0:01 hey friends welcome back to the channel
0:03 so over the last 12 years reading has
0:05 added more value to my life than
0:07 anything I've ever done or anyone I've
0:08 met so in this video I want to share 10
0:10 of my top tips for reading more
0:11 consistently and if you follow the tips
0:13 in this video then there's a high chance
0:15 you might even be able to read 100 books
0:16 a year but obviously I just want to say
0:18 upfront it does not matter how many
0:20 books you actually manage to read every
0:22 year 100 is just an arbitrary number
0:24 just like anything else what matters is
0:25 that you are in fact reading and you are
0:27 enjoying the process tip number one is
0:29 one of my favorite quotes from investor
0:31 and Entre R preneur Naval ravikant where
0:34 he says read what you love until you
0:35 love to read and this is an idea that's
0:37 actually still pretty underrated like
0:38 people who struggle to hit their reading
0:41 goals often view reading as this like
0:43 this major thing that you have to
0:45 optimize and you have to kind of read
0:46 the difficult books or read the classics
0:48 or like read sapiens and try and like
0:50 get through that for the hundredth time
0:51 why is life so hard but it's kind of
0:53 like with working out the best workout
0:54 is the workout that you are excited to
0:56 do similarly the best book is the one
0:58 that you are excited to read in a given
1:00 moment now for me what I really enjoyed
1:02 reading is Paranormal romance fantasy
1:04 fiction and trashy romance novels that
1:05 you get like recommended on good reads
1:07 and these are great because it's a nice
1:08 easy thing that I can read and so if I'm
1:10 ever in a position where I've sort of
1:12 lost the habit of reading every day
1:14 instead of trying to dive in with like a
1:15 really challenging novel or a really
1:16 challenging book that's going to be
1:18 pretty hard to read it's not going to be
1:19 particularly exciting I'll dive in with
1:20 something really easy until I love the
1:22 process again and then as I'm going
1:23 along I'll be able to tackle the more
1:24 challenging book so if you want an
1:25 action point from this video then ask
1:27 yourself what is one book that I would
1:28 be really excited to read right now and
1:30 just go and read it and in fact I'd love
1:31 to hear in the comments what is that one
1:32 book that you're most excited to read
1:33 right now all right tip number two is
1:35 that it's actually totally okay to quit
1:37 books while you're in the middle of them
1:39 again reading has this weird thing like
1:40 we we have this weird mindset around
1:42 books that if I start a book I then have
1:45 to finish the book and it's probably
1:46 this thing that we've been told
1:47 throughout school that reading is feels
1:49 like work and it feels like a chore and
1:50 if you if you start a bug then you have
1:52 to finish it otherwise you're like
1:53 deficient in some way but the way that I
1:54 personally find more helpful to think
1:56 about books is that a book is just
1:59 another medium of content delivery like
2:01 a YouTube video is a medium of content
2:03 delivery as is an email newsletter as is
2:04 a blog post as is a movie now if you're
2:05 watching this video on YouTube and you
2:07 stop getting value from it you wouldn't
2:09 think twice about just like picking
2:10 another video you wouldn't be thinking
2:11 oh my goodness this is a video it's an
2:13 educational video I have to watch it
2:14 through to the end you'd be thinking oh
2:16 it's a video I might try it maybe I Vibe
2:17 with it maybe I don't but either way
2:19 you're not like putting this major
2:20 pressure on yourself to finish the video
2:22 but when it comes to books we do this
2:23 all the time we put this pressure on
2:25 ourselves to finish books that we've
2:26 started and so if we can get over that
2:28 weirdness that we have around books and
2:30 start thinking that it's actually okay
2:31 to quit books while you're in the middle
2:33 of them and so a tangible action point
2:35 here is what is one book that you are
2:36 currently in the middle of that you've
2:38 been struggling to read and once you've
2:39 identified what that book is you just
2:41 tell yourself that you are going to
2:43 abandon reading it for now that doesn't
2:44 mean you're never going to finish it it
2:45 just means you can always finish it
2:47 later and you can always start a new
2:47 book that you're a little bit more
2:49 excited about because one of the
2:51 premises of my whole philosophy around
2:52 productivity which is why my book is
2:54 called Feelgood productivity is that
2:56 really the secret to productivity and
2:58 doing stuff is to find a way to enjoy
3:00 the process if you are having having to
3:01 struggle through a book it's probably
3:03 not the right book for you at this time
3:05 all right tip number three is to always
3:07 buy the book now books are somewhere
3:10 between $5 and $20 they're fairly cheap
3:11 in the grand scheme of things and even
3:13 if you don't have that sort of money you
3:16 probably know ways to acquire books even
3:17 without paying for them not that I'm
3:19 kind of endorsing any of that stuff but
3:20 you know what I mean now back in the day
3:22 when I didn't have any money my approach
3:23 to book recommendations was that if I
3:25 ever got a book recommendation I would
3:26 find a way to acquire the book that
3:27 might have meant borrowing it from the
3:29 local library or finding some other ways
3:30 to get get access to books but these
3:32 days My Philosophy now that I do have
3:34 some disposable income is that anytime
3:35 someone recommends a book I will just
3:37 buy the book without even thinking about
3:40 it a book is such a small cost for such
3:42 a stupid amount of work this is my book
3:43 I've spent three and a half years
3:45 working on this book it's had literally
3:46 thousands of hours of of effort that's
3:49 gone into it it's had me a researcher an
3:51 editor another editor another three
3:52 editors going going through the book
3:54 making sure everything is legit a
3:55 researcher to fact check absolutely
3:56 everything we've talked about there is a
3:58 stupid amount of effort that goes into
3:59 the into the production of a single book
4:01 book and you can buy a book for
4:03 somewhere between $5 and $20 and it's
4:05 literally years of someone's life
4:07 experience that's condensed into this
4:09 thing that like there's almost no other
4:11 Med medium that gives you such bank for
4:12 your buck in terms of what you can learn
4:14 and what you can get from a book which
4:15 is why what I normally recommend is to
4:16 lower your threshold for buying books if
4:18 you have the disposable income just buy
4:19 any book that you hear the
4:20 recommendation of if you don't you can
4:22 find a way to acquire it and me
4:23 personally I can trace so many of my
4:26 most life-changing decisions down to a
4:28 single book and so if you hear a book
4:29 recommendation you might as well just
4:30 buy the book now other than books one
4:32 other thing that I read on a regular
4:33 basis happens to be a totally free email
4:35 newsletter called morning Brew who are
4:36 very kindly sponsoring this video
4:38 morning Brew is a completely free daily
4:39 email newsletter designed for busy
4:41 people and professionals that updates
4:42 you on all of the interesting news in
4:44 the worlds of business and finance and
4:45 Tech in just a few minutes now I used to
4:47 waste a lot of time scrolling on
4:48 different apps and news services but now
4:50 I just read morning Brew most mornings
4:51 and that gives me basically everything I
4:53 need to know in these worlds that I care
4:54 about it summarizes the world's must
4:55 know news every day but unlike
4:56 traditional news it's actually
4:58 entertaining and it's written in a
5:00 pretty engaging Style that's fun and
5:01 accessible and actually interesting for
5:03 anyone to read for example morning Brew
5:04 is how I'm personally keeping up with
5:06 all of the ridiculous stuff that's going
5:07 on in the world of AI and seeing if
5:08 there's anything I can incorporate from
5:10 that into my own life and my own
5:11 business I'm also using it to stay up to
5:12 date with social media trends and
5:14 movements which generally helps me think
5:15 about the long-term future of my
5:16 business there are over 4 million
5:17 professionals like you and me reading
5:19 morning Brew every single day and it is
5:21 in fact totally free and takes less than
5:23 10 seconds to sign up so you might as
5:24 well and if you're fancy signing up then
5:26 do head over to morningbrew daily.com
5:28 Ali or hit the link in the video
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5:36 tip number four is to read multiple
5:37 books at once again this speaks to that
5:39 point around it's okay to quit books
5:41 like sometimes you're just not in the
5:42 mood for a certain type of book I often
5:44 have about eight or nine different books
5:45 on the go some of them are fiction some
5:47 of them are non-fiction some of them are
5:48 directly related to my work some of them
5:49 are completely unrelated to my work and
5:51 so to just give you an idea I read for
5:52 around half an hour at least every day
5:54 and the books that I'm currently in the
5:55 process of reading are excellent advice
5:57 for living by Kevin Kelly eight dates by
5:59 John and Julie gotman Kundalini Contra
6:01 which is a spirituality book crucial
6:02 conversations which is a book about how
6:04 to have important conversations the
6:05 fantasy fiction book light lock by Alex
6:07 Aster the fantasy fiction book battle
6:09 mage by Peter Flanery and finally one
6:11 blade of grass which is a Zen Memoir by
6:13 Henry shukman that I'm sort of 20%
6:14 through so this is quite a lot of books
6:15 and it's quite a lot of variety there's
6:17 a bit of self-help bit of spirituality a
6:18 bit of fiction and it's nice because it
6:20 means that every evening when I'm on my
6:22 Kindle just before bed I can decide what
6:24 do I feel like reading today and I'll
6:26 just go wherever my energy takes me but
6:27 if I only had one book that I was
6:29 focusing on at a given time I would then
6:31 feel a lot more of that friction where
6:32 I'm like ah I don't really feel like I
6:34 don't know doing a spirituality book
6:35 tonight if I didn't have an alternative
6:37 option then I just wouldn't read and
6:38 then I would lose the habit and then I
6:40 would end up reading a lot less oh also
6:41 another fantastic way of getting through
6:43 lots of books is by using short form
6:45 they're an insanely good book summary
6:46 service by far the best one I've ever
6:48 used and they have summaries from all of
6:50 the best non-fiction books across loads
6:51 of different genres they'll be linked
6:52 down in the video description if you
6:54 want to check them out tip number six is
6:57 to listen to audiobooks audiobooks are
6:58 absolutely freaking life-changing you
7:00 can now get audiobooks on on Audible you
7:01 can also get them on Spotify with
7:02 Spotify Premium you can also get them on
7:04 speechify if you use speechify like
7:06 there's now lots and lots of ways of
7:07 accessing audiobooks other than just
7:08 audible which has been around for a very
7:10 long time but audiobooks are absolutely
7:11 gamechanging because it means that you
7:12 can listen to books while you on the go
7:14 while you are doing more interesting
7:15 things and one of the really nice things
7:16 about listening to a book is that it's
7:18 often easier to get through certain
7:19 types of books when listening to them
7:21 rather than when reading them so for
7:23 example I'm currently listening to The
7:24 Fellowship of the Ring the first book in
7:26 The Lord of the Ring series I have tried
7:27 reading that book tons and tons and tons
7:29 of times over the years but I've never
7:31 quite been able to kind of battle
7:32 through some of the heavier denser
7:34 descriptions but having a really nice
7:35 narrator reading it out to me makes me
7:36 much more likely to get through it
7:38 similarly I Tried reading sapun by
7:41 youval Noah Harari for absolutely ages I
7:42 never managed to get through it until I
7:43 listened to it on Audible and then I got
7:45 through the whole thing and I was like
7:46 damn this is actually really good and
7:48 there are some books where listening to
7:49 it is just so nice but also obviously it
7:51 means that you can do it while doing
7:52 other things one of my favorite things
7:53 to do is to go on a walk while listening
7:55 to an audio book so these days as I'm
7:57 getting in my 10,000 steps every day I'm
7:58 listening to the Lord of the Rings audio
8:00 book and it's absolutely sick similarly
8:01 back when I had a day job and I used to
8:02 commute to work and back I'd be I'd be
8:04 driving an hour each way to work when I
8:05 worked at the hospital and I'd be
8:07 listening to the Brandon Sanderson
8:09 fantasy book series the mistborn series
8:11 The Stormlight Archive The Wheel of Time
8:12 series by Robert Jordan and these were
8:15 just incredible long ass fantasy series
8:16 and I'd be listening to them in the car
8:18 and I'd get to work and I'd be like ah I
8:19 don't want this to end so if you haven't
8:21 yet started reading audiobooks I can
8:22 wholeheartedly recommend and in fact I
8:24 have narrated my own Audi book and if
8:25 you want to sign up to a free trial of
8:27 audible you get one free credit you can
8:28 use it to buy my book if you want it's
8:30 free might as well let's now move on to
8:31 tip number six which is to shape your
8:33 environment so right now I'm living a
8:35 bit of a digital Nomad year where I've
8:37 got everything of mine in a suitcase and
8:38 a backpack which is why I don't really
8:40 have many physical books on me although
8:41 I do like to carry one or two physical
8:43 books and so I have obviously mine so I
8:44 can show it off in videos like this and
8:46 also this one how to change your life by
8:48 Jake Humphrey and Damen Hughes which is
8:49 very nice so far and so if you're a
8:50 physical book kind of person then
8:51 shaping your environment means just
8:53 having easy access to books like maybe
8:55 you have a book on your bedside table or
8:57 two or three so that when you get into
8:58 bed you might as well reach for a book
9:00 and read for a little bit but it's not
9:01 just your physical environment it's also
9:03 your digital environment and so one
9:04 thing that I find really useful to do is
9:06 to design my iPhone home screens in a
9:08 way that encourages me to read and so on
9:09 my home screen right now I've got a
9:11 calendar I've got my habit tracker I've
9:12 got my to-do list app and I've got the
9:13 Kindle app and I've also got the
9:15 readwise reader app both of these things
9:16 are things that encourage me to read and
9:18 then on one of the other pages of my
9:19 phone I've got the Kindle widget and the
9:21 Audible widget and so one thing that I
9:22 found super helpful is to just not have
9:24 any social media apps visible on my home
9:26 screen so if I want to go on Instagram I
9:27 have to physically scroll down and type
9:28 in Instagram for it to work but the
9:30 basic idea is that if you want to build
9:31 any sort of habit you want to try and
9:33 give yourself little nudges to do that
9:35 habit and to remind yourself that oh
9:36 yeah this is the thing I wanted to do
9:37 and if you want to break any kind of bad
9:39 habit like for example social media
9:40 addiction or anything like that you want
9:42 to make it a little bit harder for you
9:43 to access those things and so action
9:44 point here might be that can you pause
9:46 this video right now and just add a
9:47 couple of reading themed apps to your
9:49 phone screen maybe it's a Kindle app
9:50 maybe it's a reader app maybe it's a
9:52 Spotify app for audiobooks or AUD
9:53 whatever that might be there's a bunch
9:54 of different apps of read for reading
9:55 but if you have those first thing on
9:57 your home screen then it's also helping
9:58 you design your digital environment in a
9:59 way that makes it Mak it a lot easier to
10:01 read tip number seven I've mentioned
10:02 this a couple of times but let me grab
10:05 it I could wholeheartedly recommend
10:06 getting a Kindle Kindle is just a
10:08 freaking incredible it's an incredible
10:09 device it's stupidly cheap they're like
10:12 I don't know 50 say 60 $70 on Amazon
10:14 these days you can get them cheaper if
10:15 you have adverts on the front cover as
10:16 well I've been using a Kindle pretty
10:18 much every day since 2008 when the
10:20 original Kindle came out and it's been
10:22 one of the if not the single most
10:25 impactful tech device I have ever bought
10:26 it's just amazing because like it's so
10:28 nice reading on a Kindle it's not quite
10:29 as nice as reading on paper but they're
10:31 so light I can carry a Kindle everywhere
10:33 I go I do in fact carry a Kindle
10:34 everywhere I go and these days when I'm
10:35 staying in different airbnbs and hotels
10:37 and stuff I will always take my Kindle
10:39 out and have it on my bedside table
10:40 whereas my phone will be on charge all
10:42 the way across the room which means when
10:44 I get into bed I am not tempted to go on
10:45 my phone I'm in fact the the only thing
10:46 I have access to is literally just my
10:48 Kindle and I can attribute the vast
10:50 majority of books that I've been able to
10:51 read while being busy and doing other
10:53 things to the fact that I have a Kindle
10:54 and I also have the Kindle app on my
10:55 phone so that I can read when I'm on the
10:57 toilet and also when I'm on trains and
10:58 buses and transport and taxis and all
11:00 this sort sort of stuff where I wouldn't
11:01 otherwise have my Kindle on me so action
11:03 point here is if you don't yet have a
11:04 Kindle then consider buying one or some
11:06 other kind of e-reader or like ask for
11:07 it as a gift you use a Kindle
11:09 consistently I can pretty much guarantee
11:10 that it will completely change your life
11:11 all right tip number eight is to
11:13 consider gamifying your reading process
11:15 using something like Goodreads now
11:16 Goodreads is like a social network thing
11:18 for readers it's owned by Amazon it's a
11:20 bit juny but it does mean that if you
11:21 start reading books on Kindle it will
11:23 automatically add it to your Goodreads
11:24 library and it's just kind of fun to
11:25 sort of set up reading challenges and
11:27 see how many books can I read when when
11:29 I'm on good reads it's kind of fun to
11:30 review books as well and give them a
11:32 star rating and you can just keep track
11:33 of every single book you've ever read if
11:34 you don't want to use Goodreads there's
11:36 an app that I found recently called sofa
11:37 which is a nice way to organize your
11:39 downtime that also lets you add books
11:41 the idea here is that if you can try and
11:42 make it a little bit fun turn it into a
11:43 little bit of a game when you finish a
11:45 book you give it a bit of a rating you
11:47 add it to your list and then you feel
11:48 yourself making progress by reading more
11:49 and more books that's just another
11:50 little nudge that we can use to help
11:52 build that habit of reading tip number
11:54 nine is to change your identity this is
11:55 something that James Clear talks a lot
11:57 about in atomic habits that if you do in
11:59 fact want to build a habit that's
12:00 particularly good for you you want to
12:03 start on the level of identity it's much
12:05 easier to read more books if you
12:07 identify as someone who reads a lot of
12:09 books or if you identify as a reader
12:12 rather than if you have told yourself
12:13 that you have the identity of someone
12:14 who doesn't read or like oh I don't read
12:16 books or I never read it's like all of
12:18 these things are disempowering things
12:19 that you are saying to yourself and so a
12:21 fairly easy way of reading more books is
12:23 to just shift into that identity I am
12:24 someone who reads I someone who makes
12:26 time to read and you'll find that if you
12:27 have that identity it becomes a lot
12:29 easier to take the daily actions and
12:30 then finally tip number 10 is to
12:32 genuinely stop caring about the numbers
12:34 I know this video you know clickbait
12:35 titles and all that crap like 100 books
12:37 a year 50 books a year a th books a year
12:39 whatever no one gives a about about
12:41 how many number of books you read it's
12:42 kind of fun to make the number go up
12:43 especially if you're trying to build a
12:44 habit initially just like you know
12:46 working out it's kind of fun to see how
12:48 many times can I actually get to the gym
12:49 but the main thing is that you want to
12:50 be reading and you want to be enjoying
12:52 the process of doing it which is the
12:54 entire thesis of my productivity
12:56 philosophy productivity takes care of
12:58 itself when you can find a way to enjoy
12:59 the process so again it's not about the
13:01 numbers if you're reading non-fiction
13:02 it's far better to read just like maybe
13:03 a handful of books in the year or maybe
13:05 even just one maybe even half a book in
13:07 the year and to really absorb the
13:08 insights and takeaways from it again
13:10 assuming you're reading for the sake of
13:11 insight but the most important thing is
13:12 to not worry about the numbers so much
13:15 and try your best to enjoy the process
13:16 so hopefully some of these tips will
13:17 help you read a little bit more this
13:18 year or next year and if you're
13:20 interested in trying to remember more of
13:21 the things that you read Because you
13:22 find that you read and then you forget
13:24 whatever you've read you might like to
13:25 check out this video over here which is
13:27 all about how to remember basically
13:28 everything you read so thank you so much
13:29 for watching watching and I'll see you
