Why I Never Read a Book

I never read a book. Not until 10th grade actually.

I don’t know if that’s technically true, but that’s how I remember it.

By 10th grade, I started feeling like I was missing out on something. I felt it would be good for me to read.

I don’t know if I felt this way because I had gone so long without reading. But something inside caused me to want to read and finish a book.

I remember walking up to my English teacher, and letting him know I hadn’t really read a complete book and wanted to read more.

Being a little naive, I asked if I should read “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy?

I figured it was a popular book, start at the top.

He chuckled, and then proceeded to ask me a few questions about what I liked.

After hearing my interest, he suggested I read the “Godfather” by Mario Puzo.

While a little surprising coming from my English teacher, I was happy to oblige reading a book about one of my favorite movies.

Friday night came around, and I found myself with a copy of the Godfather.

I was going go out later but I figured I’d just start reading because of time.

You see, two reasons I hadn’t read a book were 1) I read VERY slowly, and 2) I got distracted easily.

So I start reading.

All of a sudden, a whole new world is opened up to me. The characters, the flavors and the spells seem to come alive as I read.

Long story short. I didn’t go out that night, or weekend and finished the book by Sunday night.

Reading A Few Years Later

I started reading more and more. Too much actually.

I would have 5 books open at one time, yet never finish any of them.

I remember getting so frustrated one day that I threw all my books on the floor. I was to tired of starting but not finishing the various books.

This was actually my motivation for creating the Focus Module.

Why does this matter?

Because I continue to read ferociously.

And it’s not only the number of books that I read, it’s what I’m able to do with the information once I read it.

When we’re talking about fiction, it doesn’t really matter.

Usually we read fiction for pure pleasure and enjoyment. Sometimes we take information from a fiction book and apply to our lives, but mostly it’s just pleasure.

One example was when I was reading a Robert Ludlum book early in my military career.

I came across the phrase “Rest is a weapon”.

It was great advice, and still is, for leading my life and recognizing that getting enough sleep every night makes me more powerful during the day.

Here’s the Problem

With non-fiction books, reading is not enough.

We’re supposedly reading these books to learn something new. It implies that we would apply that new information to change our results.

Most people finish a non-fiction book, put it down and move on.

They might have loved the information and message. Maybe they told a friend. But, ultimately nothing changes.

I realized this for the first few years I began reading.

Then I ‘read’ that it generally takes 21 days to change a habit.

What that meant to me was; to change our beliefs, our actions, or habits, takes time.

Is the magic number 21?

For some people it is, for others it’s more, and others it’s less…it depends.

Here’s What I Do

When I read a non-fiction book, I:

1. Outline: that means I summarize the notes of each chapter or each section or the book in general.
2. Next, I make note of any action items. These are things I want to apply. I may put them in my calendar or where most appropriate.
3. I create a 21 day integration sheet.

This is part of my Power Start, which is the basis of the Let Your Millionaire Out Success System.

I place the integration sheet in my binder and review it each morning.

It has checkboxes for 21 days, and I check one per day after I’ve reviewed my notes, action items and other information I wish to integrate.

This generally takes 2 to 3 minutes per day, for only 21 days.

Isn’t that why we bought and read the book in the 1st place?  To learn and apply new information in our lives?

The way I look at it, why would I spend several hours reading a book and not do anything with the new information that I acquired?

Why would I invest that time looking for no return?

It doesn’t make sense to me.

And I hope it doesn’t make sense to you.

What I suggest is that you consider these things before reading your next book.

1. Why are you reading it?

2. What results do you want as a result of the information in this book?

3. Are you willing to invest a few more minutes after completing the book to make the information permanent in your life?

If you’re not willing to invest a few minutes a day for a few weeks after completing a book, then I suggest you not read the book in the 1st place.

Why would I say that?

Because here’s what usually happens. You read the book, you know you should do something differently but over time you realize you haven’t. Nothing changes.

Now you feel worse than before you read the book because now you’d have less of an excuse.

Should you read another book?

Related articles

• John Grisham On Reading Books And Kindles (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• The Hardest Book I Ever Read (goldenbookwyrm.wordpress.com)
• What are your favourite non-fiction books? (guardian.co.uk)

Tags: david koons