Ways to distinguish yourself - #12 Be a reader

By Rajesh Setty on Wed 23 Mar 2005, 12:42 AM - 4 Comments

They say all leaders are readers. From what I have seen so far, it’s true that most successful people read a lot. Most people don’t read. My friend Tim Sanders tells me that from the statistics he has,  a manager reads about 0.75 business book in five years. That’s  dismal.

My goal is to read about a book a week and that practice has has served
me well in my life. I have seen people reading a lot more than that.
Each person is different. You can set your own goals based on your
priorities and need. What would definitely work is to have a reading
plan for the year. Whatever is the case - 1 book a quarter, 1 book a
month, 3 books in a year - you choose but have a plan. Most people that
I have an opportunity to mentor start with one book a month plan and we
come up with a list of 12 books for the year. The choices are based on
variety of factors but the underlying theme is that these books should
help in taking them to the next level. Every month they may not fulfill
the promise of reading a book but the idea is to make up in a year and
complete reading 12 books.

If we choose the right books, there will be enough that we can take and
apply in our lives. Once we start seeing results, no other motivation
is required.

Although the temptation may be to look at the Bestseller lists and
create your reading list, what might be better is to ask some of your
role models about the books that helped them in their journey. You will
be amazed at what you will learn.

Happy reading!

Related Articles:

• “25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself” released at ChangeThis.com
• 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in Spanish - Translated by Carlos Padilla
• How To Increase Value for Your Readers
• Ways to distinguish yourself #185 - Pay Attention to Your Zeroth Impression

Posted in the Distinguish yourself, Main Page category.

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