Snippet — How to read a business book

Decide, before you start, that you will change three things about what you do all day at work. Then, as you’re reading, find the three things and do it. The goal of the reading, then, isn’t to persuade you to change; it’s to help you choose what to change.

If you invest a valuable asset (like time), make it productive. Use a post-it or two, or some index cards or a highlighter. Not to write down stuff so you can forget it later, but to create marching orders. It’s simple: if three weeks go by and you haven’t taken action on what you’ve written down, you wasted your time.

It’s not about you; it’s about the next person. The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to someone who needs it… pushing those around you to get in sync and take action is the main reason it’s a book, not a video or a seminar. A book is a souvenir, a container, a motivator, and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more.