"People can't become truly knowledgeable without being excellent readers.
While multimedia systems can use video and sound to deliver information in
compelling ways, text is still one of the best ways to convey
details."
Here are four success-proven guideposts. They
will lead you to greater achievements. They will enrich your mind.
* Read. "Resolve to edge in a little reading every
day," Horace Mann advised, "even if it is but a single paragraph or two. If you
invest in reading only 15 minutes a day, it will make itself felt by the end of
the year."
Setting aside just 15 minutes a day will enable you to read up to two
dozen books a year. Keep it up and you'll have read 1,000 books in your
lifetime. That's the equivalent of going through college five times.
Earl Nightingale once wrote, "Books have meant to my life what the
sun has meant to the planet earth."
* Mark. The books we cherish most - the ones that
become our closest friends - are well marked. Their sentences and paragraphs are
underlined. The riches of reading will rapidly multiply for you as you mark,
underline, challenge, and often editorialize in the margins. We find ourselves
jotting cross-index information in the margins. Such notations are quite
valuable when preparing presentations on rather short notice.
* Learn. To learn is to understand, to comprehend,
or to attain proficiency in a subject. One of the most effective ways of
learning is to outline the book. Incidentally, these same book outlines make
great enclosures for communication going to prospects and clients.
* Inwardly Digest. It's not only what individuals
eat, but also what they digest, that gives them strength. Likewise, it's not
only what we read and how much we read, but what we "digest," what we
"internalize," that adds to our knowledge and understanding.
Ponder this favorite thought from Charlie "Tremendous" Jones:
"You will be the same person in five years that you are today except for
two things: the people you meet and the books you read."
Learn the riches of reading -- and in turn you can enrich the lives
of your prospects and clients!
