5 Steps to Help You Benefit from Reading Books

One day someone asked me, “How can you retain more information from the books you read?” I liked that question because I wasn't fond of reading as I grew up.

Note: This article is taken from the writer Darius Foroux, in which he tells us about his experience in benefiting from the books he reads in his life.

Still, these days, coffeehouses are full of people reading books while they're sipping their coffee, which is a significant shift because the books I read now are more than the books I've ever read, but the key here  is not how many books you read but how much you keep from what you read.

Most of the people I talk to don't have a reading strategy; they just pick up a book and start reading it. I used to be like them, but now that's impossible for me. You might read a novel for entertainment, but think about it, why are you reading an actual book in the first place? Isn't it because you want to get something meaningful out of it and learn things you can apply to grow and develop? That's the whole point of reading.

I'm often asked, “How do you remember the information you read in books?” In this article, I will explain how I went about it.

5 Steps to Help You Benefit from Reading Books

1. Set the Goal

Before I even think about the books I'm going to read, I think about what I'm trying to achieve, and I firmly believe that the content of the books should correspond to what's going on in your life. I'll give you an example of that.

When I met him in 2011, one of the Mentors recommended that I read Flow by Hungarian-American psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I listened to his advice and bought the book. I also started reading it but didn't get along with the content. That doesn't mean the book was bad; On the contrary, I read it a while ago and really liked it. It's the best book I've read on work habits.

But, going back to 2011, I didn't care about this kind of thing; I had just graduated and started working, and I was lost and just thinking about growing my business. Therefore, you need to set a reading goal.

What is going on with your life? Are you building a business? Are you going through a divorce? Are you looking for a job? Are you trying to take the next step in your career? Do you want to get more things done? Hence, read only the books that teach you how to overcome current challenges.

2. Share Your Knowledge

Knowledge is only good if you apply it, but one thing most people don't think about is that sharing knowledge is impressive. You may not be a teacher, but if you act like one, you are actually applying knowledge, and all it takes is a change in mindset.

Do not read a book carelessly; read it passionately and talk about it with others. Say to yourself, “I have to concentrate on the book at hand because I will share everything I have learned with others, for I am the best person to know about it.”

3. Recognize Important Ideas and Form Mental Connections

The more connections you make between pieces of information in your brain, the better you remember them, and I do that by taking lots of notes.

If you think that books are sacred and should not be marked and written on, you will never keep much of what you read. So taking notes, folding pages, and marking to distinguish parts of the text is simple and practical; always keep a marker while reading, and if you read digitally, you only need your finger; do not forget to mark exciting and important sections.

Here are some other strategies to help me better connect the information:

• I use a separate folder to take notes on books in my note-taking app.
• When I highlight something significant, I take a photo of that page and upload it to my Notes folder.
• Next, I immediately write down why it's important and how to use it.

I use this process because I often recognize important syllables and phrases, and when I review what I've read, I think, “Why did you mark this?”

Therefore, always write the reason for highlighting a paragraph. You do not have to do it with everything you mark; just highlight the sections you want to access quickly. I often write about how I can use the advice in my work, and when I get an idea for an article, I think of the title and attach a picture of the text that I marked.

4. Visualize and Imagine

Another great way to make connections in your mind is to imagine what you're learning; our eyes are involved in the learning process, and our visual memories are too. What I like to do when I read is to have imaginary conversations about the things I read. I imagine myself sitting with a friend and talking about the subject, or when I read helpful advice, I imagine myself actually doing this.

I vividly remember when I first read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. One of Carnegie's tips was to become genuinely interested in people.

So I imagined myself conversing with a stranger and being genuinely interested in what that person was saying. When you imagine something, you feel like it's almost real.

Visualization is also a standard self-improvement tool used by most high-performers. Recently retired NBA player Paul Pierce once explained how he uses it before a game: “Maybe I imagine myself, the hits I'm going to get in the game, how I'm going to play defense, what we have to do to stop the best player on the other team, what's going to wear me out, all aspects of the game”.

5. Immediately apply new information

Look at your life and ask yourself: How can I grow? Growth can be personal, financial, or spiritual. Understand that change doesn't happen on its own. Learning new skills, earning more money, and having a great relationship require hard work, but you can make this growth much easier if you apply the things you've learned in books. Knowledge without application is entirely useless.

There is nothing sadder than a knowledgeable person holding himself within the four walls of his room. You must go out and apply what you have learned from this reading. As soon as you do, you will grow, no doubt about it. So always ask yourself this question after finishing the book: “What is the only thing I will apply after reading this book?” You see, it's about what you do with your knowledge, not how much you have. Less is more when it comes to reading.