Happy Quiet Life #004

The single greatest life hack you can learn is how to transform your future success by investing in $20 books.

"Education is the passport to the future," said Malcolm X, "for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."

History is filled with examples of people from all cultures, nations, races, and backgrounds who transformed their lives by taking the time to read books.

If you want to elevate your life, read books.

You will never lose when you invest in yourself.

The oldest habit in history to cultivate more success in your life and build a better future is still available for anyone willing to sit down for a few minutes each day and crack open a book.

• Learn skills that improve your performance.

• Allow history's greatest minds to mentor you.

• Study other people and why they do what they do.

• Build blocks of wisdom that give you insight into a better life.

You can improve all these things in 15 minutes a day.

1. Learn performance skills.

Reading another sales book won't drastically improve your sales.

I've created far more success in my life by reading about habits and mindsets than I've gotten from a sales book. James Clear wrote, "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." All the knowledge of a specialized skill won't help you if you don't understand how to use habits, systems, and a process in your life.

Unfortunately, our schooling trains us to believe we need another book on sales or marketing or investing techniques.

But school was teaching towards a grade, not designed to create successful people in the world.

Your top 5 takeaways from reading 100 books on any subject would be the same after reading 10. Don't read more books on hard skills.

Read books that enhance your performance and watch your success blossom.

2. Be mentored by the greats.

Don't limit your mentorship possibilities to the very few people you encounter in your life.

Books allow you the opportunity to be mentored by anyone in history. You'll find far more wisdom in a book that's managed to stay in publication for thousands of years than you will from colleagues. Marcus Aurelius ran the entire Roman Empire and jotted his notes down, I'd encourage you to take a glance.

Too many people think that experience trumps learning.

Action, experience, and trial by fire are all essential to success. But choosing to eliminate wisdom through books will slow your growth down.

The only way to increase your wisdom is to live more lives through others. Jojen told Bran in "A Dance with Dragons," “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."

3. Learn about other humans.

You won't succeed in any field if you don't understand how others think or why they do what they do.

You can't help people if you don't understand why they want what they want. You can't sell or market to people unless you know what they want.

Most people just think you should think the way they do.

People believe so strongly in their beliefs that they've convinced themselves they can change others' beliefs.

You can't change other people. Your success is dependent on you understanding people better.

Read fiction, read stories from people who aren't like you, and learn how others think.

4. Develop wisdom to live better.

Learning to live a good life is a skill. It doesn't just happen.

I stumbled through most of the first 30 years of my life: learning many hard lessons, relying on the wisdom I 'thought' I had, and assuming being smart was enough. But if you want to live better, "rise above the ordinary," as Jim Rohn would say, by reading books.

You won't find wisdom for a better life on TV or scrolling on your phone.

It takes work to read books.

Not all readers are reclusive, anti-social nerds who don't have a life. Many readers are people who actively take action towards improving their lives.

If you want more success in your life: career, finances, health, happiness, or whatever endeavor you have staked your future to—read books.

What lessons have you learned from reading?

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Have a great week, talk next Tuesday!