Getting Most of the Books with 5 Rules Curated with Experience

I have been reading books in the productivity genre for the last few years and have implemented various methods to try and get the most out of them.

Some are very well-known methods and have worked successfully. A few of them failed. From all these lessons, I have compiled a linear list of methods that would help you get the most out of the books.

I would be talking more about the Self-Help side of books, mostly productivity and business books. After all, fiction books are much easier to remember and follow up while non-fiction is packed with dense wisdom.

It might be your first book or your hundredth, I have written 5 rules to make the most out of your reading sessions and increase the value over time.

Treat Self-Help Books Like a Guide

The reason why self-help books are highly impactful is that they are written by an expert in the field, putting months and years into compiling the knowledge which they have gained in their lifetime.

Most of them don’t have time to explain to every one of the interested persons about the wisdom and facts. So books are the perfect medium for them to spread insights and for you to get access to the best minds in the world.

And you will come across books that will ultimately change your life and remain with you as a guide for the rest of your endeavours.

For example, it’s The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel for the financial matters in my life. It’s one of my most recommended books and is a guide for me for my future management of finances.

I might be revisiting it before I make any big investments or financial decisions that might affect my life in a big way.

At this point in my life, I can’t get Morgan Housel to become my advisor, but I can have his book as my guide and an advisor with his wisdom in it.

So rule #1 is to Treat Books like a Guide.

Writing Is Highly Important While Reading

I have a habit of writing the most influential lines I read into note cards.

These are not sticky notes or in any diary.

I use diaries that are lying around and getting old. I cut pieces of pages and make them like note cards or you can call them flashcards.

This is something that I have learnt from Ryan Holiday and as his master taught him, Robert Greene about taking notes.

And I find it very useful for retaining knowledge. I have decks of cards with pure wisdom extracted from the books I read.

For each book, I bundle different packs of decks and keep them bonded together. This is a nice and organised way to take notes.

I have seen people writing on the books, although I don’t do that. I don’t like to scribble on my books. I keep my precious books with a lot of respect and handle them with the same respect.

Making beautiful notes is okay, but it adds a lot of friction to the way. Like if you are reading, you don’t want to pick up a new colour marker every time you find an important line.

So keep it simple and organised.

Rule #2 says Writing is Highly Important While Reading.

You Need Flashbacks on the Book

If you read a book and keep it on the shelf, chances are you will start forgetting the value you got from it as time goes on.

There is something called the forgetting curve which explains the power of revision of the information over time.

As per the graph shown above, revisions and flashbacks not only bring back the information but also improve the retention capacity of the same information.

If you don’t remember the key points from the books, then its application in real life at the right time might get missed.

So as I explained in the #2 rules, note cards help a lot.

Get the deck you want to refer to and read it all. In like 5–10 minutes, you will get the whole book’s key points revised.

After a very long period, you can also skim through the book.

Rule #3 is that You Need Flashbacks on the Books.

Keep Aside a Book if it Doesn’t Help You

There is no point in reading a book if it doesn’t help you.

The point of self-help books is to help you out of something and make you wiser.

I have gone through absolutely terrible books which were even written by good authors.

Some felt like blog posts compiled into a stack of pages. Some were like they were just written to fill the pages and increase the page count.

Don’t waste your time spending time on them. It’s very helpful if you read a much better book that will produce more value for that time.

Some people obsess over finishing a book. These are usually beginners. I have personally made this mistake.

Just don’t do it. Your time is valuable and there might be something better for you that you might miss out.

Even if the book is great and you feel that you are done with what you need and are sure that you don’t need a few bits of it, skip them.

No one is gonna give you a medal for reading the whole book and increasing the reads count.

So rule #4 is to Keep Aside a Book if it Doesn’t Help You

Read Multiple Books at a Time

There is no issue with reading multiple books at the same time.

Chances are that you might get bored with a book and it would be too much of it. Grab another one and give it a break.

Maybe pick up a fiction book and get engaged in it.

There is no compulsion to grind yourself with the same book. It can also demotivate you if it becomes too much of a work.

For example, I read about the business and productivity genre at the same time. I don’t get much time to read non-fiction but I do enjoy them.

So it’s better to get refreshed with something different than usual rather than giving up on reading itself.

I can’t emphasize the fact that how important is this.

It has helped me read books for more time, stay consistent in my reading routines and also increase the number of books I have read over time.

Rule #5 is to Read Multiple Books at a Time.

Conclusion

Each reading session is a conversation between you and the author.

And it’s your job to make the most out of it. These 5 rules are compiled from my experience of reading books so that you can get the most out of them.

Also, you might find your opinions completely opposite to mine and that’s perfectly fine. You can use your ways if it gets the thing done.

These rules work for me the best and I wrote them to help you so eliminate mistakes that I made.