November 2017, the month I made my ‘big leap forward’. This may have very well been one of the most defining months of my adult life. At the age of 24, I did not have much of a long adult life but nonetheless I clearly identify this month as a month the heralded the beginning of a commitment to continuous learning. Reading is one of the best ways to broaden your knowledge and learn new skills. Regular reading forms a crucial pillar in lifelong learning and may explain the phenomenon of successful people attributing parts of their great success to strong reading habits.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more you learn, the more places you’ll go”. – Dr. Seuss.

Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, David Rubenstein and Phil Knight. What do they all have in common? They reading with no compromising. Bill Gates roughly reads 50 books a year, that’s roughly one book a week. All these icons have an insatiable appetite to learn more about the world they inhabit and they achieve this goal through solid reading habits. Reading became a major part of their daily lifestyle, a habit.

Let’s take a closer look at Warren Buffet. We have all heard of the story of Warren Buffett and his rise to being a billionaire. Fewer of us will be aware of Warren’s reading habits. Warren personally attributes many of his greatest money decisions to his reading habits. When asked once about the key to success he replied saying, “Read 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.” This advice must be taken seriously when it comes from the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a multibillion dollar corporation. You may be familiar with this quote but he did not stop there. Warren went on the say, “All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it”.

How many people say … I would love to read more? … If only I had more free time to read? Everyone knows the importance of reading yet as a society we struggle to incorporate reading into our daily schedules. The internet, social media and smartphones steal our attention all to readily. We are happy to devote five hours a day to browsing the web and the various social media platforms but are unwilling to put half an hour a day aside to build up knowledge from reading. I too had fallen victim to this trap. Working nine to five and being easily distracted by the technologies of the twenty first century, I had convinced myself I had no time for reading. If only there was an easy way for ‘busy’ people to ‘read’ books. What if we redefine reading books. What is we started listening to books being read by other people, we would be reading books without reading the books. Enter audible.

Enter Audible. Audible is run by Amazon and is a platform for listening to audiobooks. It can be downloaded to your smartphone from the app store. There is a monthly subscription fee, about the price of two cups of coffee a month. With subscription you are awarded one free credit a month, this allows you to download one free book a month. Downloaded books are saved onto the app and onto your phone, this means you have a portable library to take with you on the go. Listen to audible while you are in the car, on the train, on the bus or any other commute. Listen to audible first thing in the morning, before you go to bed or during the day if you have some free time. Listen to audible whilst in the gym, whilst showering, whilst washing up. This is the joy of audible, you can use your hands to do other things while you read!

Audible also has a feature that allows you to speed up listening to listen at faster speeds such as 1.25x and 1.5x. It will take some time to adjust to 1.25x speed but once you make the transition 1x speed will sound like the reader is having a stroke. At higher speeds you get through books in less time and that’s exactly why we wanted Audible in the first place! Because we are efficient (lazy)! I have a tendency to choose non-fiction educational books over fiction novels using reading as a way to educate myself. Fiction books are emotion provoking books and should not be easily dismissed.

Warren Buffett estimates he spends an astonishing 80% of his day reading. I am not advocating spending this proportion of your day reading but rather spending a small amount of each day immersed in literature. Just 30 minutes a day listening to audiobooks on audible could yield two books read a month, that’s 24 books in a year. Can you begin to imagine the compound knowledge you would have gained after reading 24 books, that could be you this time next year.

7 Must Read Books on Audible:

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson.
• The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters.
• Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.
• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Convey.
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
• Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari.

Since my ‘great leap forward’ in November 2017 I have read 16 books in 5 months, some books twice they were so good! To propel you along on your journey to compound knowledge ask yourself this question.

How much real value is browsing the web and social media actually providing me?
Reading books, in particular non-fiction books can help you become a better version of yourself. You’ll learn invaluable life lessons and skills, become a better communicator and increase your problem-solving skills and concentration. Most importantly, reading is fun and should be used as an opportunity to slow down and relax. Good luck with your reading journey! Remember the hardest step is the first step.