You Need to Understand How I’m Only 20 Years old and I’ve Read more than 150 Books
Confessions of a Teenager Who only Read
I’m a book eater. I read everything possible. I read until I can`t anymore.
My friends have no idea how I do it. Sometimes I have no idea how I do it. But the truth is I have achieved it. I`ve read 150 books and I`m barely 20 years old.
I started reading when I was 16 years old. At that age, I discovered two people who changed my life.
One was Ryan Holiday and the other is Tim Ferriss. I always wondered how both managed to read between 2 and 3 books a week.
That was too much for me, and I wanted to do it. I wanted to be like them.
I`m a faithful believer in a phrase that said Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s partner, who says:
“In 5 years your life will only change for two things: the books you read and the people you know.”
And it`s so, the phrase is very true.
Your life will only change with books.
That’s why I’m writing my tips so you can read as many books as possible:
Always Have a Book with You
The best moments to read are when you least expect it. On airplanes, on the subway, on the bus, in the queue of a bank. While you wait for a friend in a square, etc.
There are a few times where you`ll have the opportunity to sit on the sofa in the living room and start reading.
Most reading happens in those small dead times.
In my case, what I did was download “kindle” on my phone. I read all the books through my smartphone.
I know that many don`t like it. But it brings too many advantages.
- I always have more than 10 books with me. I have them in my pocket waiting for you to open the application.
- Digital books are cheaper than physical.
- I can create notes, underline what’s important and export them to my Evernote.
The best information always will be with me. I have all in Evernote. I can edit it and turn it into valuable information.
Information that will help me later when a new project starts.
Minimize Exposure in Social Networks
Social networks won`t benefit you in reading.
It`s always more tempting to see instagram or watching You Tube videos than reading.
Even, it`s always more tempting to read an article in medium than to really read.
This is something that we`ll have to handle.
You`ll have to reduce your exposure to social networks if you really want to read.
In my case I came to close my Instagram account. I spent more than a year without instagram just to devote myself to reading.
Today I have Instagram. I use it every day. I use it excessively for my taste. I think I should reduce my exposure to Instagram.
The problem is that this time I can`t close my Instagram because I use it to work.
That’s something I’m dealing with right now.
There is no definitive formula to solve this problem.
In my case, I solve it understanding the reason for reading. Why we should read a little bit of a book every day.
Having a very clear why, it will be easier for you to leave Instagram and start reading.
Don`t Pay for Netflix
I don`t use television. I`ll become lazy and then I won`t do anything. If you ask me about the last chapter of Games of Thrones I have no idea. If you ask me if I saw the last goal of Christiano Ronaldo either. And if you ask me if I saw the latest Dwayne Johnson movie, I probably don`t even know what movie it is.
Netflix doesn`t generate any benefit for you.
You should use that silver for other, more useful things. With 130 dollars that you spend per year on Netflix you can pay more than 30 books that will be more useful to you.
Reading is a Neediness
Reading has to become your main obsession.
So you have to go to the library to read, ask for books from your friends, download illegal books or even steal books in stores. The effort will be worth it.
I`ll repeat what I said before:
“Steal the books if necessary.”
The end justifies the means. You need to read The most prominent people in history read.
Napoleon had tons of books with him in all his campaigns. Warren Buffett says he reads 500 pages every day. If you check Bill Gates’ blog, you`ll see how the richest man in the world recommends more than 200 books.
People like Churchill were great readers.
Even people like Malcolm X, while he was in prison, all he did was read.
If they got time to read, why don`t you?
Understand that There are no Shortcuts for Reading.
As much as I say things like: grab a book, divide it into 7 parts and read that many books a day. Or tell you things like start a quick reading course.
In the end, none of that works. In reading, there are no shortcuts.
I know because I’ve tried both.
I`ve made millions of quick reading courses and I`ve divided the number of pages that I must read per day in 1000 different ways.
And none of that works. When I divided the pages, I didn`t meet my daily quota. When I read the books quickly, I didn`t understand anything I was reading
Read What You Like
It`s better to read books of people telling their drunken experiences like “I hope they serve beer in the hell of Tucker Max”
Or that you read books of people who teach seduction like “the game of Neil Strauss”.
To not read anything.
With each book you read, it will be easier to read the next one.
If you start reading the first Harry Potter book, you are more likely to finish the 7 books.
In the books a domino effect occurs, you start small, and then you`ll use books as a pillow, you`ll have books in the car, and even in the bathroom.
You`ll see that in a few months you`ll start reading philosophy books like: “Thus Spoke Zarathustra of Nietzsche”
Create your own Organization Method for Books
In the beginning, I always research on the internet if a book is good or not.
The older the book is, the more likely I`m going to read it.
Classical books always contribute more than the new ones.
Once I decide which book I`ll read, I buy it in my kindle.
Once in my kindle, the book will always be available to me every time I want to read.
While I read I always emphasize the important thing. Sometimes I highlight all the pages of the books😆😆😆😆😆
Once I`ve read the book, and I`ve highlighted what`s important. I export it to my Evernote.
Evernote will appear in each of the notes that I have underlined.
From there the next step is to filter those notes.
If I review the things that stand out, I always get things that didn`t make sense to highlight them. I always highlight things that aren`t worth it.
The idea is to eliminate all that garbage and keep important notes. The notes that I can review in the future.
I even change the logical meaning of the book.
- I stick notes from the beginning to the end.
- I change certain words of what I get from the text.
I do it because I want to acquire the greatest amount of knowledge of the books.
Once having my Evernote up to date. I repeat the process and I keep looking for more books to read.
Set Your Own Rules
I have rules like: Buy only worthwhile books.
After reading a good book, I usually buy it. I buy it to have them in my library. I buy them to read it again in another opportunity. I buy it to have it on hand every time I need to consult something.
or rules such as: “read only one book at a time”.
In my case, I can`t read books at the same time. Every time I start reading books simultaneously I don`t finish them. Since in the middle of the reading I always start another book and so I go.
In the end, 3 months pass and I realize that I have more than 6 unfinished books.
I also have the rule not to read books of the same subject followed.
If I read a book about business, the next book I’ll read will be a novel. If I read a marketing book, the next book I will read will be about philosophy. If I read a biography, then I`ll read a personal productivity book.
Conclusion
Those were the rules that I used to read more than 150 books and still be 20 years old.
If you were looking for a quick formula, I’m sorry to disappoint you.
There are no shortcuts to read more books in less time.
If you want to read several books you`ll have to sit down every day to read.
The books are not read by themselves.
If You Don't Know What Books to Read, I Recommend my Selection of 23 Books that Everyone Must Read
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