Business Insights
WHY YOU ARE READING THE WRONG BOOKS
If you have screened Good Will Hunting, you’ll know the part where Matt Damon is in the office with Robin Williams and he says “you’re reading the wrong f’ing books.” This post isn’t so much about buying fancy books instead of “good books” as Damon was referencing, but more about the type of books you choose to read.
I am an avid reader and book collector, so I am always poking around friend’s and family’s book collections to see what topics they are interested in. One trend I have noticed is many people own the how to get rich, how to become a millionaire and the whole array of best-selling self-help books. Now, these all serve a purpose and I have read my fair share of them. The issue becomes, you have a bookshelf full of these books on how to become a millionaire, but very few or even none that give you the know-how to actually do it.
I can read self-help and motivational books all day, but if I don’t have the knowledge and skills to do it, then I am not going anywhere, am I? Building real know-how is going to trump any motivation book you will ever read. How will you become world-class or hone any kind of skill worth great value if you are not consuming knowledge and perfecting that craft? If you’re a business owner, on any given day, I would rather you read “The Essays of Warren Buffett” over “Rich Dad Poor Dad”.
If you’re a marketer I would rather you read “Hooked”, “Made to Stick” and “Growth Hacker Marketing” than the whole host of self-help bestsellers. I was never into penny-pinching to gain wealth, the goal is to hone particular crafts that can lead you to generating great wealth because you have a set of knowledge that is better than most. Without the know-how, all the motivation in the world is meaningless.
