How To Use Self Help Books to Achieve Your Goals
In my previous life, I was a sales coach to college students and post-graduates. One in particular had recently started his full-time career with us and was disappointed in his lackluster performance. Regardless of how he was doing, he felt like an unsatisfactory boss of his own business. We then got on the conversation of self-help books.
“I mean, when you read a self-help book, how often do you actually do something with that information?” He asked me, already anticipating the answer.
I hit him back with a response he wasn’t expecting: “Always, actually.”
He called BS on me, and I immediately opened up my notes app and started rattling off my favorite lines, associated pages, and to-do’s from the book “You Are a Badass.”
“Okay, I need to be like that. Help me be that.” And we went to work.
They say that with all of the money spent on self-improvement books and attending high-priced seminars, only four percent of the population will actually do anything with it. People are inspired at the moment, but they go back to their ways of thinking, feeling, and fear-based decision-making.
And it makes sense as to why. It’s honestly incredibly difficult to put forth 100% effort into changing your life:
It takes upgrading your environment, including your things, your setting and the people you surround yourself with
It takes a lot of courage
It takes a lot of discipline
It takes a lot of planning
It takes a relentless pursuit of wanting to change, and an unwavering commitment to do so.
It is humorous, however, because after we leave a three-day soul-igniting seminar, we walk away feeling transformed, even when we haven’t made a single step towards our goals. Our bodies tingle with energy, our brain’s process all of the things we’re going to get started on, inside we are screaming “there isn’t any time! I have to start doing this yesterday!” and as we come in contact with the rest of the world again, we get a little bit arrogant about the energy within us.
One of my favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar says, “Motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” We cannot expect the energy we are feeling right now to last forever, which is why we have to set ourselves up for success by creating it each day.
So given all of the motivation we feel after reading an inspiring self-help book, I wanted to help you capitalize on it, as I want you to be a part of the 4%, or maybe even help get that number up to 5%!
Here are 5 tips for using your self-help book to achieve your goals:
Read the book with a highlighter in hand, always.
The biggest difference between someone who says they want to improve and someone that actually means it is the energy they put towards note-taking. If you're reading a self-help book, the odds of you re-reading the entire book again are slim, and it isn't even practical. If you want to optimize your time, take notes the first time, highlight powerful excerpts, and doggy-ear the pages you absolutely have to revisit.
Dedicate time to revisit.
Once you have finished the book, set a specific time block on your calendar to review it.
Review & Plan.
Decide what planning system you are using. Are you using your work calendar? Personal e-calendar? Planner? Decide what resource is going to be house all of this beautiful information - and choose one that you habitually will visit. If you need notifications, choose an electronic version.
As you review your notes and to-do’s, ask yourself questions.
If it’s a to do:
When is this to-do the most relevant? Is it today? Next week? Next month? Six months? Put it in your calendar for when it makes sense.
What do I need to do before this to-do, to maximize its impact?
For example: If you have decided you are going to change your relationship with food for the better, don’t just head to Whole Foods and buy a cart full of greenery. Choose a start date that will bring you optimal success, throw out all junk food in your home, plan out your meals each day, and then begin your grocery shopping.
If it’s an energizing note or quote:
Think, "when will I be losing motivation, at which point reading this will revert me into the present?"
Put the note in your planner with the associated page, along with "READ IT" underlined ten times. And if it’s an e-planner, create a reoccurring reminder to read that page or quote every x amount of months.
If you have a handful of these notes/quotes, compile them together in a document on your desktop. Title it “Motivational Quotes” or “REVIEW THIS WHEN FEELING DISCOURAGED” and then add on your calendar a reoccurring reminder to review the document so that you remember that it exists!
Commit to changing.
For realsies. If you are going to be radically changing the course of your life, you have to dramatically change your habits. So after sorting through your notes, and strategically adding to-do’s to your calendar, decide that this is going to be the new you. If you do what you always do, you get what you always get, which can be really frightening to hear if we aren't happy with where we are.
Get an accountability partner.
Select someone who you know wants to see you succeed and will be cheering you on and supporting you even when times are tough. Select someone that will check in on you frequently. This person could be a significant other, a parent, a friend, or even a coach you hire. But if you are someone that needs someone else’s words of wisdom to get you back on track, then make this person an integral part of your journey.
Circling back to my post-grad, we identified that the time he would traditionally spend reading was actually being consumed with playing video games. He chose to put his video games away and committed to reading 10 pages every morning, and 10 pages every night. We agreed monthly I would treat him to lunch as long as he had completed a self-help book and could give me a verbal book report during the lunch, with a list of some of his favorite takeaways and what he is going to do with them.
And I bought lunch every time. I recently texted him to check-in, and I am happy to report that he has continued this habit of prioritizing his self-development through reading. It may be challenging to go against the grain of how your peer group is spending their time, but if you want to have a radically different life, you have to do something radically different in yours.