How to Read Self Development Books

In the last 12 years or so I have read hundreds of self-development books. Although I have never really counted, I would estimate the number at around 300-400 books. How am I able to read these, while most people struggle getting through even one book? Was I born with the natural ability to read and absorb books faster and easier then anyone else? I don't think so.nnWhen I was a kid, I liked reading books. They were fun, had lots of pictures and inspired my imagination. Once I started going to school, I began to really hate reading books. All throughout high school I dreaded reading anything, and tried to get Coles notes on anything I could possibly get so that I wouldn't have to read anything. High school turned me off of books and I know many people who feel the same way.nnWhy? I think it's because the books that we are assigned to read were picked by some curriculum adviser back in 1956 and have absolutely nothing to do with our lives today. I really didn't give a crap about Catcher in the Rye or Shakespeare or the dude that killed John Lennon. I didn't even listen to the Beatles very much as that was my parent's generation of music. So why were we FORCED to read that crap? nnToday, I have a lot more respect for books like that and Shakespeare but why would a teenager care about those?nnAnyway, near the end of high school I picked up a book called "The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence " as I wanted to see if there was any merit to all these "self-help" books I saw in bookstores. That book changed my life. I thought it was going to be some dry book, written by some old doctor dude who was going to tell me to be a good boy, stay in school, get a good education, get a stable and secure job and live happily ever after. In actual fact, the book was MUCH better then that as it related to everything that I was experiencing at the time, just graduating from high-school and moving into the "real world".nnI was excited by the book and finished reading it very quickly. Much quicker than any other book I ever read in school. It changed my thinking on a lot of subjects and I mentioned it to a few of my friends thinking I have discovered something great. Of course, they mostly just laughed at the fact that I thought that some book would change my life - yeah right.nnAlthough I didn't jump into any other books immediately right after, I still quietly liked and believed what the book said and decided to listen to it's philosophy. A few years went by and I began to see a separation in my thinking between my friends and myself. Some of the things the book talked about began to happen for me and I began to experience some success. The book never claimed anything would happen overnight and I was patient with it, but I never really spent a lot of time consciously thinking about it much.nnAbout a year later, I was dissatisfied with a job I had and I started working for a totally different company in a totally different job sector as a commission-only based sales rep. Immediately upon starting to work for this company I entered a world where everyone at the office was totally into self-development strategies, tactics, seminars and such as if it was the "normal" thing to do. Finally I was part of a peer group that believed in these types of things the way I did. I re-started on the road to reading self-development books and have never looked back since.nnSelf-development books have had such a tremendous impact on my life, I really have no idea where I would be right now without them shaping my thinking. They have totally re-vamped my way of thinking for the better.nnI will now share with you 10 tips on how you can more easily incorporate reading self-development books into your life.nnHOW to read self-development books:nn1) Start within the next 24-hours.nnChallenge yourself to put a self-development book in your hands within the next 24-hours. Go to the store and buy one. If you can't afford it, go to the library. If you don't have a library card, get one. Don't worry so much about what topic the book is on, just focus on getting one in your hands. Stop making excuses. Chances are you might already have one or two or several dozen on your bookshelf that you haven't read yet.nnOnce you have a book in hand you need to...nn2) Get out of the "ALL or NOTHING" mentality.nnOne excuse I hear a lot from people who find it difficult to read self-development books is that they can't find the time to set aside to read the book. However they have time to go shopping, watch TV, play video games, chat on the phone, etc. The reason they can't seem to find any time to read books is because they are making a BIG DEAL out of it. It's not a big deal. You do NOT need to schedule a 10 day vacation from work in order to read your book. You don't need to wake up 3 hours earlier in order to read your book. You can find LOTS of time to read your books if you get out of what I call the "ALL or NOTHING" mentality.nnThe "ALL or NOTHING" mentality sounds a bit like this:nn"I am getting 2 days off work next weekend, so I'll see if I can set aside some time to read this book then."nn"There's no point starting the book now, as I have to leave in 45 minutes and I'll forget what I was reading."nn"I don't have time to read a book this month. It's a busy month."nn"I'll start reading as of January 1st."nnetc.nnYou don't need to make such a big deal out of it. You don't need to set aside a day, weekend, month or even a whole hour to get value out of a book. You can read it anytime, anywhere, for any period of time. Stop limiting yourself into thinking it has to be this big event. You can read books at the bus-stop, on the bus, on the subway, while eating your lunch, for 15 minutes after eating your lunch, 30 minutes before you go to bed, 10 minutes in between hockey periods or at half time during a football game. There are a lot of appropriate times when you can read your books. The last time I set aside a specific block of time to read my books a week or month ahead was never. I always just go with the flow and read when I can. When I can't, I don't read. When I can, and I feel like it, I read. I don't limit myself to special "reading times" or anything like that. So far it's worked for me very well. The people around me who have the most trouble reading always seem to want to set hard rules around when they will force themselves to read etc. nLearn to use bookmarks. I find business cards make good bookmarks, or just folding the corner of the page you're on is fine too. Learn to see the natural breaks in the books you read. For example, if you're approaching an end of chapter within a page or so, finish it off so that next time you're starting with a new chapter. Within a chapter there will usually be multiple sections or multiple paragraphs. Learn to identify these STOP points where the author is pausing to start on a new topic. nnThis leads us to something very important. Which is that...nn3) You won't remember everything.nnThere's absolutely no way you will ever remember everything you just read. Guess what, this isn't high school or university. There's no test on this! Enjoy the book as you read it, and don't worry if you forget everything 5 minutes after you read it. Your subconscious mind doesn't forget.nnYou can always go back and re-read a section from a book if you're specifically looking for more insight on a specific topic. The things in these books that relate to you directly will grab your attention and you will remember them, and the things that are irrelevant to your life right now will be forgotten. This is OK. You don't need to be so hard on yourself, thinking you will be quizzed on this the following morning. nnIt's better to read 300 books and only remember the bits and pieces that related to you, than it is to try to memorize 1 book from cover to cover. This leads me to the next tip which is:nn4) Don't limit yourself to reading just one or two books at a time.nnI have often found that the best way for me to read self-development books is to work through many of them at once. I used to say to myself "I can't start on this new book because I haven't finished the other one yet." and I would get frustrated because I was excited to read the new book, but the old one wasn't finished yet.nnThere is NO LAW which prohibits you from reading more than one book at a time. You do NOT need to finish one book to start another. I might read one book and get through chapters 1 through 5, but just don't feel like reading chapters 6-9 yet. I will buy another book which also talks about similar topics as chapters 1-5 talked about in the first book. I might buy a third or fourth or fifth book all around the same topics. I might not be ready to read chapters 6-9 of the first book for another year or more, and that's OK. I allow my intuition to guide me to the books I read. I don't force anything.nnHow do I remember everything if I'm reading multiple books at the same time and not finishing them one-by-one? I don't! I don't remember everything, and I don't need to. I only need to be aware of what I'm reading as I'm reading it so that I can learn from it. The rest my subconscious takes care of anyways.nnDo you remember everything that was said in your last conversation with your co-worker? Your boss? Your parents? Do you start talking with one person and then finish talking to them completely before saying anything to another person? No. We have the ability to speak with one person, then to pause, run to the kitchen to grab a drink, say something to the person in the kitchen, answer the cell phone and say something to the person on the cell phone and then come back and continue the conversation with the first person. So why wouldn't we be able to read books like this?nnI do it all the time. It's not hard. It's actually harder to try to just read one book. Try this out, you might be surprised at the results you get.nnThis brings me to another point which is that...nn5) Reading Speed is Irrelevant.nnIt doesn't matter if you can't read as fast as I can. Reading speed increases the more you read anyways so as long as you just keep at it, you will eventually be able to rip through books very quickly and effortlessly. Don't let the excuse "I don't read very fast" stop you from reading. Even if you are a very slow reader, pace yourself and begin reading. You will see improvements faster than you think.nnAnother thing to remember is...nn6) Don't Let Your Ego Stop You.nnWe are all unique individuals. However, we are not so unique that our life problems can't be helped by learning from someone else's experience. A lot of times I find people will let their ego get in the way by them thinking that they have this big problem in their lives that nobody has ever faced before, or ever will face again and nobody can really help them especially not some book.nnI know because I used to think this way sometimes, but the more books I read the more I realized that somehow these authors were running into the same problems in their lives as I was in mine. We all have very similar problems in our lives and we've been solving them for years, decades, even centuries.nnYou might think your specific problem being addicted to the latest video game is unique because no such video game ever existed before, but really your problem is one of addiction, lack of self-discipline, motivation or possibly time-management. These things have nothing to do with the video game you're playing and the fact that no such video game ever existed until now. The premise is the same whether you're addicted to video games or alcohol or drugs or shoplifting. Not to say they are the same thing, but learning about similar problems can help you with yours.nnA very important point to remember is that...nn7) The self development books won't solve your problems for you.nnYou still need to take responsibility for solving your own problems, but books can help you understand how others have dealt with these types of problems and offer insight into the situation you might not have thought about before. The book is not there to magically give you the super secret and solve your problem for you, it is there to help you solve the problem yourself. nnYou need to take ownership of your life and the challenges you will encounter in it. It is your life, not the authors life you are living so you need to read, understand, and then use your new understanding to make better decisions.nnLets say I am trying to make a decision on whether to take Door A or Door B at some point in my life. I might be leaning towards taking Door B, but I pickup 5 books off my shelf that talk about different authors who have also had to choose Door A or Door B in their lives. I'll read a few paragraphs, one chapter, or a few chapters from each of the 5 books and they will share with me how they dealt with this Door A / Door B situation.nnAt the end of that, I might still stick with picking Door B, but I will be much more confident with my decision. Ownership over your life is key. nnSpeaking of ownership, if you own the book you're reading, don't be afraid to ...nn8) Mark up the book.nnSee an interesting quote, circle it. See an interesting sentence, highlight it. Don't be afraid of personalizing your books. Write little notes in the margins if you want to (I think that's why books have margins, isn't it?). Don't be afraid. This isn't high school anymore. The teacher won't yell at you. It's your book. You own it, so OWN it. I will often highlight or circle things in books and then when I flip through them years later I will find it amazing as to what interested me in the book at that time.nnTo keep yourself organized, you'll need to...nn9) Buy some book-cases and keep some books with you.nnI personally have 7 book-cases now. I started off with one. Keep your books easily accessible by organizing them on your book-case. Keep some books with you wherever you go. I keep a book with me for when I go to work, just in case I am waiting for someone for 15 minutes or have 15minutes at lunch to read, I'll just pull out a book and read. I have a few books in the bedroom, a few in my computer room, a few in the kitchen, some in the living room. Wherever I am, I am always surrounded by books to read so it's very easy for me to just pickup a book and start reading it.nnFinally...nn10) Reward Yourselfn nIf you're just starting out, create a reward system for yourself for reading your books. It doesn't have to just be for finishing a book. You could reward yourself for reading any book for 15 minutes every day, regardless how far you get (remember, reading speed is irrelevant) and whether or not you finished the book. The real rewards will come from the wisdom you gain inside and how it affects your life, however that is sometimes difficult to see right away so you might want to reward yourself for reading a book with something you enjoy.nnHope this helps you guys realize that reading is not such a big deal. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. You don't need a lot of time to do it either. 15 minutes here and there is all you need. It's amazing how 15 minutes here and there adds up to 300 books read over a period of several years.nnGood luck and happy reading!nn- Paul Piotrowskinwww.PaulPiotrowski.can