My 6-Step Reading Framework

Since 2019, I have read over 250 books.

This is way too many.

It has become a badge of honor or “flex” to share with other high-performers how many books you are reading in a year.

But the truth is…

How many books you read is irrelevant

Instead

How much you can implement from each book you read is what truly matters.

It is better to take one year to fully incorporate a book’s teachings into your life than to read 100+ books in a year and never implement any of them.

I made this transition late last year.

I read much less now (10-20 books/year) but I get way more out of each one.

Here is how I get the most out of every book I read

1. Read the Table of contents FIRST!

The most productive reading technique you can use is to not waste time reading an irrelevant book. By reading the table of contents, you can quickly glean the contents of a book and see if it will be helpful to you.

(You might even be able to get what you need from reading one chapter)

2. Highlight

The more you engage with a book, the more you will remember.

My rule for myself is: If I don’t have a highlighter with my book, I’m not really reading. Highlight anything that is of interest to you or that you want to remember.

(This will also save you time if you want to read a book again. Reading your highlighted selections is like reading your own CliffNotes versions of the book.)

3. Summarize

Highlighting the author’s words is great.

Summarizing the passage on your own helps you to remember it better.

Write your summaries in the margin of the book to capture them. If you can’t summarize the passage, you probably don’t understand it fully yet. Keep re-reading it until you do.

3. Capture Chapter’s Top 5

Next is the winnowing process.

An abundance of information is an absence of clarity.

Scan your summaries to find your top 5 ideas from the chapter and write them at the end. Re-writing your summaries allows you to quickly locate the ideas that stand out to you and aids your retention.

4. Capture Book’s Top 5

After reading through the book (or your selected chapters) revisit your top 5 summaries at each chapter’s end. Your goal is to find your top 5 ideas from the book. Once you have made your decision, write them on the book's front cover.

5. Implement Top 5 ideas

Now is the time for application.

For each of the 5 ideas, find ONE simple and easy way to incorporate each into your life.

This transitions the best ideas from the book from being stuck on the page to seeing the benefit from it being added to your life.

BONUS:

As soon as a book stops being valuable to you STOP READING IT!

There is no greater wasted time than continuing to read a book that is no longer valuable.

(You don’t need my permission, but you have it if it makes you feel better.)

:)

These are my 6 steps to getting more out of what I read.

How do you read your books?

Let me know if you have a practice that helps you!

In Mastery,

Matthew

P.S. I am thinking about opening up my 1:1 High-Performance Productivity Progam back up before the end of the year. Will be sharing more updates soon!