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NOW ONThe first thing I've learned from reading books is it's highly effective at helping you be productive. One thing I do as part of my morning routine is I read 10 to 20 pages or maybe like a chapter of a book in the morning. I've found that really gets rid of that morning fog. I mean, who here has what I call morning fog when they get out of bed and they just don't want to get out of bed? You're just kind of slow in the morning. Slow thinking, slow moving, low energy. One thing I've realized is that it's all up here, that morning fog. And that if I read a book—I'm currently reading Andre Sapkowski, who wrote The Witcher series, who here likes The Witcher? Huge fan. Witcher 3, probably best game ever—I'm reading his book here, and I read a chapter every morning. That gets my brain really going in that right place where I'm thinking, I'm experiencing something, and I get out of bed jazzed. So this is the first thing I do before I even get out of bed, and it really helps me get into the workday and be highly effective.
The second major thing that I've learned from books is just general knowledge about all subjects. You know, I read a book a day. Not to show off, it's again about the knowledge. I mean, this is how I learned marketing—through reading books about direct response advertising. When I started doing marketing in 2008, there weren't many YouTubers that were talking about this subject. In fact, I don't remember any YouTubers from 2008 that actually gave good marketing advice. It was found in books, and the books are highly condensed expositions of what works in marketing. What I loved about this book is it just broke down real-life examples of how to do marketing. Now, I've made millions of dollars. I've earned over 20 million dollars by running a marketing business over these last 10 years or so. So I'd say that it's been fairly effective in my case. By reading books again, you are getting condensed versions of knowledge whereas a lot of the stuff you get on YouTube is just, you know, you're listening to folks in real time. It's a one-to-one kind of knowledge transfer as opposed to books where it's not just one to one, it's ten times the amount of effort that went into writing, you know, a two-hour book.
The third thing books have given me is perspective on the world. This was a particular favorite of mine. It's called Quicksilver by my favorite author Neil Stevenson. I've traveled around the jungles of the Philippines, sailed on pirate ships around the world, gotten accosted by Moroccan Marauders, taken prisoner by Turks, and made love with a harem woman. And, you know, after defeating the Turks at the Battle of Vienna, I've done so many things through books. It's given me a unique perspective on cultures and people and geographies that I never would have experienced had I not cracked open these books about very different places.
The fourth thing books have really—I've really learned a lot from in books is that it's time-consuming. It's time-consuming to read. In fact, it's one of the best forms of entertainment. It's the biggest bang for your buck. I mean, here's one of my favorite books, clocking in at almost a thousand pages right there. And that takes a lot of time to read. If you figure that you can read 25 pages an hour, that's 40 hours of entertainment for the price of 20 bucks. That's 50 cents an hour you might be spending on a new book, even less if you're buying a used book. So you can learn a lot. You can get all of these great benefits and really have the cheapest form of entertainment available because books last.
Now, I reconsidered this one, but it's morals. Books are the embodiment of, you know, again, their condensed knowledge. And throughout history, human beings haven't changed. Our biology is largely the same, our history is locked in. And I've learned a lot about being just a moral and a stand-up person through reading books. I've read the Bible, I've read the Bhagavad Gita, I've read the Quran, I've read the Mormon Bible, and I've read this book, which I find particularly interesting—the Hagakure, which is the code of the Samurai. Very popular with a few Tech billionaires as well, like Larry Ellison is a big fan of the Hagakure. And learning how to be a good person in today's time where there's really no moral standards, where there's no standards for any sort of conduct in society anymore. People aren't having children, people aren't staying married, people aren't even acting in good faith. I found that books are time capsules—those morals that were written down thousands of years ago for being a good human being. It doesn't just because technology has come about doesn't mean that changes. And books are a good guiding light for us to learn how to live as just good human beings.
This is my favorite thing—travel. And I absolutely love traveling, and books have allowed me to travel even in times that I haven't been able to travel the world. I got into becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business and making millions of dollars because I wanted to travel. That was the whole goal because I couldn't do that working a job. And books, but at times in my life in the past 10 years, there have been times I haven't been able to travel. I mean, there's the whole, you know, "vid" thing that went on the last two years with that disease, flu stuff. You know, I won't even mention the names, but you couldn't travel then. I've also had multiple children, I've also been married at a point in my life, and there were times I couldn't travel for social reasons or pressure reasons or all sorts of stuff.
Dude, people joke about me because I'm so good at sleeping. I sleep great. I almost always get a quality sleep when I go to bed at night. And I'm also one of those guys who can just fall asleep, you know, sitting in a chair if I want to. You know, if I'm bored, or I can fall asleep on the airplane or the bus. How many people here can sleep anywhere they want? Well, something that's great about sleep is it rejuvenates your brain and makes you ready for the next day. It also gets rid of brain—you don't have as much brain fog. And I read before I go to sleep as well, not just when I wake up.
Here's a funny book I've been—I read before I went to sleep called Kill Switch. It's about AI. You'd think a book about killing something would necessarily help you sleep, but for me, reading fiction books, science fiction really just helps get me into that imagination state. It takes you out of your logical brain and just turns it back a notch a little bit where you're relaxed. I find I have vivid dreams or very vivid dreams when I'm sleeping because I get into deep sleep very fast. I used to measure my sleep with an Aura ring, which is a fantastic product by the way, and I have amazing sleep. But before you go out and buy a book, or try to figure out time to start reading, let me go over a few things that you should avoid when getting into reading books. And also, I'm going to answer some of the common questions of—how do you find time to read? What should you read? Should you be reading fiction or non-fiction, etc.?
So, first off to address what you should avoid, what you should avoid is ghost-written non-fiction books. When you are getting a book from somebody like, you know, let's use this one for example—Donald Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal." This book was verbalized in an interview, okay, over a series of interviews. So it was what I call semi-ghost-written. It's, you know, some of his knowledge but it's through another person. Now, Donald Trump's obviously a billionaire, so he's a good person to hear from. But there are a lot of other authors that I find that are coming out with business books as a sort of feather in their cap, a sort of ego, you know, thing to say, "Oh, I had a book." Or "I had a best-selling book." That only takes 10,000 copies sold to be a best-selling book, and any rich person can buy 10,000 copies of their own book and turn it into a bestseller. So keep in mind, don't necessarily buy a book because it is a bestseller. Don't necessarily buy a book because it was written by, you know, Bill Gates or supposedly was written by Gary Vaynerchuk or Bill Gates or whoever. So keep that in mind. Don't—don't necessarily go with the hype all the time.
Now, in regards to making time to actually read, I look at it as additive. Of course, you're going to have to do different stuff however you start your day. But I find reading books actually gets me in the zone and makes me more effective faster. Just by taking a simple five to ten minutes or 15 minutes reading in the morning or at night, it really doesn't take any time away from me because again, it is making me more productive faster. And I get into my day and I get producing stuff on my computer much faster.
A little tip with reading books is what I like to do is I like to highlight or underline different passages. And, you know, as you see, I've written all over many of my books. Now, the reason I mark up my books is because sometimes I find ideas in science fiction books that I may want to create a business around or I may eventually want to create a product around. And I will make sure to mark off that section. The best ideas come from science fiction writers, I found, for business. And Elon Musk does the same thing. Now, in non-fiction books, I do the same because there are books that I can learn a lot from. And what I do is I just make sure that whenever I want to re-go over that knowledge and re-implant that knowledge in my brain, I'm able to almost see my own Cliff note version of a book by just reading my underlined or highlighted passages.
I hope you enjoyed this video. And with that being said, if you're looking for a single book recommendation, I highly recommend "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. This is a great starter book to get into reading. It's a fantastic story, and I believe it will help you immeasurably in starting your own business and going about life. I've read this book over a dozen times and I continue to reread it throughout the years. If you enjoyed this video, I encourage you to subscribe to this channel and like this video and post a comment below. What's your favorite book? What is your favorite book you've ever read before? I'd love to hear from you, love to see you as a subscriber on my channel. I come out with marketing and entrepreneurship advice primarily, but I talk about really anything that life has helped me learn.
Q: What benefits can reading books have on productivity?
A: Reading books can help improve productivity by stimulating the brain, reducing morning fog, and getting one energized for the day.
Q: How can reading diverse books contribute to acquiring knowledge?
A: Reading diverse books exposes individuals to a wide range of subjects and perspectives, providing condensed knowledge that can be highly beneficial for learning.
Q: What perspectives can one gain by reading books?
A: By reading books, individuals can gain unique perspectives on cultures, people, and geographies that they may not have experienced otherwise.
Q: How can books be a time-consuming yet rewarding form of entertainment?
A: Books may be time-consuming to read, but they offer great value for entertainment as they provide a significant amount of content for a relatively low cost.
Q: What morals and values can be learned from reading books?
A: Books serve as time capsules of morals and values from different eras, offering guidance on how to be a morally upright individual in a world that may lack clear standards.
Q: How can books provide a form of virtual travel?
A: Books allow individuals to explore different parts of the world and experience travel even when physical travel may not be possible due to various constraints.
Q: What is the connection between reading and quality sleep?
A: Reading before sleep can help individuals relax, stimulate imagination, and lead to better quality sleep, rejuvenating the brain for the next day.
Q: What are some tips for effective reading habits and recommendations for book enthusiasts?
A: Effective reading habits include avoiding ghost-written non-fiction books and focusing on books that offer genuine knowledge and value. It is also recommended to allocate time for reading as it can enhance productivity and learning.
Q: How can active reading enhance the learning experience?
A: Active reading, such as highlighting or underlining important passages, can help individuals retain and revisit key information, fostering a deeper understanding of the content.
Q: Do you have any book recommendations for inspiration?
A: One inspirational book recommendation is 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho, which is a great starter book for those looking to dive into reading and gain valuable insights for their personal and professional growth.