Business Education: How To Devour At Least One Business Book Per Week Without Taking Any Additional Time Out Of Your Day
Today, I’ll let you in on a little secret that I use to read AT LEAST ONE BOOK EVERY WEEK, without taking any additional time out of my day.
But first, I’d like to take a minute to stress how important ongoing education is to your success, and why EVERY SINGLE SUCCESSFUL person I know focuses on it daily.
I don’t mean the kind of education you got in school, in those dusty old text books that were full of numbers and boring graphs.
I mean a different kind of education that deals more with street smarts, than book smarts.
Did you know that the majority of people (58%) will NEVER read a book again after high school? Our education system leaves such a bad taste in people’s mouths. When we are forced to learn, we end up dreading the process, instead of embracing it.
I know that in my own life, it wasn’t until I was out of school that I really started to love learning. I realized one day, that learning wasn’t just for reading, writing, and arithmetic. You could literally learn how to do ANYTHING in life.
Whether you wanted to get in shape, become more creative, build wealth, or start a business…it is a LEARNABLE skill.
And you do it much the same way you learned in school. You start by surrounding yourself with people who know more about the subject than you do. Then you read, listen, and watch everything that they have to teach you. Mimic the best until you reach a level of mastery where you can innovate on your own.
Once I realized the importance of learning I started trying to read more books about business. The problem was that there was never enough time. Sure, I could TRY to read a chapter per day, but the time would always be filled with something urgent, and the reading would never get done.
I literally had a STACK of books that I wanted to read, and wasn’t making much progress.
That is, until one day I discovered a secret to success, which I learned from a man named Brian Tracy. The secret was to start listening to AUDIO BOOKS in my car while I was driving.
You see, every day I HAD to drive somewhere. There was no way that I could forget to drive, or not have enough time to drive. Every day, I was going to drive somewhere no matter what, so it was BUILT IN to my life.
I eventually came to hear of more and more successful people, who ALL followed this strategy. Pretty soon I was going through a book a week on tape. I would even “read” books while I was at the gym, taking public transit, or flying (so even if you don’t drive, there are still opportunities).
For me, the real beauty of listening to books on tape is that I get to hear someone’s voice, and this is how I learn best. It was like I was surrounding myself with these great authors. Everyday, their way of thinking and great outlook on life was changing the way I thought. I heard their voices and ideas so much, it was like they were my personal friends who I couldn’t get away from!
Some people are audio learners, and learn best when hearing someone speak (like me). Some people are visual learners, and learn best when they can SEE the words on the page (the next post in this series will offer some tips for you). A small percentage of the population are even touch learners, and learn best when moving their body or using their hands.
If you learn well by listening or hearing words in any way shape or form, then audio books are the secret you’ve been missing to start learning more every day, without taking any additional time out of your day.
Life is quite simply TOO SHORT to spend listening to Britney Spears and Snoop Dogg on the radio. Instead, start getting more reading done then you ever thought possible today by listening to audio books.
A great first one to listen to is Brian Tracy’s, The Psychology of Achievement.
You can get audio books through services such as www.audible.com (the Amazon.com of audio books), which allows you to download MP3’s to burn to CD’s or to use on your MP3 player.
They are often a bit cheaper than the actual book. You can also get audio books for free at your local library, and find some online for free. Finally, I have a handful of friends who also listen to audio books and we always share.
Stay tuned for the next two posts in this series which will contain TWO MORE SECRETS you can use to get more learning done every day, without taking additional time out of your day.
Table of Contents:
- Business Education: How To Devour At Least One Business Book Per Week Without Taking Any Additional Time Out Of Your Day
- Business Education Part 2: Speed Reading
- Business Education Part 3: Getting The Right Friends
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Shane said,
Wrote on June 25, 2007 @ 11:33 pm
I used to do a lot of reading and I still enjoy a good book on business. I’m just very choosey on the ones I’ll give my time to these days, because jumping in and practicing it really accelerates what you can learn.
[Reply]
Brian Armstrong said,
Wrote on June 26, 2007 @ 10:00 am
Thats a good point Shane. Most people read books and take zero action from them. I like to write a handful of action items as I’m reading, and add those to my todo list!
[Reply]
Business Education Part 2: Speed Reading said,
Wrote on June 27, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
[...] few days ago I told you about the secret I use to get more learning done each week than most people do in a month: audio [...]
Business Education Part 3: Getting The Right Friends said,
Wrote on July 2, 2007 @ 1:36 pm
[...] few days ago I told you about a trick I use to get more learning done every day: I listen to audio books while I’m driving around town, exercising, and traveling. And it [...]
Business Education Part 3: Getting The Right Friends said,
Wrote on July 2, 2007 @ 1:36 pm
[...] few days ago I told you about a trick I use to get more learning done every day: I listen to audio books while I’m driving around town, exercising, and traveling. And it [...]
Doreen Gayer said,
Wrote on July 4, 2007 @ 12:47 pm
That’s a wonderful way to spend unused time! I love reading & studying & have my own home based business.
I also love marketing & want to find out everything I can about it. Audio books are the next wave of learning.
Doreen
[Reply]
Brian Armstrong said,
Wrote on July 5, 2007 @ 11:15 am
Absolutely Doreen. I listen to them every day both in the car and even in the shower! Brian
[Reply]
How To Save An Hour Out Of Every Day said,
Wrote on September 14, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
[...] By the way, if you do have to commute, one of the best ways to turn that lemon into lemonade is with audio books. [...]
Nobody Achieves Anything Without Failure (huh?) said,
Wrote on November 20, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
[...] was just listening to Brian Tracy speak in The Psychology of Achievement, and he phrases it better than I could have: [...]
How To Stop Letting Little Things In Life Piss You Off said,
Wrote on January 8, 2008 @ 4:31 am
[...] loved one you’ve been putting off. Maybe you can get some “reading” done on that audio book you’re listening to and be grateful for the chance to learn something new. Maybe its just a [...]