The smart vs. stupid way to read books

So I was listening to a podcast with two legendary role models of mine — Jocko Willink and Jordan Peterson — and they dropped some life-changing wisdom on the topics of reading and learning.

In case you're not familiar, Jocko Willink is a highly-decorated retired Navy Seal commander who's now a successful entrepreneur, author, and podcaster. And he's one of the wisest, most disciplined, and most mature people I've ever seen.

And Jordan Peterson is arguably the most influential psychologist in the world today, as well as a bestselling author and famous speaker. He's also incredibly wise, wickedly smart, probably the most articulate and well-spoken person I've ever heard.

So when these two intellectual heavyweights get together on a podcast, you know it's guaranteed to be good.

Anyway, they brought up a subject that highly resonated with me. And that is…

The life-changing magic of reading.

Their point was that reading is the easiest way to "download" someone else's decades of experience into your own brain.

And that obviously gives you a tremendous advantage in life. It's like a superpower… if you actually take advantage of it.

But that's obvious, and not the point of this post.

Rather, Jordan Peterson made an interesting point about the BEST way to read...

He said that the very best thing a teacher can do for you is to recommend ten great books that will change your life (and who actually knows that to be the case).

The idea is that there's an infinite number of books out there, and your time is extremely limited.

So just by curating a list of the top ten books that changed their own life, and then recommending that list to you…

Your teacher can help you "shortcut" the process of weeding through the mountain of unnecessary books out there.

And you can go directly to the books that are gems — the very best books in your field — and download the gold nuggets of wisdom that they contain directly into your brain.

A powerful way to learn, no doubt.

But then I checked out Jordan Peterson's book list, and I realized that HIS book list is completely irrelevant to me.

Because here's the thing…

Books are not objectively useful.

They are only useful if the information they contain helps you reach a specific goal that you set out to accomplish, or solve a specific problem you're currently struggling with.

So in Jordan Peterson's case, his reading list is full of books that are related to psychoanalysis and philosophy and history, since that's his whole thing.

And since that's HIS thing, those books are highly relevant and interesting to him. And they had a profound impact on his life.

But in my case? Definitely not.

If I were to read these books, it would be a massive waste of time for me at this point in my life, since they aren't related or relevant to the specific goals I have in my life right now (which are specific to marketing, business, and entrepreneurship).

Same in Jocko's case. Jocko's books are mostly war biographies from great military men, but if I were to read them, it would largely be a waste of time for me with my current goals.

Even if I were to gain some "secondhand lessons" from these books that could be applied to business and marketing, it wouldn't be the most efficient way to learn those lessons, since those books would be filled with a lot of things that are completely IRRELEVANT to my particular goals.

So the point is that a book is never objectively "good" or "bad." Rather, a book is only as valuable as it is relevant.

That is, relevant to YOU in your specific, unique situation at this very moment.

A so-called "great" book, with plenty of 5-star reviews and lots of fanfare, might not be a great book for YOU. Not in your specific situation. And not right now.

That's why one of the CORE principles of reading smartly is that you should focus on reading "just in time" information, and NOT "just in case" information.

"Just in case" information is where you read a book that's filled with advice you MIGHT use someday in the future.

(E.g., reading a biography on Benjamin Franklin without a specific goal in mind. Reading just for the sake of reading.)

Whereas "just in time" information is where you read a book that's filled with advice that will directly help you overcome a specific problem that you're dealing with RIGHT NOW.

(E.g., reading Dan Kennedy's "No B.S. Time Management" when you're struggling with managing your time wisely despite having looming deadlines around the corner, and you desperately need a solution NOW.)

See the difference?

One is general and untargeted. It's "passive." It's about soaking in random information rather than actually solving a specific problem.

Wheras the other is targeted toward solving a specific, relevant problem that you're struggling with right now.

THAT, my friend, is the right way to read.

Don't read indiscriminately. There's far too many books out there, and you'll waste tremendous amounts of time reading things that won't actually get you closer to your goals.

Rather, read things with the goal of solving specific problems that you're dealing with in your life right now. That's how you read SMART, and actually get life-changing value out of the books you read.

Anyway, I've actually been thinking of creating a reading list for some time now.

And now, after hearing Jordan Peterson's advice about the life-changing power of top-10 book lists, I realized that this could be highly valuable to my cherished list subscribers who want to discover some of the most life-changing books I've ever read.

Mind you, this would be an *unconventional* reading list. Not the typical stuff you'd see in a "top 10 copywriting books" list. (Heck, I wouldn't even include most copywriting books on the list, since many of the books that have taught me the most about copywriting were ironically NOT traditional copywriting books.)

So if you'd like to get access to a hand-picked, curated reading list from Yours Truly — jam-packed with the very best books that have transformed my life (and are likely to transform yours as well)…

Then stay tuned. Because I'll be publishing a reading list sometime soon for my cherished email subscribers.

Oh, and if you enjoy these daily posts, but aren't on my email list yet…

I save my BEST stuff for my email list — including my free "21 Cult-Brand Copywriting Commandments" cheat sheet.

So if you haven't hopped aboard yet and would like to, go here: www.beaudschultz.com

-Beau D. Schultz