Reading Your Way to Success

Austin
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1
Reading Your Way to Success

What Makes Reading so Important

Have you ever wondered what makes some people more successful than others? In most cases it’s the amount of time someone spends reading. Reading gives you a chance to look into the mind of someone that came before you or has more experience. Another common trend with people that read often is the formation of a keystone habit. Keystone habits are habits that are so influential on your life that creating one will change how you view the world. It can take many hours of work to create the habit of reading but the trade off is more happiness and success. Let’s take a look at ways to create a new habit.

How to Get Started

Getting started is always the hardest part of any task. When it comes to reading it can be even more difficult. I find this stems from being forced to read books we’re not interested in for a significant portion of our lives (think back to school).
  1. The first step to getting started will be experimenting and finding out what kind of books you are interested in reading. If you can’t decide take a look at best sellers on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Narrow it down to a few books and pick the one that you think will be the most entertaining.
  2. The second step is to read small portions every day. The best way to do this is find a time that you can consistently read or 15 to 30 minutes every day. Many people like to read right at the end of the work day. Another great choice is reading before bed. Reading before bed can be a great choice because it gets you away from electronics and calm you down.
  3. The third step will be to set goals and monitor your progress. At first it may be hard to stay consistent but make sure you have goals that push hard enough that you have to try but, not so hard that you give up. As you achieve your goals right down what you’ve accomplished even if it’s as simple as reading 1 chapter. No achievement is too small when creating new habits.
Once you have started to take the small steps you need to create your new habit you will realize that you want to keep learning more. As this desire for new resources grows you will need to start exploring what reading options are out there waiting for you.

Explore Your Reading Resources

Sometimes reading a book isn’t the best option. They can be difficult to transport and can be hard to read without the right lighting. Don’t let that get you done, there are greener pastures. Technology has advanced to the point where no matter where or what you’re doing you have access to reading or books of some form. Just to name a few we have eBooks, magazines, forum posts, blog posts, and to really get into left field audio books. Every reading resource you can find is worthwhile to look into. Sometimes you have to experiment to find out what is best for you. Speaking of what’s best for you the only way to know is to track your progress.

Tracking Your Progress

Statistics may be a boring topic but it’s the only way to optimization. When you take the time to look back at what you have accomplished you will see the progress and be excited by it. There are many way to track your progress when you read.
  • Log all the books you’ve read – Logging all of your books lets you see trends in what you enjoy reading, how quickly you read, and lets you go back to reread in the future.
  • Make Notes – It can be difficult to remember what you have read. Making notes allows you to refresh your memory without having to start from scratch. You can use note cards, notebooks, or even the book itself to take notes. Don’t forget you can highlight books too just make sure they are yours and not borrowed.
  • Quiz Yourself – We all know taking tests and quizzes can be boring or even stressful. Quizzing yourself on a book can be as simple as asking yourself what just happened or as complicated as creating a test. A test could be flashcards, multiple choice, true or false, or maybe even a quick essay.
Remember that reading can be difficult. Track what you have done to show yourself that you can make the most difficult challenge look easy.

Share Your Experiences

Now that you’ve taken your first step towards creating a keystone habit. It’s time to get your friends and family involved. Reading doesn’t have to be something you do on your own. Tell people about what you are reading and what you would like to read in the future. Get others excited about the same things you are excited about. If you can’t convince your friends and family seek out peers that are like minded. There are book clubs and mastermind groups around the world. These groups are there to help each other. They will be there to help you. Just remember you are forming this habit for you, don’t let others bring you down. Everytime you read it should be something you want to read. Reading will change your life. Make sure you enjoy it and follow through with creating your new keystone habit. As a first step towards sharing your experiences share this post on your favorite social media.  If you really want to get involved sign up for our newsletter and updates.

How to Set Life Changing Goals

Austin
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5
How to Set Life Changing Goals

Big Goals Lead to Big Success

How to set goals is a question that is asked constantly. It’s a great question to ask because goal setting is one of the most important steps to becoming successful. Setting goals for yourself gives you a chance to outline all the things you need to do to get where you want to be. It’s like a road map to all the dreams you’ve ever had about achieving more.  We’ve all heard either “ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer” or on the more positive side of things “as a great question to get a great answer”. Setting goals works the same way. If you set a big goal you will achieve big dreams. Now you may be asking “what is goal setting and how am I supposed to be doing it?” Well to start the goal setting definition is the process of identifying something you want and setting up measurable goals and timeframes to to achieve what you originally wanted.This sounds simple enough but it can be difficult depending on what you dream about achieving. Here are some goal settings examples that you may have heard of before.
  • Become a millionaire
  • Be self employed
  • Spend more time with friends and family
  • Vacation more often
  • Retire early
  • Buy a new house
  • Buy a nice car
In reality the list can go on forever. If we were going to list out everything we want in life it would take us a lifetime of writing and we still wouldn’t finish. Now you can see there are different types of goal setting too. Not everyone wants to run a business, move to a new house, or become the next Bill Gates. That’s where we get into the different types of goals to set and how to set them.

How to set what kind of goal?

Now you may be wondering what kind of goal should I be setting? The answer is it depends. If ask a million different people how many types of goals there are you will get a million different answers. Short term goals, long term goals, personal goals, professional, artistic, financial, relationship… I think you see what I mean by a million different answers. What you need to remember is a goal should have 3 main characteristics. First goals should have time limits because it creates urgency. Second they should be attainable because if it’s not possible you won’t do it. Third goals should have a specific topic because you need to know what you’re working on. Now with that in mind we need to talk about how to set goals and achieve them. There are many different methods to goal setting. Everyone should try different goal setting methods until they find one that works for them. I’ve found that the most empowering goal setting methods are SMART goals, picking The ONE Thing, or using the 10x Rule. These methods will all have different steps to set goals but they will all have the 3 main characteristics of a goal.

SMART Goals

  SMART Goal setting is one of the most common types of goal setting. Many people actually credit Peter Drucker for its invention. Using SMART goals makes sure you have every aspect of a goal that is needed to achieve it. SMART is actually an acronym. Although there have been different words used this is the most common way you’ll find it.
S.M.A.R.T.
  • Specific
A goal should be specific. If the goal is not clear it will be hard to stay focused. This is one of the situations where using the 5 “W’s” can be beneficial. Goals are not meant to be broad pick something that is extremely specific like learning 100 german words.
  • Measurable
 Goals need to be measurable so that you can track progress. This measuring will also create excitement if you think about how close you are to finishing. The most important question to ask yourself is “How will I know when I’ve accomplished my goal?” Find a way to measure that answer.
  • Achievable
Your goal needs to be possible but it needs to push you to your limits. Don’t pick something like make 10 trillion dollars this year. That goal won’t be possible and it will hold you back. If you want to increase your income look at where you are at now and decide on something that will be difficult but achievable. A great question to ask is “how realistic am I being and how will I achieve this goal?”
  • Relevant
Pick a goal that is relevant to the things you enjoy, other goals, and what matters to you. If you don’t like cars don’t make a goal of learning to rebuild an engine. You will lose interest. Goals are about finding things that are relevant to you and sticking with them until you accomplish them.
  • Time Bound
Goals need to have a time limit set on them. Eventually is not a good example of a time limit. If you want to achieve a goal pick a time that will keep you motivated. Ask yourself  “Can I do this in X months, in X weeks, in X days?” only you can pick a time limit for your goals.

The ONE Thing

This method of goal setting comes from Gary Keller’s best seller “The ONE Thing”. It has set new standards for what people can achieve. It has also become one of my personal favorite books. If you get a chance to read it you should. Using this method of goal setting you still need to follow the 3 main characteristics of a goal. It needs to be attainable, specific, and have a time limit. When you are picking your “ONE Thing” you still need to keep those characteristics in mind. Your “ONE Thing” is going to be the only goal you focus on once it’s picked. Which means this goal needs to be the most important thing to you. This goal also needs to be bigger than you can imagine. A good way to do it is to go 10 times bigger than what you want to achieve. Your “ONE Thing” will be broken down into many smaller things as you go. The best way to describe this method is with a list.
What is your “ONE Thing”?
  • What is “ONE Thing” you can do this year? 
  • What is “ONE Thing” you can do this month? 
  • What is “ONE Thing” you can do this week? 
  • What is “ONE Thing” you can do today? 
  • What is “ONE Thing” you can do right now? 
Each step must lead to the next step when using “The ONE Thing” method. Your goals will be set from the end to the beginning one step at a time. This method is very flexible because as you learn and get closer to your “ONE Thing” you will be able to change what you are doing for each step. I highly recommend reading “The ONE Thing” by Gary Keller if you want to get the full experience from this method of goal setting. It is really a lifestyle more than anything.

10x Rule

The 10x Rule is a lifestyle that Grant Cardone lives by. In his book “The 10x Rule: The only difference between success and failure” he talks about how you can achieve success through putting in more effort than anyone else will. This method of goal setting is more of a lifestyle than any other method mentioned. The 10x Rule is about setting goals for yourself that are 10 times as big as what you want to accomplish. When you pick a goal that is 10 time bigger you will have to put in 10 times the effort. Going for such a big goal and putting so much effort in means you are guaranteed to at least reach your original goal. The 10x Rule is about getting away from average. You want to be the best at your life. This is the simplest method to use for goal setting because you are going to change your entire lifestyle. Anything you do needs to be 10 times what you expect. If you aren’t putting in the effort to be extraordinary you are being average. It is easy to be average but average people don’t live extraordinary lives. Grant Cardone does a much better job at explaining the 10x Rule than I could ever do. I highly recommend reading his book and getting involved in the 10x lifestyle.

Follow Through With Your Goals

You have gone through the effort of learning about goal setting. You’ve sat down and taken the time to make your goals. Now it is time to follow through with your goals. This is not the time ask “how to achieve our goals in life” or “how to achieve goals successfully”. This is your time to get out there and follow through. By now you will have created a list of goals to set for yourself. These are the things that you have always dreamed of. Why would you want to let yourself down? Take action and start living your dream, reach your goals by following through. You now know of 3 things that your goals should have. You know 3 types of goal setting methods that you can use. Don’t sit around waiting for your dreams to come true, make them come true. Taking one step towards your goals each day will let you live a life you never thought was possible. If you think goal setting will change your life please subscribe to our newsletter. If you have family or friends that are interested in learning more about goal setting let them know by sharing the post on your favorite social media. Thanks for reading!
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