6 Tips For Reading More Effectively

When reading books began feeling like an assignment, I stepped away for 16 years.

I fell in love with books at an early age because my parents read to me a lot.  They bought me the first Harry Potter when it came out, which I finished in a few weeks, fascinated by the fictional world of Hogwarts and Gryffindor.  Few experiences could match reading for a young boy with a vivid imagination and nothing but time on his hands.

Then came school.

Reading became a chore.  Non-fiction was forced on me for homework and tests.  Books became less imaginative, exhilarating.  My love for reading faded, replaced by video games, friends, and anything else.

But a few years ago I rekindled my love for reading because not only is it awesome when you get to pick the books, it’s also a competitive advantage in life.

Some role models challenged me to read, especially since I was starting a company.

Accepting that challenge, I read Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High and immediately fell in love with reading again.

Books became a gateway into the experiences and lessons from others.

Even though the world’s information is at our fingertips, nothing streamlines learning the way books do.  Great authors weave stories, pitfalls, and actions together on any topic.  Books let you hike through the mind of someone who did something worthwhile.

Reading takes a long time, which puts pressure on you to make sure the investment is worth the cost.

Here are my top 6 tips for ensuring your reading process is effective: from selecting the right books to extracting the right lessons and insights from between the pages.

1. Build criteria for selecting a worthwhile book

If you chose a book from the library with a blindfold, the odds of it being something you like or useful is slim.  You’d have to have a very open mind and a lot of free time for that to be a viable strategy.

It’s better to develop some filters for selecting a book.

These put a book on my radar:

To move beyond awareness I take a few other things into account:

Trendy books haven’t stood the test of time.  There’s a reason books like The Alchemist and How To Win Friends and Influence People remain at the top of the pile: they’ve been poured over by millions and remain a steadfast investment.

A clear set of criteria ensures the books you’re picking up off the shelf are a worthwhile investment.  If you’re not sure how to start, feel free to steal mine and let yours develop over time.

2. Buy them for cheap

Even a modest 20 or so books a year could run you $400 if you pay full price every time.

There’s a few ways to buy books without breaking the bank if you’re willing to wait for them to show up.

Strategy 1: Amazon’s Used Books

You may recall Amazon started as an online bookstore in the summer of 1995, and remains so.  Most people don’t realize they’re also a massive marketplace for used books.

Available resellers can be found on the main page of any title:

I follow this strategy for nearly every physical book copy that I purchase and have never had any issues with quality.  There are a lot of second-hand stores that sell inventory on Amazon, so you’re usually interacting with them.

This strategy brings most prices below $10, even after shipping.

Strategy 2: Library

The library is still a good place to find books on any topic.  They’re usually paid for by local governments and well-organized.  

If you can stomach not owning them after, it is the most affordable (legal) option.

Strategy 3: Summary videos

While not technically reading, there are YouTube channels dedicated to summarizing the main takeaways of popular books.  In some cases, the entire audiobook is available to listen for free (of questionable legality).

Book reading purists like myself don’t recommend this because you’re forced to hear the lessons through someone else’s lens instead of your own.  Reading a book yourself allows you to soak in the source material and connect the dots to your current situation.

Strategy 4: Streaming & audiobooks

Using a service like Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited or Audible saves a lot of money for access at the expense of not owning a physical copy.

Not a big deal unless you’re me.  I’m picky about turning a real page most of the time, convinced I don’t retain information I can’t touch.

Selections vary, depending entirely on the service you’re interacting with.  Surprisingly, not everything has been transformed into an audiobook.

Strategy 5: Used book stores or second hand stores

You can always find the best sellers at used book stores for cheap.

Inventory isn’t guaranteed, but if you strike gold it’s easy to walk away with a volume of writing that you almost feel guilty for having, especially when you consider the return you’ll get on that investment.

Bonus Strategy: Garage Sales

Huge gamble.  Inventory not guaranteed.  Will almost certainly result in you coming home empty handed.  But if you strike gold, you can find books on the cheap (free shipping: you).

3. Master the formats

There are 3 ways to consume a book:

Depending on your habits, one medium may not work well for certain contexts.  Here’s how I use each:

I know people who won’t touch a physical book if it reaches out at them.  That’s fine.  I’m too distractable to believe I could learn as effectively with an audio-only experience.

Non-physical books are harder to scrub through for bits you want to quote or review.  E-books are decent, but imperfect.

4. Have a note-taking system

I’ve never met anyone that couldn’t retain information better without notes.

I’m a huge notetaker.  You won’t find me in any meetings or conferences without a notepad, likely my Remarkable 2 (which I’m a huge advocate of).

Reading is no exception.

Note-taking is a critical part of my reading process.  I used to write everything down while I read.  In some of my earliest notes, I essentially copied the work of the author.

Writing everything down was a terrible use of time.  My notes were scattered, disorganized, and hard to interpret.  They were so bad it was actually easier to open the book again and skim the relevant sections instead of building a Rosetta Stone for my scribbles.

This frustration led to a new system: using my phone.

Although I don’t read very fast, I record everything from books into a dedicated Note on my phone.  When I stumble upon any of the following, I note the page number and track a takeaway:

I keep it brief.

With the page number in hand, I can easily return to that section of the book for review.  It’s not helpful to record the words of the author verbatim – my system for taking notes is intended as a springboard for action rather than a record of interesting things I read.

For example, my notes for Humanocracy (read my review here) include my reaction in the moment to the author’s explanation of bureaucracy:

“The USA was invented by geniuses to be run by idiots.  Bureaucracy is the opposite.  The country relies on its principles, not its structure, for success.”

A good system is shaped over time to supply you with an interesting summary of takeaways that are personal to your situation at the time of reading.  My notes have become very skimmable and brief, providing a useful nugget and leaving a trail to the source if I want to explore more.

5. Set reading goals and habits

Reading requires discipline.  You don’t want to start over because you waited too long to return to the book – what a waste of time.

New habits require as few barriers as possible.

Start small, be intentional, and make it easy to begin.  How you build this into your schedule depends on what works for you, but I use a few strategies:

Strategy 1: Set a daily or weekly reading goal

Nothing more complicated than deciding you’ll read a certain number of pages per day.  If you want to finish a book per month, divide the number of pages for the book by the number of days you want to read every week.

A 200 page book requires as little as 6 or 7 pages a day – less than 10 minutes of reading for most people.

When you achieve your goal, reward yourself.  Anything you can do to sweeten your new habit!

Strategy 2: Find a dedicated space

I have a corner in the living room I command when reading in the middle of the day, and a place in my office at night.  Both are far from potential distractions and create room for great note taking habits.

If I’m listening to an audiobook and don’t want to walk outside (winters in Minnesota can be cold), I’ll wear my noise-canceling headphones and circle the house for a chapter or two.

Having somewhere to go with your book makes reading more experiential and focused.

Strategy 3: Dedicate a block of time

Nothing happens if you don’t find time for it.

During the weekdays I read before bed.  On weekends I read in the middle of the day after my most important work is completed.

I’ll set a timer for 30-45 minutes and focus exclusively on learning from the pages in my hands.

Nothing else happens until I’m done reading.

6. Develop a system for taking action

If you learn everything a book offers but do nothing with it, you missed the point. 

Books are an exchange of information in return for your time. I used to finish a title, feel inspired, then regress a few days later. 

I used to count the number of books I read every year as a badge, but it doesn’t matter how many you read if you sit on the sidelines and forget to apply anything.

It’s more productive to read 1 book and apply 10 lessons than to read 10 books and apply 1 lesson. 

When you’re reading for a purpose, it’s not enough to take good notes. You also need a way to create action from what you learn.  Transformation beyond inspiration. 

There are many  ways to do this:

Strategy 1: Dedicated To Do List

While reading, create a section in your notes exclusively for actions you want to take courtesy of what you read. I recently adopted this because I found it hard to scrape those ideas out of the multiple pages of notes. 

This To Do list is written in an instructive way: “Build a flowchart of the sales process that accounts for prospecting with more detail”, for example. 

(From my To Do list after reading Predictable Revenue to sharpen my sales knowledge)

Some point after or during the book this list collects all the specific ideas you want to take.  When you start reading with an action-oriented objective in mind, you’re already a few steps ahead because you primed your brain to think of how to react to the new information you’re consuming. 

Strategy 2: Teach It

If you really want to learn the material, figure out a way to teach it to somebody else. 

Whether the student is real or not matters less than your efforts to download the information and package it up to educate others.  It’s one of the most effective ways to learn something. 

I tend to yammer about something “boring” to my friends and family that they don’t necessarily care about, but the act of telling others what I’m learning helps it stick more effectively. 

Another way I do this is through content on my LinkedIn or YouTube channel. These are merely outlets for teaching things I learn so I can understand them better, or share neat insights with likeminded people. 

Many people look past reading as antiquated and boring, and if that’s their attitude then they’ll find reasons to confirm it. 

But reading is a strong differentiator.

Not only does it help expand your perspectives (and vocabulary), reading is generally a more productive use of time for growing as a person and professional.  Books allow you to see the world through another’s perspective, and expands your understanding of the human experience.