How to Read More and More Consciously: Tips from Entrepreneurs

Recommendations of Alexander Shevchenko

I have more than 1000 books in my library. They surround me everywhere. I like to reread interesting ones after a while. A few years ago, I began to read more books that have not been published in Russia — the assistant finds such books, translates them, and I read them in electronic format. I try to read when necessary, I always focus on current projects and tasks.

Now the following topics fall into the sphere of my interests:

famous people and entrepreneurs, their biographies, stories of the formation of their companies;
psychology – you always want to look inside yourself to understand others;
philosophy – stoicism alone is worth something, it always helps to go through some difficult periods;
finance;
upbringing of children and family relations;
management, efficiency, management, planning, delegation, control, team, leadership, emotional intelligence;
entrepreneurship: this includes security, negotiations, partnerships, trends, sales, marketing, PR and advertising, scaling, business models, startups, decision-making;
health, energy and longevity: nutrition, sleep, stress, physical activity;
a variety of topics that arouse curiosity: vaccines, geography, history of countries, cities, humor and other interesting things;
And, of course, the classics - where without it.

I tell you what tips for reading books I have formulated for myself.

– Listen to audiobooks

There are a few things I'm thankful for appearing. One of them is wireless headphones. Thanks to them, I got a second wind for listening to audiobooks, because at first I only listened to them in the car. Now I can do it in the gym, at the stadium, and on a walk. And of course, I am grateful for apps with a large number of books that I need.

"Discuss it

Share what you read with your acquaintances, employees, partners, loved ones.

– Apply what you read

The practical advice I read in the books, which I can now apply in my company, I immediately applied. I remember how we made a website after reading a good book; I remember how the positioning of our new project was determined, how I entered into a partnership agreement after I read the book and took a template from it. There are a lot of such examples.

– Book Clubs

I understand perfectly well that I will not re-read the number of books that I would like. But I do not plan to do this. Therefore, I singled out important topics for myself in order to concentrate on them. Book clubs help me increase this scale.

I have created an internal book club in the company, where I can often speak and talk about the books I like, thereby re-reading them more deeply, creating a presentation and not forgetting them so quickly.

In order to read more, I joined the capital's community — the book business club "12". There we read 12 books a year on various topics and share our findings by listening to an expert on the subject. Over the past six months, we have discussed topics such as partnership, business scaling, customer service, negotiations, and critical thinking.

— In reading, as in sports, regularity is important

Up to a certain point, I always told myself that I would read more in adulthood, until the following incident happened to me: I was at an educational event at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow and, when I handed over my outerwear to the cloakroom, I noticed that the cloakroom employee was reading with glasses, and even through a magnifying glass. It dawned on me why I bet on adulthood, thinking that then I would have time, but did not wonder if I would have the sight to do so. From that day on, I began to insert reading and listening to books into my schedule as meals, so as not to postpone self-development for later.

Identify a place where you are comfortable reading and no one distracts you. I read a lot on vacation, when I am in a sanatorium or on the seaside. If it's a vacation in the mountains, I listen to an audiobook on the way in the car, adjusting the choice to my spouse so that the book is new and interesting to both of us.

- Take the book with you always and everywhere

I always have one book in my backpack. You never know where you will have to wait: either in the queue for an appointment, or in a traffic jam at a gas station. For me, learning means living. The more I study, the more I realize that I will have to learn even more. You can plan a whole month for a specific topic that interests you: marketing, negotiations, health. Or put time in the schedule to reread a book or a diary of extracts. This is important because this year you are already on a different level than what you were 3-5 years ago. You'll find new clever thoughts. For development, I also tried to go on business excursions in groups, where you can study the practical experience of other companies and people.

– Give books as a gift

If the book is sensible, I immediately buy it for my subordinates. Recently, he presented a book on negotiations to the head of lease relations, a book on marketing to the head of the marketing department, a book on raising children to a pregnant employee, and a book on presentations to an assistant.

I give a lot of books. Especially when you know more about a person, you can always choose a book that will be relevant to him. Recently, I gave a friend a book about the mountains — he is going to Elbrus this year. My driver looks a lot about gemstone masters — I gave him a Cartier book. There are already friends who, on the eve of their birthday, ask me to prepare a book for them as a gift from the books I read last year.

— Summing up

It is important to sum up the results after completing the training, whether it is a book, webinar, training, conference. Insert a debriefing event into your schedule after the end of the training, and place the summary in your storage in the "Development" folder.

I started taking notes on my phone with the note "books read and listened to". I started a topic "read" and began to transfer everything I had learned and the most valuable to it. I have a rule for squeezing - no more than one sheet per book.

How to add to the list of future books

How do I do it? First of all, I listen to the experts I read, to the authors of the works I like: I look at what else they have and who they refer to. There are always a lot of good books mentioned in the communities. I use recommendations from friends and partners.

I study the novelties of the book industry that can be found at fairs. I select what corresponds to my list of interests and projects. New important topics appear under the influence of current activities and questions that I pose to myself. For me, knowledge is like threads: it constantly leads somewhere, stretches further, to new people, new works. The value of development is important to me, I choose not the final destination, but the path.

The goal is not the amount of reading or learning, but life in development, evolution every day.

From the books I particularly liked, the assistant makes me an infographic in the form of a poster, and I hang it on the wall in my office for a month or two, so that the advice is in front of my eyes.

Maxim Batyrev's recommendations

I share my system of education, which is very similar to Alexander's. I divided this system into eight steps for myself.

1. Inquiry

What do I want to get from this training, the book. I noticed a long time ago: when there is a specific query, you begin to see between the lines, and this is how what we call insights most often arise. Some thoughts from the book formed with your inner thoughts and formed a complete thought that can definitely make you better.

2. Acceptance

Open your thinking to new things. I have read more than 1000 business books, I have even been writing books myself for several years, but since I have taken up a book or come to study, I try to "reset" myself. Here I am a student and I will not evaluate anything yet. Let it happen on time, but not in the very process of learning or reading.

3. Active participation

Synopsis-synopsis-synopsis. Once I showed a business coach my note on my phone after his training, to which he replied: "I didn't say as much as you wrote down." Of course! After all, in the course of the training, I also wrote down my thoughts, which were formed in my head like folded puzzles. It is necessary to keep a note, because then you need to work with it. Otherwise, learning will turn into a fiction.

4. Reflection

After a book or a master class, I sit down to work with a note and already here I turn on criticism, for example, with which I strongly disagree. I highlight for myself what new things I have learned and how I can deepen this knowledge if I am interested. I note that I have confirmed it as my experience, and it is definitely very important to understand that you are not the only one who thinks so.

5. Paraphrase

For me, this is the most important part of learning. As a top manager, I told what I learned from the book to my deputies or (attention!) to my assistant, now I explain it to my partners, or my wife, or again to my assistant. It is very important to talk about the new things that you have learned, add your own colors, season them with your own examples, and then those thoughts that were someone else's yesterday gradually grow into you and become yours.

6. Work with a synopsis and Google calendar

What resonated the most needs to be studied, brought to a meeting and discussed with colleagues, something to do in the short term, something in the long term, etc. All this is reflected in the planning for the next six months.

7. Actions

Everything is obvious here. If there is a plan, we act according to it.

8. Reconciliation

After six months, reminders pop up that you need to control the completion of the tasks assigned to yourself, and if you have done everything after training or after the book, then you can reward yourself for it. You don't just read and listen, you're handsome! You are doing something new that would not have happened without this training. Well, if some of the tasks are not completed, you just make a decision: to revive the task or to do nothing, because it has lost its relevance.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

How to Read More and More Consciously: Tips from Entrepreneurs