From Learning to Living... How to Get the Most Out of Your Reading

I live by a simple philosophy.

Learn it. Live it. Lead it.

Learning is easy. We listen to podcasts. We watch webinars. We read books. We gain knowledge from meaningful conversations.?

We are inspired by knowledge.

But it’s the living part that proves to be a bit more difficult. When we live what we learn, our lives begin to change. That newly acquired knowledge has moved from our head to our heart. We have taken an idea, a concept, a belief and rooted it in our lives and it comes out in our actions and behaviors.

If you've been in this community for awhile or ever been part of a conversation I've led, you know I'm a bibliophage, someone who loves to read books. Where I love soaking up all the good stuff from amazing authors (many of them are at mastery in their work),?my biggest struggle is getting their knowledge into my bones.

Why read a book if it somehow doesn’t change you or invite you to think from a new perspective? How can I learn it and live it in my everyday life?

Here is how I move from learning to living...

1. Choose a book in an area you want to grow.

One of my values is life-long learning and with that comes a drive for my own personal and professional growth. I find an area that I want to grow in or learn more about and then find books that speak to that area. It’s not typically one source but a couple.

For instance, when concentrating on my business growth the books I read were:?

• The EMyth by Michael Gerber?
• The 4 D’s of Execution by Sean Covey?
• Traction by Gino Wickman
• Designing and Leading Life-Changing Workshops by Ken Nelson

When wrestling with authenticity and self-worth, I read:?

• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown?
• Already Enough by Lisa Olivera?
• Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown?
• You Are Enough by Panache Desai

When I needed to think bigger about where I was, I read?

• The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope?
• The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson
• Living a Committed Life by Lynne Twist?
• Untamed by Glennon Doyle

When I wanted to go deeper in my spirituality, I read?

• Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver?
• Audacious by Beth Moore?
• When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd
• Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle

I could keep going on and on and on...

Where do you find yourself striving for more in your life right now?

There are at least 20 books out there that you can read right now that will help you, challenge you, validate you, teach you… go find two of them and start with chapter 1.

2. Actively read expecting to learn something.?

Every book I’m reading has a pencil in it.

This pencil does 2 things: 1) it holds my page like a bookmark and 2) it marks the passages or quotes that mean something to me.?I’ll underline sentences or complete paragraphs that are meaningful. I’ll write in the margins if I agree, disagree, or have another thought I’m connecting with the author’s point. If the entire page is a story I want to remember, I’ll make a squiggly line all the way down the side of the page.

If a page has something remarkable, I’ll dog-ear (or puppy fold) the corner. If I want to use the thought in my work, I’ll attach a post-it note and jot the theme on it for quicker reference.

At this point,?this would be passive learning.?I’ve read the book, highlighted certain passages, enjoyed the author’s thoughts and perspective, and closed the book.

3. Develop a system to capture (and retain) what you learn.

To move from a passive learning state to a massive action state takes a bit more work. This is where we are intentional about moving from?learning it?to?living it?so it’s important to develop your own system of how you integrate what you’ve underlined into your everyday life.

John Maxwell notes the thoughts by writing it on the inside front cover with page number and topic. His staff then copies those pages and puts them on a 5X8 card.

James Clear, author of?Atomic Habits?(haven’t read that one all the way through yet) keeps all his notes in Evernote, which makes them easy to search.

My method changes from year to year. I have journals dedicated to books I’ve read where I take physical hand written notes. I’ve typed notes into a Word document and dropped into a specific Book Notes folder.

But these practices don’t help me live the concepts I learn, rather just recall them.

My current system is using note cards.

I read Brendon Burchard’s?High Performing Habits?(it’s a juggernaut) and I was convinced it would be filled with life altering practices.

So I sat down with an orange Sharpie pen (I love colored Sharpies that don’t bleed through paper) and a stack of note cards. For each a-ha moment, each high performing habit, each model, I would capture it on a single notecard. In the upper right hand corner, I would write the topic (Clarity, Generate Energy, Courage), capture the thought, draw the model, or jot down his journaling prompts, and then note the page number and book title on the front or back of the card.?

I then punched a hole in the top left of each card and fixed them together with a ring. This little stack of cards is now a summary of Brendan’s book (and it fits in my purse. Bonus!) I can rearrange the cards depending on the habit I’m forming, the mindset I’m shifting, or the character trait I’m developing.

I might pull the card out to journal my thoughts on a quote, work through a concept, study and apply a model, or even offer it as a tool or thought in a coaching session.

Eventually I graduated to using this?Oxford Just Flip It Note Card?system. The cards are bigger and a bit more protected so they don’t curl, bend, or discolor.

How can you remind yourself on a daily or weekly basis to implement what you learned into your everyday life??How do you memorize quotes and concepts??

The key is having a system and following it. My system may feel archaic but it works for me. Whether it’s a paper or electronic system, find one that works for you.

Once you learn it, get it in your bones and really live it yourself, then you're ready to lead it and teach it to someone else.

Are you a bibliophage too? It's hard to move from a real book where you can touch the pages and practically smell each word to listening to an audio book or reading a book online.

For the last few years, I've been expanding my book consumption and selection by using?Scribd. It's an online library of sorts where $100 a year gives me access to thousands of books, audio books, magazines, white papers, documents, podcasts, even sheet music.?

I have saved $1000's using this app.

Instead of going directly to Amazon when I get a book recommendation, I first check Scribd and 8 times out of 10 I find the title I'm looking for.?

You can try Scribd and get 60 days free.?

To wrap this all up and give you an opportunity to share about yourself, please answer one of these prompts in the comments:

1. What books have you gotten into your bones where you've applied what you learned into your own life? Share one (or two) title/author and what you learned that changed your life.
2. What is your methodology for implementing what you learned?