Rapid results rarely last. Everything worthwhile takes time and patience.
Rapid weight loss is dangerous and usually leads to a reversal.
Speed reading might let you get through more books… But more books isn’t the goal.
The goal is mastery, not rapidity. Deep understanding, not casual interest.
In a world obsessed with speed, be a tortoise.
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Here’s something new I’m trying out:
Every Friday, I’d like to update you, the loyal readers, on what I have been reading or listening to over the past week.
I’m hopeful that you’ll find awesome insights and new folks to follow who’ll help you level up your life.
Here’s this week’s first post!
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Seth Godin’s blog this morning contained a statement that seemed to scream at me:
“If you’re simply speeding things up because you are in a hurry to get through it, it might be better to not do it at all.”
—Seth Godin, “Faster! Faster?”, 5/31/2021
If you’re rushing through something because you feel obligated to finish it, just quit!
No one says you HAVE to finish that book. Or that podcast. Or that online course.
We don’t have enough time to do everything we think we should do. We don’t even have enough time to do everything we want to do.
We have to pick and choose wisely so we get the most out of life we can. And if that means you’re three minutes into a podcast and lose interest, just turn it off. (Essentialism is a great book to help you make these decisions.)
My late uncle Alan thought the Compact Disk (CD) was the greatest invention in history, so much better than the cassette player.
When asked why, he said simply, “Life’s too short to waste on a bad song.”
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Here’s a story:
A man is walking through the woods alone when he comes upon a lumberjack hard at work. The lumberjack is sawing with all his might through a very large tree, and the man can tell this worker is exhausted.
“How long have you been at this one tree?” the man asks.
The lumberjack replies, “About 4 hours now, and I’m exhausted.”
The man watches for a few more moments and realizes the saw has become rather dull from overuse.
“Why don’t you stop to sharpen your saw?” the man suggests to the lumberjack. “You will probably finish in half the time it is taking you.”
“I can’t stop,” replies the lumberjack. “I’m too busy sawing.”
This story is where Dr. Stephen R. Covey got the name of his seventh habit “Sharpen the Saw®” in his monumental work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
In essence, most of us feel we are too busy to stop working long enough to revitalize ourselves in ways that would make us even more productive when we returned to work. We think the only solution to more results is more work. This, of course, leads to exhaustion, stagnation, and burn-out.
“The human organism needs an ample supply of good building material to repair the effects of daily wear and tear.”
–Indra Devi
What are you doing each day to supply that good building material you need? There are four dimensions to life–physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual–and each ones needs its own raw materials.
For the body: eat right and be active! This does not mean strict diets or multi-hour workouts 7 days a week. It means sensible eating and regular, quality movement throughout the day. I personally recommend Precision Nutrition for their quality (and free) resources, as well as their more expensive coaching options. Here is an article they released today on the benefits of small amounts of movement throughout the day rather than big workouts and nothing else each day.
For the mind: read. This is the simplest, smallest thing you can do each day to rejuvenate your mind and unleash your creativity. If you read only 10 minutes a day at an average speed, you will read approximately one book each month. 12 books a year will change who you are as a person. Start with this reading list here.
For the heart (social/emotional): read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. No other book will help you improve your relationships with others and develop the self-awareness needed to effectively conduct yourself in the world than this one.
For the soul: you don’t have to be religious or pick up a copy of religious text to rejuvenate your spirit, but you must invest in your soul somehow. Read inspirational literature or biographies by great thinkers and leaders who inspire you. Go for a walk outside (social distancing, of course) without music or podcasts or social media, and listen to the sounds around you. Let your mind wander when you do it.
Give yourself the right stuff today to keep your saw sharp.
*Note: I do occasionally use affiliate links on this blog, which results in a small commission for me if you purchase something. However, I only recommend products in which I truly believe.
When was the last time you learned something new?
It was probably a few minutes ago when you read an article on your favorite social media site, and you weren’t even aware you were learning. Why not do it intentionally?
Learning and education don’t cease when school ends. If it does, you’ve made a choice, and you will quickly find yourself becoming obsolete.
No one cares about the degree you got 10 years ago. They want to know if you are competent in the areas needed to accomplish the kind of work you want to do.
Learning and going to school are not the same thing. You might have hated school, but you definitely love learning. School requires that you do things you hate, but you aren’t in school anymore. You can learn whatever you want to learn right now.
Always wanted to learn how to draw? Do you want to redo math, not because you have to but because you want to? Maybe you want to learn calligraphy or tennis. Perhaps you want to get a new job, but you don’t have the marketing skills needed by the company. Now is the time, and now you HAVE time.
Learning anything new is part of your ongoing education. Why not do it intentionally? What are you doing right now to invest in your own education?
I’ll give you some ideas.
There is no reason for you not to come out of this crisis with new skills, new knowledge, and an unofficial masters degree in one subject or another.
Be proactive. Take control of your education today.
Note: a few of the links above are affiliate links. I get a small commission if a purchase is made. This does not affect you in any way.
Do you want to know how to retain anything you, yourself, are trying to learn?
Teach someone else.
A teacher, after all, is nothing more than a professional learner. Any teacher worth her salt will tell you that the greatest learning comes when one knows one will have to teach the material being learned to someone else.
The next time you find yourself reading a book, taking a course, or watching a video lecture, imagine that the reason you are learning the material is so that you can teach it to a small group of people in 48 hours.
Better yet – actually teach it to a small group in 48 hours. If you can’t get a group together, then teach a few people individually. If that is impossible, then write a blog post, or record a quick video lesson, and publish it.
“To know, but not to do, is really not to know.”
–Stephen R. Covey
To know and to do, but not to teach? Well, that’s just not right.
I am exhausted. Truly and totally exhausted. This week has seen numerous late nights, one of which did not end until 5am the next day; it has featured little sleep, long days at work, and even longer days at home in my personal time. That last bit is of my own doing.
Reading – deep reading with the goal of analyzing and validating information, premises, and arguments – is like strength training for the brain. Combined with the mental exercise required to function in a typical day job, it is easy to overwork this organ.
It’s pretty common knowledge today that you shouldn’t strength train 7 days a week; strength training should be interspersed with active recovery, lighter exercise of different types, rest, recuperation, and restoration. You also need to get plenty of sleep so that your muscles can repair themselves.
The brain is no different; strenuous reading and self-education combined with long, stressful days at work, with a little sleep deprivation sprinkled in, makes for a drained individual who will not be able to comprehend or retain much of the information being studied.
As important as self-improvement and mental growth is, it is as important to make sure you are approaching it the same way you approach training your body. Take the time to rest, especially if you are just starting out on a course of rigorous reading or coursework. Perhaps only read for 30 minutes a day, three to four times a week, much like a novice would approach a new exercise regimen. You can always increase the length and frequency later. Just like exercise, the habit of mental growth and development is more important in the beginning than how hard and how hard you push yourself.
Study hard, then rest hard. That’s what I’m doing for the next few days.
Read a book.
A real book.
Made of paper.
Don’t skim it; sit down with a book and wrestle with the material. Have a notebook, pencil, and two pens at hand while you do it.
The basis of every education, and the most important skill you will ever learn in your life, is reading. If you can read, comprehend what is written, analyze it, and then talk about it, you have the potential to learn anything you want.
The skill of reading will train you to hold multiple ideas or arguments in your head at one time; you can determine what is valid; if it is biased; lacking in evidence. Reading will protect you from being overly influenced by marketing, advertising, political rhetoric, fear-mongering, and anything else designed to persuade you before you’ve had a chance to analyze and think about the information being given.
Educate yourself by reading. If you struggle with reading, find a tutor who can help you read easier, and then start the process! Write in your books: circle, underline, turn down pages, write notes. Keep a notebook full of ideas and questions that come to you as you read. This will not only keep you engaged, it will allow you to start combining your own thoughts with the ideas presented to you and make the knowledge you are gaining truly yours.
Now quit reading this and go read.
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