🛠️ Why I am committing to reading less

While reading Alex Hormozi’s new book “$100m leads”, an insight which has been bubbling away for a while, rattling around in my brain somewhere, came to the fore. The final trigger was a client proudly telling me they read 50+ business books per year, yet we were working together primarily on growth as they had made limited progress with their business on their own.

The insight?

Knowledge is useless without utility.

What is the point in knowing something if you cannot use it in some way? That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t learn things that you are currently unsure why or how they may be useful, or learning things that are tangentially useful (as utility can be provided through entertainment or sparking new questions).

How does this relate to Hormozi or my client? I believe most people read business books because they want to get better at business. But what is the point of ‘learning’ those business lessons if you never implement them? Or if you never truly contemplate how the knowledge can be used in other areas of your life?

How can you implement this insight?

By slowing down. I now firmly believe it is better to read one book and actually implement the knowledge (or ruminate on the questions it brings up!) rather than read 50 books for the sake of it.

I am now committing to read business books twice, once through to get an overview and then once through to work on the action points from each chapter before moving onto the next. I may end up reading half as many books as I do now, but I believe I will get at least double the value.

This is a new core belief for me, and as such it goes into my “strong opinions held loosely” category. I invite and encourage counter-arguments. Please do reply to this email or leave a comment below if you have a contrary opinion.

P.s. Hormozi’s $100m leads is a great read, I highly recommend it. He does sell the book, but a PDF version is available online for free through ‘disreputable’ sources. I have an unfounded suspicion that he seeded those free sources himself as he uses the book as a lead magnet, but I have reached out to him personally to ask whether I can share the free version of the book with you all. In the meantime, feel free to buy or find a copy - it is full of actionable insights.

💡 Quote I'm pondering

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”—Ernest Hemingway, "The Old Man and the Sea"

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A great quote that I believe compliments the theme of taking action on the knowledge you have right now. Do not try to add knowledge for the sake of it or find solutions for future problems, focus on what you can do right now to address things in the present. There are plenty of things in the present to be addressed without worrying about the future.

I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here:https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-october-25-2023-222

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