The Cornerstones of Success: Learning, Growing, Evolving & Mastering
The Power of Re-Reading: How Revisiting Books Can Supercharge Your Personal Growth
Introduction
Have you ever read a book that made a big impact on you, only to struggle to remember the key lessons years later? It turns out, that’s completely normal. As you grow and evolve over time, your ability to absorb and apply knowledge from books also changes.
But here’s the key insight: Re-reading those impactful books years later can be incredibly powerful for accelerating your personal growth. You’ll pick up on nuances and insights that you missed the first time around. The lessons will hit you in new and deeper ways. And you’ll realize just how far you’ve come in your own development journey.
In this post, we’ll dive into why re-reading great books is so valuable and how you can incorporate this habit to get the most out of your self-education. We’ll cover:
- Why you can’t absorb everything the first time you read a book
- How to read for maximum insight and application
- The surprising power of re-reading books years later
- How to choose which books to revisit for the biggest impact
- Putting it into practice: An action plan for strategic re-reading
By the end, you’ll be equipped with a potent new tool in your personal growth arsenal. Let’s dive in!
Why You Can’t Absorb It All the First Time
Picture this: It’s 2012 and you decide to read the business classic Good to Great by Jim Collins. The book makes a big impression on you at the time. You remember the core idea about getting the right people “on the bus.” But truthfully, you can only absorb and apply so much. Your mind simply isn’t ready to fully grasp and utilize all the book’s insights, given your current stage of development.
Fast forward 10 years. You’re in a very different place — as a leader, entrepreneur, and person. Your capacity for understanding and applying those same business concepts has grown exponentially. If you picked up Good to Great again today, it would almost feel like reading it for the first time. Whole new layers of meaning and nuance would jump out at you. Strategies that went over your head back then would suddenly click into place.
This is the power of re-reading great books as you evolve. You see, no matter how much a book impacts you the first time, there’s always more wisdom and insight waiting to be unlocked. Books meet you where you’re at. But as you grow, so does your ability to fully receive the book’s teachings.
How to Read for Maximum Insight and Application
To set the stage for successful re-reading, it’s worth building strong reading habits from the start. When you read a book, you’re looking to capture the key ideas and insights that you can apply to your own life. You’re not trying to memorize every detail or read every word. It’s about selectively choosing the parts that resonate and feel meaningful to you.
One helpful approach is to take notes as you read. Jot down quotes, ideas, and passages that make you think or give you an “aha” moment. Consider how you might implement a particular strategy or framework in your life or work. Actively engage with the material and make it your own.
Importantly, the goal isn’t just to passively consume information, but to put it into action. Ask yourself: What are 1–2 insights from this book that I can apply in my life starting today? Look for opportunities to test out ideas and see how they land for you. Reading is powerful, but insight without application will only get you so far. The magic truly happens when you start leveraging your learnings to make positive changes.
The Surprising Power of Re-Reading
Now for the real key to unlocking exponential growth: strategic re-reading. By returning to great books that made an impact on you years ago, you tap into a whole new level of wisdom and resonance. Re-reading serves as a kind of “before and after” snapshot that reveals just how much you’ve grown.
Here’s how it works: Let’s say you first read a book like Think and Grow Rich or The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in your late teens or early 20s. Those books likely inspired and motivated you at the time. But truthfully, you could only absorb the insights from the perspective of a young adult just starting out.
Now, 10 or 20 years later, you’re in a completely different life stage with far more knowledge and experience under your belt. By re-reading those same pivotal books, you get to encounter the wisdom through fresh eyes. Suddenly, concepts that seemed abstract before have real, concrete meaning. Ideas that you couldn’t quite grasp or put into practice in your 20s click into place effortlessly. You pick up on whole themes and teachings that you missed altogether the first time around.
Even more surprising is how clearly a re-read reveals your own growth and transformation. You’ll find yourself nodding along to certain passages, thinking, “Wow, this is how I approach things now, but I had no clue back then.” You’ll notice how your old highlighting and notes reflect a less mature understanding. The book was always full of wisdom, but now you’ve grown enough to fully receive and utilize its teachings.
Choosing the Right Books to Re-Read
To get the most out of re-reading, it helps to be intentional about which books you revisit. Focus on books that were particularly meaningful or transformative for you in the past. The ones that made you see yourself or your world in a different way. Often, these are books you read in your late teens, 20s or 30s, when you were laying the foundations for your adult life and career.
Consider which areas of personal or professional development you’re currently focused on. Perhaps you’re working on becoming a better leader, communicator, or entrepreneur. In that case, you might choose to re-read classics like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, How to Win Friends and Influence People, or Good to Great.
The key is choosing books that feel especially resonant for your current stage and goals. While it can be intriguing to re-read an old favorite novel, you’ll get more tangible growth benefits from re-reading nonfiction books that relate to your development areas.
Another helpful approach is looking for books that you previously rated highly or recommended to others. Chances are, if you sung a book’s praises in the past, it made a real impact on you. By re-reading your most highly-rated books, you’re embarking on a curated personal development journey.
Your Action Plan for Strategic Re-reading
Ready to put this into practice? Here’s your action plan for tapping into the power of re-reading:
- Make a list of 5–10 nonfiction books that were deeply impactful for you in the past. Focus on books you read in your late teens, 20s or 30s.
- Prioritize that list based on your current personal development goals. Which books feel most relevant to the areas you’re focused on right now — leadership, communication, entrepreneurship, etc.?
- Commit to re-reading one book per quarter. Schedule it on your calendar so you treat it as a key priority.
- As you re-read, take notes on the insights that resonate most. Capture key quotes and ideas. Notice what feels newly relevant and applicable to your life now.
- Identify 1–2 insights you want to put into action. Ask yourself: How can I apply this lesson in my life or work starting today? Look for opportunities to test drive the book’s ideas.
- After you finish the book, take a moment to reflect. Journal about how your understanding of the book’s teachings has evolved. Note the areas where you can see your own growth and development.
- Rinse and repeat. With each book you re-read, you’ll unleash new wisdom and insights that you couldn’t access before. You’ll build momentum in your personal growth and see concrete results from applying these insights.
Conclusion
By re-reading great books that made an impact on you years ago, you give yourself a powerful tool for accelerating your personal growth.
As you evolve, so does your capacity to understand and utilize a book’s teachings. With each re-read, you’ll unlock nuances and lessons that you couldn’t fully grasp the first time around. You’ll realize how much you’ve grown and transformed in the process. And you’ll encounter the book’s wisdom in a whole new way, resonating with insights that used to go over your head.
While reading more is always beneficial, re-reading strategically is especially potent. By curating a list of books that made a difference for you in the past, you’re embarking on a personalized development journey that meets you where you’re at.
The lessons you re-discover will be customized for your current level of growth and the goals you’re reaching toward. You’ll be challenged to put ideas into action in ways you couldn’t contemplate years before. The experience of re-reading itself will affirm how far you’ve come and how much wiser you are now.
If you’re feeling stuck or stagnant in your growth, try this re-reading method. If you want to get more out of the time you spend on personal development, employ this strategy. You’ll be amazed at how much more you get out of books when you approach them for a second time with fresh eyes and more life experience.
Pick up an old book that inspired you long ago. As you turn each page, get ready to encounter its teachings in a whole new light. Your transformation awaits.
