Fact: leaders are readers. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, Barack Obama. The list goes on. Successful people are voracious readers because they understand to earn more you need to learn more.
For most of us reading is a pastime, one we only pursue when we’re bored, but for leaders, it’s an investment in their education and often when we look into their success stories, one thing is similar across most of them; they read at least one book a week.
To an average man engaged in a 9-5 job, this idea may seem preposterous. The most common mistake we do is read non-fictions, similar to how we read fictions. Fictional fantasy stories demand the reader to indulge into its literary universe, something which is in contrast to the types of books corporates or business leaders prefer reading. The average time to read a book may vary depending on its length, but a 240-page book becomes a lot shorter when you eliminate its Bonus, Appendix, Notes, Index, Acknowledgments, Sources, etc.
But reading one non-fiction book a week does not have to be hard, in fact, it is easier than you think, once you know how.
1. LEARN ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Read the writer’s bio. If you can find a brief interview or article online about the author, read that quickly. It will give you a sense of the person’s bias and perspective.
2. READ THE TITLE, THE SUBTITLE, THE BACK COVER, AND THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
Try to get a hold of the gist the book is attempting to deliver. Go through the elements and by now you can give a brief idea about the book, even without having gone through it fully.
3. READ THE INTRODUCTION AND THE CONCLUSION
The author often makes their case in the opening and closing arguments of the book. Read these two sections word for word but quickly. You already have a general sense of where the author is going, and these sections will tell you how they plan to get there (introduction) and what they hope you got out of it (conclusion).
4. READ EACH CHAPTER
Read the title of the chapter and anywhere from the first few paragraphs to the first few pages of the chapter to figure out how the author is using this chapter and where it fits into the argument of the book. This can help you gain an understanding of the chapter’s significance. If you have grip of the content being discussed, you can skim through the pages without having to go through repetition of topics.
5. END WITH THE TABLE OF CONTENTS AGAIN
Once you have finished the book, return to the table of contents and try to summarize it in your head. Take a few moments to relive the flow of the book, the arguments you considered, the stories you remember, the journey you went on with the author.
Apart from these, whether you succeed in reading one book a week depends solely on your ability to turn reading into a habit. Instead of only reading when you are “in the mood”, habitualize when you do it. Identify a constant trigger for when to read and commit to it. Only then will you be able to attain this habit of the elites.
