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.

The Law of Averages: Why Your Friends Matter

Austin
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0
The Law of Averages: Why Your Friends Matter

Changing Your Life With The Law of Averages

The law of averages is the idea that over time everything will eventually work its way to equilibrium. When you think about it that means everything around you is becoming more average. This concept is really important when you think about who you spend your time with. Are your friends and family struggling to get by or are they successful? Depending on how you answered that question you should be able to reflect on what they’re doing and see how things are most likely going to be for you. It’s important to understand that just because your friends and family act a certain doesn’t mean you have to do the same thing. It only takes one person to change your life. One person make a positive impact on you that pushes you in the right direction. Look at the people you spend your time with and ask yourself “Do I want to be like these people?” if the answer is “Yes” then you’re doing something right. If you answered “No” then it’s time we look at how the people around you impact your life.

How People Influence You

There are many ways that the people around you influence your life. Peer pressure is a really difficult thing to work around. If your friends and family are making certain choices it’s more likely that you will too. It’s hard to go against what the social norms are when it comes to your group. You can become an outcast and we are programmed to avoid becoming an outcast. What you need to remember is the choices you make can only truly affect you. Don’t let the choices of other influence you into doing something that doesn’t improve your life. The more time you spend with successful people the more you will realize that success comes from the choices you make. If your friends are saving 10% of their income it is more likely that you will too. Start small and find one person that is a good influence on your life. Find someone that has the same goals, aspirations, and dreams as you. This person should be more experienced than you and can help you out. It only takes one person to change your life. Remember that your net worth will be based on your network.

Law of Averages

The law of averages is an important thing to understand. In the most basic form it states that over time things will become more similar. Earlier I mentioned that it means we reach an equilibrium. Both of these ideas are true. The law of averages can really make a difference in your life because you become like your friends. If your friends are successful you will be successful. If you friends watch every new movie you are more likely to watch every new movie. Life likes to balance itself out. That means if you want to balance out higher or become above average you are going to need to do above average things. One of those above average things you can do is create a network of successful people to spend time with. If you surround yourself with success you will eventually become successful. This happens through a process of mimicry. Find the people that have successful habits and follow in their footsteps. Some of the habits will be difficult but others will happen naturally without you know. Remember it’s easier to change things one step at a time. Don’t go big and give up. Start small and pyramid your success into bigger success.

Help Others Achieve MoreTake Action

One way to help build your network is to help others. Now that you’re in the mindset of looking for successful people to help you, get out there and help others. Giving to others is one of the best ways to have others give to you. You don’t need to be the best at something to help someone learn. In reality you only need to be one step ahead of the person you’re teaching. Do what you can to help others and add value to their lives and it will not only grow your network but it will make you feel good about yourself. Feeling good about yourself is one step towards becoming more successful. You’re also building that network so you’re killing two birds with one stone!

No One Achieves Success Alone

Contrary to what most people believe success isn’t about being self made. Success is about surrounding yourself with people that can help you achieve more. The people you surround yourself with are everything. At any point in time someone you know may bring you the opportunity that changes your life. Don’t forget that you may be the person in someone else’s life that changes their whole world. Be social but know that you need to look for people that aspire to bigger things than what they have today. There is nothing wrong with big dreams!

Let’s Get Started

It’s time to get serious about your network and who you spend your time with. Here are 6 steps to improve your network so you can achieve more.
  1. Write down 3 traits of the person you want to become.
  2. Create a list with the 5 people you spend most of your time around.
  3. Write down the 3 most common traits of each person.
  4. Compare these 15 traits to the traits you want to have. If the traits don’t match decide if this person is helping you or hurting your dreams of becoming successful. If they are hurting your dreams mark them off. This doesn’t mean you have to drop all contact with them it just means that you are more knowledgeable about the situation.
  5. Now it’s time to find replacements for the people that you have marked off. This doesn’t need to happen quickly. Some great places to find successful people are Toastmasters meetings, Real Estate Investment Associations, networking events, or events related to you hobbies. It is easy to find these groups using the Meetup app.
  6. Now that you are working on growing your network, share this idea with other people that you think will benefit from meeting new people. You can never know too many people and you can never help too much.
Don’t forget that no one succeeds alone. The people around you are going to make all the difference. Find the best and eventually you will be the best!
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