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.

9 Concepts For The Pursuit of Excellence

Austin
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3
9 Concepts For The Pursuit of Excellence

I’m sure you’re wondering “What is the pursuit of excellence and why should I care?”. The pursuit of excellence has different results for everyone but the process of achieving excellence are the same.

The pursuit of excellence is the idea that you can always keep moving towards your ideal image of yourself. The end goal is to become successful. I’m an advocate for everyone creating their own version of success so what I think is successful may not be what you believe is successful.

On the journey to your own success you will learn many things and get to experience more of life than if you sit tight and hope everything falls in place. You are the driver of the car that is your life, you get to make the decisions of where you go.

Pursuing excellence is the way to achieve the things you dream of having. If you spend the time learning how to take the next step in life, someday you will have walked to your goals.

Now that we have what the pursuit of excellence is on our mind, let’s take a look at 9 concepts that will help you get started on your pursuit of excellence.

1. Find What Gives You Motivation And Leverage It

When you trying to find your motivator you will need to ask two questions. What is my one thing that motivates me to do everything?  The second question is why is this one things so important to me? Your one thing and your why should give you an emotional response when you think about it. My one thing is my family. I do everything so that my family can live a better life, so that they don’t have to live through the hardships that I did. If you don’t feel an emotional connection with you motivator dig deeper and find something that drives you towards excellence.

2. Make Big Goals That Can Be Broken Down

A big goal can seem impossible to reach. The best thing you can do for yourself is to make your goal bigger than you think you can ever achieve. Once you have your BIG goal break it down into manageable piece. If you can break your goal down to what you can do today, this week, this month, this year, or in 5 years. You will be able to achieve parts of your goals making the big goal not seem as bad. If your goal is 10 time bigger than you planned and you reach 10 percent, you reached your original goal.

3. Create a Vision Board

A vision board can tie together your why with your goal. You should create a vision board and hang it somewhere that you will see everyday. Your vision board should include your big thing and your why. Use words and pictures that excite you and give you inspiration. As your goals evolve add to your vision board.

4. Track Your Progress

One of the hardest parts of pursuing excellence is keeping on track and moving towards your goal. Finding a way to keep track of your progress will help you see that you are moving in the right direction. When you feel good about your progress it will be easier to keep moving forward.

5. Find a Mentor to Guide You

A mentor is someone that has already achieved what you want. If you find someone that is ready to teach you what they’ve learned they can kick your progress into high gear. Your mentor will have already made more mistakes and learned more than you can imagine. Take their advice and you will improve faster than you thought possible.

6. Tell The People Around You

The people you spend most of your time with have a huge influence on your life. If you tell them what you are doing and they are supportive stick with them. If they question why you want more for yourself find new people that will support you.  The higher the achievers you spend time with the more their personalities will be ingrained in yours and you will achieve more.

7. Be Confident in Your Choices

Confidence is a huge factor in the way the world sees you. Make sure that you always are firm with your decisions, your whys and you goals. Once you move forward don’t look back and question why you didn’t make a different choice. Own what you have and work with it.

8. Keep Learning When You’re Passionate

Your passion is the most important thing for your dream. If you love working on cars, doing math, creating website, or working with money, never stop learning about it. If you keep learning you will one day become an expert in your field. That is one example of excellence and success.  Never stop learning.

9. Never Give Up

Giving up is the best way to achieve failure. Never give up on yourself. You may have to change paths or look at things from a different perspective but never give up. With enough trial and error, someday you will achieve everything you’ve ever wanted.

I’ve decided to dedicate my life to helping others improve theirs. If you want to be part of helping others pursue excellence and become successful in their own way, sign up for our email updates so you can be part of the movement towards a better life.

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