The Uncommon Leader Podcast

Reading Strategies for Leaders: $10,000 Lessons from Nick Hutchison

• John Gallagher

Share episode

Unlock the secrets to cultivating a powerful reading habit with our special guest, Nick Hutchison, CEO of BookThinkers and bestselling author. Discover how Nick's childhood love for stories transformed into a tool for personal and professional growth after overcoming adolescence challenges. His journey from being influenced by business podcasts during college to becoming a leader in the reading advocacy space provides valuable insights for anyone looking to prioritize reading in their life.

Nick dives deep into the practicalities of intentional reading, stressing the impact of dedicating just 15 minutes a day to this practice. From selecting books that resonate with your interests to merging ideas from different texts in a creative exercise he calls "book sex," Nick offers actionable strategies to stay engaged and transform knowledge into personal growth. He also shares the importance of setting intentional goals, which helps maintain an emotional connection to the material and maximize its benefits.

Tune in as we explore advanced reading techniques inspired by experts like Jim Quick and Howard Berg, and learn how to optimize your reading habits for better retention and implementation. Nick explains his preference for sub vocalizing and provides tips on maintaining focus and entering a state of flow. We also discuss effective note-taking strategies, including a two-pass reading method. As we wrap up, we encourage you to share this episode with friends, leave reviews to help others discover our podcast, and keep growing as a community of uncommon leaders.

Thanks for listening in to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Please take just a minute to share this podcast with that someone you know that you thought of when you heard this episode. One of the most valuable things you can do is to rate the podcast and leave a review. You can do that on Apple podcasts, or rate the podcast on Spotify or any other platform you listen.

Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)

Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!

Connect with me

Speaker 1:

I love to set a SMART goal for every book that I read. So let's say I was going to pick up the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and I'm reading the book because I want to be a better leader. What I'll do is I'll set that SMART goal and I'll write it on the inside of the cover, something like I'm looking to find and implement at least one way to improve my leadership at BookThinkers and within my team by the end of August, because this is my business, these are my people and they deserve the best leader possible.

Speaker 2:

Hey, Uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast, and I'm your host, John Gallagher. In today's episode, we're diving deep into one of my favorite topics the world of reading habits and personal development with my special guest, Nick Hutchison, CEO of BookThinkers and bestselling author. Prepare to be inspired as Nick shares his journey from a childhood love for stories read by his dad to overcoming social pressures in his adolescence and ultimately rekindling his passion for books through business podcasts during college. Nick opens up about his own book, the Rise of the Reader, and offers some practical advice for tackling reading challenges, staying connected to the material and ensuring that what you read transforms your life. So listen in and then share this with one person you know needs to hear this story as well. You're going to love it. Let's get started. Well, You're going to love it. Let's get started.

Speaker 2:

Nick Hutchinson, welcome to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. It's so good to have you on the show. This is the second try we had. We had an interesting start a couple of days ago when you had a pole outside your house, get hit and lost power. So we're going to do this again. We're going to have fun, but I'm looking forward to our conversation. How are you doing?

Speaker 1:

I am doing well and, as you know, I always love to kick things back to the host. And can I ask you the first question today?

Speaker 2:

You absolutely can Bring it on, come on.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So instead of asking you what your favorite book of this year 2024, has been, I'll switch it up a little bit. What's one major personal development book that you have decided not to read? One of the major bestsellers that you just haven't read yet. Maybe it's something you'll read in the future, but you just haven't bought into the hype.

Speaker 2:

No, it's interesting because I think we'll get into questions there, and let me think so. Probably the one that I have not and I don't know the name of it, maybe that's one of the challenges is Goggins book. Uh, I have not chosen to go there. I know you've been through 75 hard. I have not chosen to go through 75 hard yet as well, and I don't know if it's a intentional blocking of what's happening, cause I know a lot of folks who have read his book, uh, or it's more of just a uh, a fear of taking that discipline to the next level, but I have not chosen to break the pages of his book and make that happen. Maybe it's one that'll happen here in 2025.

Speaker 2:

Can't Hurt Me is David's first book, and then he wrote another one called Never Finished.

Speaker 1:

You know, what's interesting about David Goggins is I fell into the hype when Can't Hurt Me originally released and I thought what a crazy amount of discipline this man has been able to foster for himself. But as I've gathered additional perspectives, I've realized that at least I think that discipline and strategy are two ends of a spectrum, and the more discipline you require it's because you have poor strategy. And so now I actually default to the other side of things, where I think if you just have great strategy, you don't need much discipline. And somebody like David I mean it's a very rare human being that can accomplish what he has, and most people don't want to go through that level of suffering.

Speaker 2:

I think that's part of it. I think that might be the suffering more than anything else and again, I might get there at some point in my journey. But I also know that my knees and shoulders at my age start to really give way. But, like I said, it's probably more of a fear of that because I've been part of watching some folks going through 75 hard. And you want to talk about discipline.

Speaker 2:

Like you said, if you've got a strategy, if you've got a plan and can execute to that strategy, maybe there's something to that, and I often talk about that being the difference of doing and being that we can do a lot of things, check a lot of boxes off and make things happen.

Speaker 2:

But the being side is when you just start to live that out, when you live out your vision for your life or whatever that is, or the vision for your company, that it can be pretty powerful and it just becomes part of who you are. So I know good question, thanks for changing it up on the Audible and I'll still share that. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is still the one that's impacted me the most over my life, because I know that's the one that you like and there's three versions of it sitting up there. But we're here to talk about your book that's had an impact on me as well the Rise of the Reader, strategies for Mastering your Reading Habits and Applying what you Know. So, before we dive into the details because I don't have enough time to ask you the questions that I want to just tell me a little bit about how you end up writing this book and who you wrote it for.

Speaker 1:

Over the last seven or eight years, I've built a community, mostly on Instagram, called Book Thinkers, and Book Thinkers is a place where I share the nonfiction, business and personal development style books that I'm reading and my favorite takeaways from each book. And now that community numbers across all the platforms in the hundreds of thousands, in some months we do a million impressions, and so you can imagine, over the years I've received a lot of questions from people in my audience. They'll say things like hey, nick, I appreciate all of the books that you're recommending, but whenever I pick up a book, I have a hard time finishing it. Or they'll say, hey, nick, I appreciate all of the books you're recommending and I've read some, but I have a hard time implementing what I've read. I get excited, but then I fail to take action. Or some people say, hey, I read that book too, but I forgot all the takeaways. Why do I struggle with retaining the information I've read?

Speaker 1:

And so, over the years, I just saw a very clear need for somebody to step in, research a lot of these problems and provide solutions, and so, of course, I did my best over the years to answer each question that came my way, but I always felt like I could do a little bit more for that person if I had more time, if I wasn't just responding on an Instagram DM. And so one day it just sort of hit me. My followers love books and so I might as well write a book that answers all of the questions that people consistently ask me, because obviously there's no other resource available. Otherwise they wouldn't be asking me so many questions and it would have been easier if somebody else had written the book, because it was a painstaking process for me. But over the last few years I put it together and voila, now we have Rise of the Reader.

Speaker 2:

Well, I appreciate it, all those things that are there, right? People don't have time to read, or they don't retain what they read, or, again, even the simplicity of knowing that there was something there that I really wanted to learn and then setting the book back down and not remembering to follow through on that activity. The book is chock full of habits and, frankly, let's say, tactics that can help folks move. That, and maybe I can try to ask you a question, at least one that you haven't answered before as you go forward, but I think there's one that you touched on that I wanted to ask right off the bat. So you asked me about one I haven't read yet. What about the thought and philosophy of, once I start to read a book, I have to finish it, or it's not right. Do you think that putting a book down because it's not impacting you is okay to do? What is your experience there?

Speaker 1:

Funny enough, when I first started this reading journey about 10 years ago, I had this idea in my head that to check a book off the list, you had to read it cover to cover. And I mean I'm talking, I read everything from the acknowledgements in the front of the book through the, you know whatever the thanks at the end of the book. And I don't know where that came from. I don't know if it came from school or I have no idea. But over time I realized that not every book was created equal. Not every book provided the same amount of value as the last one that I read, and sometimes books promise to solve problems and you get halfway through and you realize this book is not going to solve that problem for me.

Speaker 1:

And so I was listening to a podcast a couple of years ago between Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferriss, and Ryan said life is too short to read a bad book, and he developed something that he called the rule of 100, where he says take the number 100, subtract your age. So for me, right now when we're recording this, I'm 30. So we'll take the number 70. That's how many pages you have to read before you're wise enough to determine whether or not you should continue. And he says the older you get let's say I was 60, I would only have to read 40 pages because I'm a little wiser than I was when I was 30, for instance, and I think that's a good rule.

Speaker 1:

Like I said, life is too short to read a bad book. Not every book is created equal and there really are no rules. You don't have to read a book cover to cover if it's not providing the value that you originally thought it was going to. So these days I will put down a book, or maybe I'll skip a chapter every once in a while. That's not fulfilling me.

Speaker 2:

I'm going through one right now and I'm glad I followed that, because I was about ready to put it down in the first 30 or 40 pages and I had a few more to go. I only had five more pages before I could actually put it down. I didn't know that rule of 100, but let's assume that I'm going to use that in the future as well. I plowed through it and found some good things. There's this fear of missing out for me inside of a book too, waiting for that idea. That's there. I call a little bit of an audible here, because even you asking me the first question is something that I rarely get to do answer a question on my own podcast but I want to ask even about as you go back in your time. I'm going to take you back a little bit. Have you always been a reader? Tell me a story from your childhood. Maybe that still impacts who you are as a reader or a leader today.

Speaker 1:

I was read to a lot when I was a little kid, so and I haven't talked about this before, so good question. When I was growing up, I was the oldest of four boys and my youngest brother. So I'm the oldest of four boys. My youngest brother is only five years younger than me, so you can imagine it was chaos for my parents four boys, five and under, at one point, and my dad would always read to us before bed and he read all of these great children's stories, a lot of works of fiction with knights and dragons and things like that, and he would use different voices for the different characters, and a lot of times we were talking about this at a Sunday dinner. Recently my family still meets up on Sundays for dinner he was saying that a lot of times he would fall asleep while reading to us and then we would wake him up and say, dad, finish the chapter, finish the chapter. So those are my earliest memories of reading and I loved those experiences.

Speaker 1:

But when I got sucked into the world of middle school and high school, I stopped reading. I didn't read for myself and, for whatever reason, there was this narrative that reading wasn't cool. Right, it was the nerdy kids, not the athletes that were into the books, and I wanted to be the athlete. I wanted everybody to think I was cool, and so I think that was part of the reason that I stopped reading for a long time. And even you know, I had some social anxiety, and so the idea of reading or presenting in front of the class and messing something up or mispronouncing a word and then getting laughed at that scared me big time, and so I created all of these artificial stories in my head of why I shouldn't be into books, and so I didn't read really for about 10 years. I want to say, despite the reading that happened early in my childhood that I loved, I totally stepped away from it.

Speaker 2:

Interesting. I mean because that is basically. Well, I'll stop short of saying your life. It certainly is your vocation right now. With regards to being a reader and so many books behind you and the ones you've read, was there a catalyst that took you back to the other side that said, yeah, now I'm going to become a reader again?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when I was going into my senior year of college at the University of New Hampshire and I was pursuing a business degree, I took an internship at a local software company. It was a sales internship and one of my bosses, kyle, shout out Kyle, thank you so much, man, for recommending what he's about to recommend. But he introduced me to podcasts. So we went on a couple of local sales trips and he would ask if he could turn on business podcasts and I said, yeah, of course I don't mind. And I started listening to these business people. These very successful people share all of their greatest life secrets for free on these podcasts, in these interviews, and that fascinated me. And he said to me one time Nick, listening to the same song or the same playlist or radio station for the 300th time isn't going to change your life, but the right podcast might. And that potential is what keeps me engaged. It keeps me excited.

Speaker 1:

And so I was commuting about an hour each way to that internship over that summer period and I started listening to podcasts all sorts of nonfiction, business and personal development type shows where successful people are being interviewed and after a couple of weeks of consuming this content I started to realize that successful people read books, and a lot of times they've documented their greatest life lessons in their own books, and so it would be foolish for me, I realized, to ignore reading as a way to improve my life when the roadmap is clear.

Speaker 1:

All of these people that I want to be like are giving at least some credit for their success to the books that they've read or have written, at least some credit for their success to the books that they've read or have written. And so I went to my local Barnes and Noble one day on a lunch break. I grabbed about 10 books. That was its own crazy experience. I almost didn't buy them, but I ended up buying the 10 books and I went back to that internship. I closed my office door each day after I finished my work and I would sit there and I would read these books and I went back to school my senior year a completely different human being and I fell in love with personal development.

Speaker 2:

That's fantastic. As I know my mom is a listener. She always not always she often gives me a hard time about my reading habits. Growing up she said I wasn't a good reader growing up as well. But I was told I read books, but I read the books that I wanted to read about athletes or about sports teams or different sports. They weren't really about the non-fictional other things that were going to help me grow that maybe she wanted me to read. But I love the story about an individual who was actually a catalyst to get that started going again. For me it was.

Speaker 2:

I talked about that book, 21 year feudal laws of leadership. After I got out of college I was done reading there's no doubt about it and when I had a mentor give me that book and walk through it with me chapter by chapter, it was something that converted me and uh, back to a reader again and I missed a lot of those years that you picked up in college. So that's a really good thing. You know folks would tell me that's one of the biggest barriers that I run into, because I do believe that leaders are readers. You just touched on it. Those that are successful have often talked about the books that have impacted their life. But when I get a chance to coach individuals and talk to them about starting a reading habit, they'll say I don't have the time to read. I just can't find the time to sit down and read the book. Help me coach them as to why they have the time to read.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when somebody says, nick, I appreciate your love for books and I understand how much they've impacted your life, but I don't have time to read, and the excuses are I have a couple of kids at home, I'm running a startup whatever the case is, I travel too much, and I always start with the following question, I'll say I understand, but hey, john, if I paid you $10,000 to read a book by the end of next month, do you think you could do it? And immediately that same person that just told me I'm too busy to read, they go. Yeah, I could read two or three if I was getting paid that much. And so they've fallen into my trap, because what they've admitted is that it's not a matter of whether or not they have the time to read, it's whether or not they prioritize reading over something else. And so once we kind of get to that common ground, you could read, but you have other things that are taking priority over your reading. Then we'll chunk it down a little bit.

Speaker 1:

I love to recommend replacing 15 minutes of social media scrolling in the morning or the last 15 minutes of your Netflix in the evening with reading a good book, and in 15 minutes of reading, most people can read about 10 pages. Once you build up a little bit of momentum. And 10 pages five days a week, Monday through Friday, it's 50 pages a week, and you and I know, since we're both readers, that most of these books are only about 200 pages nowadays. So 50 times four is 200.

Speaker 1:

You could read a book every single month just by replacing a little bit of Netflix in the evening or a little bit of social media in the morning. If you do both, you could read two books a month. That's how fast it can happen for people. And so the other thing is how do we get people excited about reading? Well, read about one of your favorite sports idols, that'll keep you interested. Or define a problem in your life that really bugs you, and then go out and find a book that promises to help you solve that problem, so that you stay emotionally connected to that 15 minutes a day. And eventually, once you build the habit and you leverage strategy instead of discipline, because you see the value in the reading, you'll want more than just 15 minutes every night. You'll be dying to read that book.

Speaker 2:

And that really does happen for people. Hey, listeners, I want to take a quick moment to share something special with you. Many of the topics and discussions we have on this podcast are areas where I provide coaching and consulting services for individuals and organizations. If you've been inspired by our conversation and are seeking a catalyst for change in your own life or within your team, I invite you to visit coachjohngallaghercom forward slash free call to sign up for a free coaching call with me. It's an opportunity for us to connect, discuss your unique challenges and explore how coaching or consulting can benefit you and your team.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let's get back to the show. You know I love that because it happened for me, and it happened as a result of reading your book, nick. I was a reader in the morning, no doubt about it, but I added that time before I went to bed as well. And really this is another question for you too is I added another book, so I might have two, three or four books going at the same time. Do you focus on one book or do you find that you can read multiple books at one time?

Speaker 1:

I also read multiple books at one time. I'll have two or three physical books going and then I'll also have one or two audio books going all at the same time, two audio books going all at the same time. And I write about in Rise of the Reader this concept that I sort of I modified from James Altucher, and I call it book sex. And so book sex is the idea of taking two totally random ideas from two totally different books and, just as a little fun thought experiment, merge them together and see what type of idea children are birthed. So I give the example in the book.

Speaker 1:

What if you're reading a book on leadership and delegation and you're also reading a book on intermittent fasting and dieting? They might seem totally unrelated until you practice book sex and you merge them together and maybe you come up with an idea of intermittent delegation where, instead of delegating, once a day you accumulate all the things that need to be passed off to somebody and once a week you hand it to them. So it feels less overwhelming. Does that work? Is it an effective delegation strategy? I have no idea, but maybe you wouldn't have thought about it unless you were reading both books at the same time. And so that's one of the reasons that I love to kind of merge ideas.

Speaker 2:

I love that merging those ideas, book sex and, for those who are listening in, this is a clean show. Stay with us, we're going to go there, but I mean it's quite a fun concept to think about in terms of bringing the ideas of two different books together. Eventually, they have to run together to be able to help you to get things done. And you also talk about being very intentional with reading books too, and this is something that I. Another habit that I picked up first of all was I wrote in front of my book, and I'll let you talk about it. I want to pick up two habits. One was more reading and one was being intentional with what I wanted to read, what I wanted to get out of the book. So tell me about that and having a smart goal and being intentional with your reading as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, John. I'd meet people at conferences or online and I'd say, hey, what are you reading? And they'd say Atomic Habits by James Clear. And I'd say, amazing book, why did you decide to pick it up? And they'd say, I don't know, Never thought about that. Say well, what's your goal for the book? I don't know. Why did you pick it up in the first place? I saw it on Instagram or my friend gave it to me and see, when I hear that, I think that's intention deficit disorder, because you're not emotionally connected to the information.

Speaker 1:

Right, you're just consuming it because somebody else had the intention for you to consume it.

Speaker 1:

I think it's a better situation when you decide I'm reading this book because? And then you define a skill that you'd like to improve, like you did, or you define a problem that you'd like to solve, and when you get a little bit more clear and specific on what your goal is, you're more emotionally connected to seeing it through, to finishing the book and to solving that problem or building that skill. So, instead of starting with the book and then defining what you'd like to get out of it, start with the problem and then pick the book that fits that problem or helps you build that skill. Then, like like I said, you'll be a little bit more emotionally connected. Now I think there's a. I did an okay job articulating this in the book Rise of the Reader and I think that in the next edition I'll do a little bit of a better job. But today I love to set a SMART goal for every book that I read. Smart is a goal setting acronym that's often used in executive coaching and leadership, team building and things. It stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound, and those five variables are very important for goal setting because they'll help you increase your success rate. So what I've done is I've modified that and I've attached it to a book. So let's say I was going to pick up the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and I'm reading the book because I want to be a better leader. What I'll do is I'll set that SMART goal and I'll write it on the inside of the cover, something like I'm looking to find and implement at least one way to improve my leadership at BookThinkers and within my team by the end of August, because this is my business, these are my people and they deserve the best leader possible. That is specific. I'm looking to find and implement at least one way to improve my leadership it's measurable One by the end of August.

Speaker 1:

Did I implement one way to improve my leadership? It's measurable One by the end of August. Did I implement one way to improve my leadership? It's attainable. I didn't say 10x my leadership. I'm just looking to implement one thing. Is it relevant to my business? Of course it is. Is it relevant to my life? Of course it is. I want to be the best leader possible. I'm emotionally connected to making it happen. Course it is. I want to be the best leader possible, so I'm emotionally connected to making it happen.

Speaker 1:

And then is it time bound. Did I give myself a deadline to take action? Yeah, by the end of August. Parkinson's law, which a lot of us remember from grade school when somebody said the homework's due Monday morning and you finish it Sunday night or maybe Monday morning says that a task will expand to the amount of time that we give it, and so if you don't set a goal for your book to implement it by a certain period of time, most likely you won't take that action. So those five variables are very important, I think, for setting the right expectation for each book, and by setting it in the beginning of the book and reading it every time you go through another chapter or pick up the book to read it, you'll start filtering for those leadership items that you can implement, and that's really important too.

Speaker 2:

Love that as well, and I even think about. You know the because that you talked about, the impactful statement as to why you're reading that book. It's not just that you want to read more books, but there's a, there's an intent. There's an intention to become a better leader for your team as a result, and for yourself. So I love adding that because into your SMART objectives as well, when you think about the number of books that you read, are you a fast reader? Do you use speed reading, or what are some of the techniques that you use for reading?

Speaker 1:

I have tried all sorts of speed reading strategies, but I don't enjoy using them, and I think that I've realized over time that my goal is not to finish a certain number of books per year, because, objectively, that's just a vanity metric.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't mean anything other than you've read a certain number of books. What I'm now optimizing for is getting the most out of those books, making sure that I implement at least one thing from every book that I read. And so I've started to slow down a little bit because, again, when I enjoy the process, it's far more sustainable and exciting and fulfilling for me, and when I'm reading just for the sake of reading or trying to read as fast as possible, I lose some of that excitement and that joy, and then it becomes less sustainable and more like a task I have to complete rather than something I look forward to doing. So I read a lot faster than I used to, because reading is a skill just like anything else, and the more you practice, the more efficient you'll get. So my words per minute, my word per minute count, is far higher than it was 10 years ago when I really started reading these books, but it's still at an enjoyable, sustainable pace. Does that make sense?

Speaker 2:

I've fallen you a hundred percent. One of the books that's impacted me over the past year that I've read is Jim Quick's Limitless, and one of the things that he's known for, if you will, is his speed reading course that helps you to learn faster. And I heard you talk about not the book, but about this topic that I'm ready to walk into is sub vocalization. He encourages the reader not to sub vocalize, not to read the book in your own head and hear the sound, and it was a. It was a. I guess you don't have to implement everything, because it's not something I could do. I love if I read a John Maxwell book. I love hearing John Maxwell's voice actually in my head as I'm reading that book, because I've also seen him in person before. Or if I've heard the author on a podcast. I just love hearing their voice. Do you sub vocalize when you read? Do you hear the author when they're reading, or do you hear yourself talking when you read it?

Speaker 1:

I do. I do sub vocalize. I've tried a couple of times probably more than a couple, I've probably tried a dozen times to remove the sub vocalization I interviewed I did interview Jim Quick. Actually he was one of my first podcast guests. Oh, wow, okay, yeah, right around that same time I also interviewed this guy named Howard Berg, and Howard Berg at one time had the Guinness World Record for fastest reading, and he doesn't sub vocalize. He'll fly through a book.

Speaker 1:

I mean just consuming it all, just visually, no sub vocalization, and he was able to prove and demonstrate that that actually improves your retention of the information, which I don't love. I don't love it myself, I believe it, I've seen it happen, I watched him do it, I've read the Guinness World Record, but for me, again, it just takes a little bit of the joy out of the process. Now, what I love is a metaphor that Jim Quick talks about in Limitless. He says imagine, and I'll embellish it a little bit but he says imagine you're driving through a neighborhood and you're going really slow and because you're driving slow and the driving doesn't require your full attention, you kind of can gaze off at the different homes, the cars in the driveway, the families playing out in the front yard, et cetera, whereas if you were flying through that neighborhood like pedal to the metal, your eyes would be glued to the road, you wouldn't have the ability to split your focus and start paying attention to what's happening on the lawns to your left or right, because you're speeding, you're going crazy.

Speaker 1:

And that's what I try to do with reading is I try to stay locked in and focused on the page. I try to read fast enough that I'm not able to think about something else or pay attention to the noise in the background. I do try to get into a state of flow and focus because that will improve your retention and it's not so fast that it sort of hurts the process for me. So I try to. I try to pick and choose things from every book that I read, like I took that from Jim quick's limitless, but I didn't necessarily remove my sub vocalization like that and I I tend to agree with you on the sub vocalized side, if, uh, if you haven't already heard that, so that's really cool.

Speaker 2:

One more tactical question on reading, cause I know it's a question that I get from my clients as well and other people that I talk to Taking notes. Is it good to take notes while you're reading, or how do you go back and kind of summarize what you've done over the course of the book?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and this has changed a lot over time for me as well. I used to take notes in the moment and I would sometimes get off into these deep reflections and thoughts and journaling in the moment, and I would sometimes get off into these deep reflections and thoughts and journaling in the middle of a book. But over time I've realized that, again, not every potential note is created equal. The thing on the next page might be five times more valuable and cost less to implement and be faster to implement than the thing you're now spending tons of times taking notes on. So, overall, here's what I try to do. I try to read every book twice the first pass through. I try to stay driving fast and if I catch something that I want to go back and reflect on, I'll notate that. I'll highlight it briefly, you know, very quickly, circle the page number and I'll continue reading and then, when I'm done with the book, I'll go back through all of my highlights, but in a more reflective state, ready to choose what I'd like to implement. And that is where I'll take notes.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes I'll journal, I'll reflect, I'll daydream a little bit and I'll try to make a list of all of those potential items that I want to implement and I'll look at that entire list and I'll do a quick 80-20 analysis. What 20% of these can get me 80% of the way to solving my problem or building my skill? Because, again, not every potential note is created equal. What's the most exciting, what's the least expensive, what's the fastest to implement? These are all things that I consider when I'm looking at my list of notes, and so, yes, I think it's very important to take notes from every book that you read, and if you want to take them in the present moment when you come across something, that's totally fine. But in my process it's one quick pass through, just circling the page number and highlighting something, and then it's going back through a second time in more detail, choosing what to implement at a later time time in more detail, choosing what to implement at a later time Excellent, I like that.

Speaker 2:

That's the part that I know that I want to do more of is to go back to those dog ears and those highlights and really take notes. And maybe that's the next intention that I have, because I'll set the book down when I finish it and I get so wrapped up in starting the next one that I don't take the time all the time to go back and reflect what I've learned and making sure I'm putting those things in place. So I love the idea of just highlighting, circling the page and then going back through it and diving deeper into some of those notes at the time and I look at the clock we've gone already used up too much of your time. I wanted to know is there a book for you that's been especially impactful that you read over the past year that you'd suggest to others?

Speaker 1:

Yes, I'm on my third read of 10X is Easier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy. It's a book for business owners who are looking to grow and it has a ton of wonderful concepts and metaphors that I'm in the process of implementing. So 10X is easier than 2X by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy, and I've recommended this book a number of times and everybody has come back to me and said, wow, that's really interesting.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. All right, it's in my stack not the stack up on the wall, but in my Amazon 2024 reading list, so it's going to make its way up there. Thank you for that suggestion, nick. Nick, how do folks stay in touch with you, learn more about you? I think they're going to want to. The folks, the listeners of the Uncommon Leader podcast, are readers and they're going to want to connect with you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the best place to go is Instagram. At BookThinkers. That's our largest and most vibrant and active community. We have about 175,000 followers and we post a new piece of nonfiction book-related content every day. And if anybody listening to this podcast has thought you know, maybe I should try reading, john and Nick seem to get a lot of value out of it and they're not already reading consistently. John and Nick seem to get a lot of value out of it and they're not already reading consistently. Then reach out to me on Instagram via DM direct message and tell me about a problem that you're looking to solve or a skill that you're looking to build, and I will recommend you a book based on your situation so that you can get excited and make some progress with the books. I love doing that. I'm a book matchmaker and there are links in our bio for everything else that somebody might need.

Speaker 2:

Book matchmaker Love that term as well, and I will put the link in the show notes to your Instagram page. I think that folks would find value in it. I know I do on a regular basis. Nick, you've been very gracious with your time today, with your tips that you've shared with folks. I have one last question that'll give you the last word and I'm going to give you a billboard you can put anywhere you want to, whether it's up there in the Northeast, near Boston, maybe even on the green wall at Fenway Park. You can put any message you want to on that billboard. What's the message and why do you put that on there?

Speaker 1:

Reality is negotiable there. Reality is negotiable. It's a quote from Tim Ferriss, and it's something that I really believe in. We are all capable of living amazing lives and it's up to us to negotiate for that, to go out there to do the work to build the life of our dreams, to do what makes us uniquely happy, the work to build the life of our dreams, to do what makes us uniquely happy. And books are a great way to make progress against that goal of living up to your potential. And that's a great reminder. I actually have it tattooed on my wrist right here. It says reality is negotiation. It's something that I look at every time I feel society or life creating a little bit of pressure, saying, ah, you know, revert back to being lazy or whatever the case is, I'll look down and I'll go. No, I'm creating the reality of my dreams. It's negotiable. Let's make it happen.

Speaker 2:

Love that, nick. Nick, I've enjoyed our time. I've enjoyed getting a chance to know you in the past few months as well. I wish you the best going forward. You had a lot of years and a lot of books are reading to go, so God bless you Okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thank you, john, and just a quick note for everybody that's made it this far. Thank you for listening to the show and oftentimes, as creators, as podcast hosts, as authors, we don't receive a ton of feedback. So leave this show a positive rating. Go review it on Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening. Maybe shoot John a message and let him know what type of impact the show has had on you, because that type of positive feedback keeps us going as creators and again, oftentimes we don't receive much of it. So, john, thank you for hosting an amazing show and for all of the wonderful people that you've been interviewing recently, and I really enjoyed the experience.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, nick. Be well. And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who could benefit from the insights and inspiration we've shared. Also, if you have a moment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback not only helps us to improve, but it also helps others discover the podcast and join our growing community of uncommon leaders. Until next time, go and grow champions.