Why You Should Stop Reading Immediately!

What? Stop reading? I hear you exclaim. For a productivity writer, you sure have some strange advice, Anthony. I mean haven’t you ever heard of the expression “Leaders are readers”?My answer is, not only have I heard of that expression, I wholeheartedly believe in it!Well, then how can you even suggest that I stop reading? You ask.Ok enough with the back and forth. Let’s get down to it

Should you really be reading more?

Considering that according to research, the average number of books read per individual in America was just 12 per year with more than half the population reading less than 5 books per year, it is easy to assume that there was a typo in this blog title (start reading instead of stop reading). You might expect that what we need is people to do more reading not less.I take a different viewpoint. You see, I know that the people who come to my blog are people who want to better themselves – you want to be a better speaker or just be more productive; you want to do your best work and present your best self. In short, you want to improve your performance in some aspect of your life.  And while reading can be an important part of improving performance, you must be careful to avoid the trap of reading and never implementing or practising what you read.

You should stop reading immediately because you have probably read more than enough already – more than enough books, articles, course materials - and listened to more than enough audio programs to greatly improve the quality of your life and work!

But why, then, are you not performing at your desired level? Why do you shoot yourself in the foot sometimes with poor leadership behaviour or fail to communicate or persuade during a presentation or have lengthy spells of low productivity? In my experience, it is simply because there is not enough intentional practice of the material consumed to make a difference.

The Information Age mouse-wheel

A lot of us are familiar with the analogy of the hamster-wheel. But I want to introduce us to a new kind of wheel - the mouse wheel. You see, while the Industrial Age gave us the economic hamster-wheel, the current information age has given us a self-improvement mouse-wheel – powered by clicks.In the Information Age, it is only too easy to scurry after the next best-selling book or the next viral article or the “latest research”. Afterall, all this great information is, like they say, only a click away. Thank you, Google, and thank you Amazon.The problem with this is that knowledge - or more accurately, information - is not precious anymore. And because it is not precious, we don’t value the information we have. We race after the “next thing” instead of settling down with some select high-quality information and deliberately working to incorporate the best ideas into our daily habits of thought, action and ultimately, performance. Mastery and dilly-dally may rhyme, but they do not go together.

Is it a numbers game?

Perhaps you have been led to believe that somehow, the volume of your reading is a reflection of your sophistication or skill. Perhaps you get a kick out of quoting the latest thought-leader in your field to your peers. Or bragging about how many books you have read in the last year. I don’t blame you. I remember feeling challenged when I learnt how many of the people I looked up to growing up read anywhere from 3 – 6 books…. per week! Or about 250 books a year. That was more books that I had read my entire life! Something had to change I thought. If these smart, successful people were reading so much, maybe that was why they were successful. Maybe I needed to start reading voraciously. And I did.My first year I went from reading an average of about 5 books a year to reading 5 books a month! I was excited and it felt good checking off those boxes each month as I reached my goals each time. But here was the problem – I was reading more but my performance was not getting any better. Reading a good self-help book did not improve my discipline. Merely reading about humour did not make my speeches funnier or more enjoyable for my audience. Neither did reading about fitness give me a chiselled physique.

Measuring the wrong metrics

It is true that what gets measured gets improved. I was reading more books per week that I had ever done before. But what good is improving the number of books I read if I was not improving?

It is not about how much you read, it is about how much you learn. And true learning involves a change in behaviour

For me, it was not until I decided to lay my ego aside and start reading more deliberately and humbly practising what I read that I started to really grow and improve in my work and life.I was taking much longer to read books and sometimes would read the same book over and over before moving on to the next one. But I was getting a lot more traction from the content as I worked deliberately to apply what I was reading to my personal and professional life. I still read for enjoyment but there was no more self-deception. In other words, I was clear about the purpose of reading from the onset and I allocated adequate time and energy accordingly.I learnt a valuable lesson through this experience - It is not about how much you read, it is about how much you learn. And true learning involves a change in behaviour.

Escape the trap

Maybe you have also fallen into this trap of continually consuming content but not really learning or improving. Maybe you pride yourself on owning a large library but you know your achievements and your state of mind do not reflect the volume of knowledge you have amassed. Or maybe you haven’t read much at all but would like to get the most out of what you have read.Here are six action steps that helped me. You might benefit from trying them.

Action Steps

Step 1

Think back to the most recent book, course or program addressing a specific aspect of your life you want to improve. It should be a program or book that had a great impact at the time of your first exposure to it. In other words, it must have resonated strongly with you. The degree of complexity of the content you choose will depend on where you are on the spectrum of competence with the skill you are looking to improve.

Step 2

Revisit the material and set out a time-bound plan to go through it again thoroughly.

Step 3

Get a pad or notebook and, as you go over the material, write out at least 3 action steps per chapter that you will practice or experiment with for a week. It is better if these steps address a specific skill or behaviour you want to imbibe in order to improve your performance in some area.

Step 4

Now, get to work doing some intentional practice. For some books or programs, you can go chapter by chapter. Others are best understood when they are read through cover to cover first. Have fun! Experiment. Make the content your own. Don’t be afraid to vary your approach. And be easy on yourself. Have fun with it but stay engaged until you start to notice real improvements.

Step 5

Log your experiences in a journal (optional but highly recommended). Journaling helps establish learning. It is a good practice to journal at the end of each day. It does not have to be lengthy.As an add-on to this article, I have created a free journaling template you can use to record your progress. It works seamlessly with the principles discussed in this piece. Simply print out a page each evening and fill in the fields. Should take between 2 – 5 minutes. Download the free template here.

Step 6

Once you are done with that first piece of content, move on to another and repeat the process. You will be amazed at how much faster you will improve and, even better, your confidence will benefit from having a record of exactly how you improved.

The journey continues

You will get better at the process as you train yourself in the habit of intentional practice. You will become an adept learner and, more importantly, your performance and circumstances will reflect it!Remember that the ignorant one who acts in compliance with right principles will always produce better results than the learned one who sits on his learned butt and does nothing. You do not profit from what you know, you profit from what you do with what you know. For me, that has meant that sometimes I need to put the book down and pick my butt up. What about you?Until the next article, be your best and do your best.