2 tips to remember what you read

How much do you remember of the ideas from a book you read 6 months ago? 1 year? 2 years? 5 years?

Most of us have very poor memory. Inspirational content that motivated you to take action today may be completely forgotten in a year.

When starting the habit of reading books, this is a major concern I had. Spending 15, 20 hours reading a book just to forget it in a year seems like a waste of time, doesn't it?

Therefore, I decided that spending an additional 10 hours to take notes and reflect on each book I read, putting these notes into a system I can always retrieve (Notion), will make the initial 15 hours of reading not wasted.

Tip 1: Have a place to compile all quotes, lessons, thoughts, and questions during reading.

I have been doing this for 2 years now, with all the books I read, including fiction.

HOWEVER, when looking back at the books I read, and asking how much of the lessons in the books I applied in real life, personally and professionally, the answer is VERY LITTLE.

I realized I fell into a state called the "illusion of progress". Just because I spent many hours reading, taking notes, and even writing instructional blogs, doesn't mean I actually practiced those lessons.

And I think many of you are the same =) So from the most recent book I read, I started an experiment: Rewrite actionables.

Actionables are a list of things I can do in my life, placed at the top of the notes compilation page of a book. Every time I open this page (quite frequently), I always see these lines first, and confront the reality of whether I follow the main points I wrote down.

Of course, I could be more specific, about deadlines if it's an urgent change, about frequency if it's a habit I want to build, about specific people if it's something I need help with… And you should too :))

But at least, having this actionables section is a step forward in the journey of learning and self-improvement through reading.

Tip 2: Create a list of actionables for every book you read.

Furthermore, I want to invite you to do this with me: accept that you're in an illusion of progress when you stop at "consuming" and "creating" content.

Only when we accept that we're in an illusion, do we take real action.

Reading a good book is great. But writing a blog post after reading that book is even better.

Writing a good blog post is impressive. But truly turning what you write in the blog into reality is the most admirable.