Jim Kwik breaks down how to read a book a week: the average book has 64,000 words, you read at 200 words per minute, so you need 45 minutes daily. Schedule it like an appointment when you're alert, not before bed.
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How do you read one book a week? Leaders are readers. The challenge is the average person reads about two books a year, but the average CEO reads about four to six books a month. So how do you get to this point where you're getting to one book a week? One of the reasons why I'm so excited about reading is because if somebody has decades of experience and they put into a book and you can sit down in a day or two and read that book, you can download decades of knowledge in days, right? So you have such a huge advantage. So how do you read one book a week without speed reading? Well, here's the secret. Look at the numbers, right? When I went on to Amazon, I found out that the medium number of words per book is about 64,000 words. And the average person, like we teach speed reading all around the world, in 150 different countries online, the average person reads about 200 words per minute. So now when you divide 64,000 words per book by 200 words a minute comes out to be about 320 minutes. 320 minutes to get through a book of 64,000 words. But how many words is that a day? Divide by seven. You get about 45 minutes a day. 45 minutes of reading a day and you get through one book a week. Now that's much more manageable. But here's the secret is you have to schedule it. You must schedule this time because if you say I'm going to read here or there, it never really happens because it's more of a dream or it's an interest. But when you schedule it, it's in your appointment book, it's in your calendar. This is time for you. It's like time you would have with your boss or an investor or somebody, a member, something that's so important that you would never cancel on that because you reading is a form of self care. And I believe that self love and self care is not selfish. So you want to be a lifelong learner, schedule 45 minutes a day. Now, if you happen to be a faster reader, you could do it in maybe 30 minutes or maybe 15 minutes. It doesn't take as much as you think. And one more important point, when you're scheduling your reading time, make sure you schedule it around a time when you're awake, right? Most people use reading as a sedative late at night and have this association of something that puts them to sleep. That's not the time you want to be able to do it when you're awake, when you're Alert schedule it 45 minutes a day, and you get the job done. So remember, leaders are readers. If knowledge is power, reading is your superpower.
Hi, my name is Jim Kwik. And growing up, I was labeled the boy with a broken brain, with all these learning challenges and disabilities. And I went from that to become the world's leading memory and brain coach for the world's top universities, CEOs and celebrities. Over the past 25 years, I've developed all these strategies and techniques to unleash the power of your super brain. I want to share these techniques and methods with you. I hope you'll join me.
