There may not be an easy way to say this.
The world has finally started reopening and you are getting back to the pace of your busy life. there are so many things you want to do every day but you cannot seem to be able to keep track of them all.
Your workplace takes up at least 8 hours of your day.
Then you have to be a good parent to your children; sticking around in their corner and making sure that they are attended to as and when due.
You have to keep up with your business and make sure that things are moving on as planned.
On the side, there are a ton of engagements with friends and family.
So, before retiring to bed every night, you make a list. You get a little journal and begin documenting all the things you wish to do the next day. “A to-do list is the way to get your act together and yourself on track” – you hear the voice of your personal development trainer in your head each day as you go about doing the needful.
Sitting pretty at the top of that list is the ever-present “I want to read ten pages of … book tomorrow morning before I get started with my day.”
That is cool, till tomorrow comes and life seems to get in the way.
So, you end up moving that one task into tomorrow, and every other tomorrow for the next few days. At the end of the week, you may just end up getting the first few pages of that book you decided to read out of the way – not because you are lazy per se, but because life has a way of getting in the way each time.
Now, here’s the thing.
Nothing will take the place of Personal Development as you journey to becoming the person of your dreams. Also, one of the major ways to develop yourself into the person you want to be is by reading books and gaining insight on salient matters.
So, you must figure out how to make sure that while you still keep up with everything you have to do, you are actually on top of your book reading goals.
In this post, I will share with you a few substitutes you can include in your reading regimen to help you. Note, however, that these options should only be used as add-ons (to make the journey easier for you) and not to replace the habit of seating down to read actual books.
So, these are a few ways you can read a book, without reading a book.
1. Youtube
Did you know that you can find cool and animated summaries of the books you want to read on Youtube?
Yes, you can.
There are a ton of channels that are dedicated to offering keynotes and book summaries with beautiful and engaging videos. Although these may not give you the whole “I read the book from cover to cover” experience, they can help you be in sync with what the book is all about because they communicate the salient points.
Here’s the beauty of the thing; these are just a few minutes long (I can’t recall seeing anyone that was more than 20 minutes in length). Imagine gaining most of the knowledge in a book of 100+ pages in less than 20 minutes.
Cool, right?
2. Audiobooks on Youtube
These have been lifesavers to me, especially.
A while back, I ordered for a copy of Mastery by Robert Greene, and boy, is the book big!
Skimming through the book at first, I saw 311 long pages of small fonts. So, I quickly did the math and decided to finish the book in 14 days.
14 days later, I was less than halfway through the book, and knowing that there was no option save to complete the book that month, I went off to find a way to get that done. That was when I discovered audiobooks on Youtube.
The whole book had been compressed into an audio recording that was less than 7 hours long. I got the audio recording and the rest is history.
There are a ton of audiobooks on Youtube, and they all are for your reading pleasure. Just go on Youtube and search for the audiobook you want to listen to, then listen to it chunk by chunk.
3. Genyoutube
In my opinion, this is the best of them all.
Genyoutube is a third-party website that allows you to download Youtube content directly to your offline storage device (that’s my fancy way of saying you can download stuff from Youtube from this website).
Videos, tutorials, TEDx talks, you name them; every Youtube content is available on this website.
Do you know why it was added to this list? From here, you can download the audiobook you want to read straight to your phone/computer, and that way, you don’t have to be worried about accessing it again.
Here’s another cool thing. You can choose to download it as a video file or convert it to an audio file and download it. In any case, it is your call to make.
This option is what helped me download Mastery as an audio file and go through it in record time.
Another cool stuff, right?
To get started, just head over to Genyt.net
[I have embedded the link to make the journey easier for you].
4. There is a great ebook reader that allows me to play any epub book as an audio file and listen to it. This way, I can get to do other things while I still keep up to speed with the books I want to read.
For this to work, all you need is an epub version of the book you want to read and the Pocketbook app. Open the book and seek out the speaker icon to get started with the text to voice feature.
One great thing about this app is that you can change the voice of the reader, and the speed at which the book is being read to you. You can choose to make it faster or slower, have a male or female voice read to you. as usual, the choice is yours.
Pocketbook – that’s the name of the app.
5. You may also want to check this out. The service allows you to purchase audiobooks that you can play using any compatible device.
It is also a great way to save time and crush your reading goals, even with your busy schedule.
Click the link below to check out the service, and before you ask, it is not a FREE service. However, you can choose to start with the free trial period available to users of the service, and upgrade from there. In any case, be rest assured that you will definitely be gettinmg a ton of value in exchange for your money.
The list of options you can explore is basically endless.
Even as you return to the bustle of your life, do not let anything slip out of your control – especially not your personal development.
To be the best at everything – your business, career, personal pursuits, and everything in-between – you need to be at your peak here.
Remember, these options are just there to serve as supplements to a healthy reading lifestyle.
Hope you start applying the tricks that I shared with you in this post immediately.
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CIAO!!!