I know what you want to hear. You want me to tell you about previewing books, about how you should read, about highlighting, taking notes, about condensing them and using memory hacks to remember them.
…but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’ll tell you a story.
Meet Lisa Learner.
Lisa wants to become a really good soccer player, play for the girls’ team at her school, become a striker and score many goals.
Before practice even starts, Lisa buys several books about the history of soccer, the best strategies of winning teams and a few techniques on how to handle the ball.
She sets the bold goal to read 12 books over the 12 weeks of practice before the big game.
Lisa is diligent. She shows up to every training session and does her best. She does alright with technique, but has a tough time getting past opponents and convert her chances into goals when she gets into the end zone.
In between practice sessions, she reads her books.
Before the big game, Lisa does well in the last practice session. She knows she has a few kinks to iron out, but prepares by finishing all her books, taking notes and reviewing them. She even memorizes different in-game scenarios and the right responses to them to beat the opposing team.
On game day, Lisa quickly realizes the other team has girls that are stronger, taller and faster than her. After the first half, the other team leads 1:0.
In the second half, Lisa recognizes the formation of the other team as one of those she remembered from one of her books. She can’t exactly recall the exact recommendations, but somehow finds a hole, makes her way through and faces the goal.
She aims…
…shoots…
…and misses! The goalkeeper caught her shot. It wasn’t strong enough.
The buzzer rings. The game is over. Lisa Learner…lost.
Meet Paul Practitioner.
Paul has the same goal as Lisa. He wants to play for the boys’ team, become a striker, and kick his team to success.
He’s not big on books, but he sets a strict workout regimen for the 12 weeks leading up to the game. He thinks for a while, makes a schedule, and adds endurance and technique training blocks to his schedule between practice sessions.
Paul does alright in practice, but has a few weak spots like passing the ball and aiming when shooting on goal. After each team training, he goes home, makes a few notes what he has to work on, and then focuses on those areas in his solo sessions.
On game day, Paul faces a similar situation to Lisa: They’re behind by one point and the opponents are stronger, taller and faster. Paul realizes he has to rely on what he’s practiced to turn this around.
Instead of going head to head, he tries to keep the ball as long as he can and runs back and forth. That not only confuses his opponents, but because of their size and speed, they’re exhausted much quicker than Paul, who’s improved his endurance a lot.
Once the defense is weak and slow, Paul finds a hole, slips by and is alone in front of the goal.
Paul goes for the upper left corner, the shot he’s worked on his aim them most for. He aims…
…shoots…
…and it’s in! Score! Paul’s successfully pulled his team into overtime.
Because the opponents are even more exhausted now, Paul can pull his move another two times, and his team wins 3:1.
Paul Practitioner is the hero of the day…a true winner!
We’re obsessed with learning. We’ve all been Lisa Learner at one point or another in our lives. We think we’re well prepared. And then we fail.
Memories you create by studying are memories you made a conscious effort to form. There’s one problem with those memories:
They are weak.
What’s more, even if you do remember them, they are never as helpful as memories formed unconsciously, from actual experience.
In sports, you’d call this muscle memory. If you practice the same shot 1,000 times, your foot will be able to pull it off on autopilot, with great precision and adapt it to any situation as needed.
In business, this is what separates a practitioner from a theorist. You can read all the business books in the world. If you don’t start knocking on doors, you’ll never sell anything.
Reading “all great products are blue” in a book is easy. Being told your blue roses suck by 17 different people is hard. It’s real. It hurts.
But it’s the only way to succeed. You can learn all you want. If you don’t practice what the experts preach, it won’t amount to a thing.
Don’t be Lisa Learner. Be Paul Practitioner.
And maybe, just maybe, you’ll score that winning goal.
PS: The reason I’ve gone deep instead of wide here is simple: I have written the kind of guide you’d expect here. It’s called The Complete Guide to Remembering What You Read. I highly recommend you check it out.
