recently.
Which is sleep smarter by shawn stevenson.
As you can see whenever I come across aha moment, I write down which page or timestamp
that it's at and I try to convey that idea as best as I can in a very short sentence.
That's the part that I've highlighted in red.
Then I elaborate on the point.
Books tend to back up all of their ideas with many many points.
So I'll take the ones that have the most impact.
The ones that got my gears to click and gave me that aha moment and I add them into my
notes.
(you might notice that the example I'm giving you guys right now isn't on a notepad app,
this is a word document.
And this is because after reading a book, I'll transcribe all of my notes for that book
onto a word document.
This will refresh everything into my mind once more.
And it also allows me to archive all of my notes)
Now why is this style of note taking so powerful?
Well - as we already know.
We tend to forget things pretty easily.
Using the example of Sleep Smarter.
The book provided me with over 30 ideas – strategies that I could apply to my life to improve my
sleep quality.
There's no way I'm going to remember all of these things.
In fact I've been actively trying to apply what I learned and for every 2-3 things that
I manage to add into my life, I find myself having to go back and refresh my memory.
To make sure I'm doing everything correctly.
And it's a hassle to have to go back and reread an entire chapter over and over again just
to refresh my memory.
But since I take notes, I can just open up my notepad and get a clear idea of exactly
what I need to do next in just a couple of seconds.
Now you might be thinking...well if having notes are so important.
Why shouldn't I just start reading cliffnotes or listen to summaries of books instead of
reading the entire book on my own and making my own notes.
I'd save hundreds of hours and get a lot more done right?
Well There's actually a huge difference between reading someone elses words and re-reading
your own.
See everyone has unique ways of thinking, unique choices of words.
For example the word happy brings up certain memories for me that are going to be different
for whatever they bring up for you.
This means everyone is going to have different aha moments when they read a book.
I might have gotten an aha moment that really impacts me from a paragraph on page 25 but
you might have gotten that same aha moment from a segment on page 37.
When you listen to someone else's words – the aha moment isn't as powerful.
And most of the time you won't even get aha moments from listening to summaries.
Because they're describing their aha moment that suits the way they think, not the way
you do.
On the other hand when you make your own notes.
And you reread them you're going to get a crystal clear idea of exactly what you were
thinking when you first came across that aha moment.
It's going to take you down the same thought process that you initially had.
It's basically going to allow you to relive that aha moment.
And that's very very powerful.
Remember guys reading books is only useful if you get something out of it.
When you get those aha moments.
But even more important is the fact that these moments of insight stick with you, not just
for a day or two after you finish the book.
But for years and years.
By employing this method I've been able to retain a lot more information because I can
easily go back into my notes and refresh it as if I had just read the entire book again.
Try it out, and you'll see some of the benefits too.
This episode was brought to you with the help of course you guessed it - Audible.
As you guys already know I love Audible.
I've been using them for a really long time now because well they have the largest library
out of all the apps out there.
Every single book that is relevant right now is on Audible.
Go to www.audible.com/improvementpill or text “improvementpill” to 500 500 to get an
exclusive 30 day free trial and a book of your choice for absolutely free.
One of the books that I'm really excited for right now is the laws of human nature by robert
greene.
He's one of my favorite writers, he's the guy behind the 48 laws of power.
It's coming out in just a couple of days so I suggest you guys grab a copy and check it
out with me
On top of that guys Audible members are now getting more than ever before – not only
are you getting 1 free audiobook every single month but they are now giving you an additional
2 more audible originals.
So it's now better than ever to become a member.
Besides that guys stay tuned!