Do you often read or listen and increase your knowledge in a subject but fail to actually use the learnings in your life?

You’re not alone. In fact I had this exact conversation with one of my coaching clients recently and with summer being a prime time for autonomous learning (on holiday or while work is quiet) I thought it would be helpful to share some tips on this.

If you’re anything like me you might consume a lot of information, and not all of it is useful for your everyday life. Some of it may just feed your curiosity and make for good conversation - this is OK too - not everything we do has to be productive.

That being said there is lots of great knowledge that we can use to improve our lives in a way that is meaningful for us, whether that be to make you more effective, a better communicator or even starting your own homestead (all dreams are different!). So let’s work through the process.

• You pick up book of interest (this is an assumption but if it’s not interesting to you PUT THE BOOK DOWN).

• What next? Do you just read and hope that the information turns into action somehow and then move on to the next one? Absolutely no judgement - I have just realised this post is actually for me……. Don’t get me wrong sometimes this works, learning by osmosis almost. But it could work much better. Here’s how:

  • When you pick up a new book decide what your intention for reading the book is; what information are you hoping to learn? What skills? What area of your life are you hoping to apply this? What potential problem do you have in mind?

  • Once you have set your intention this will help to focus your mind. You may need to refresh this intention each time you open the book, this way you are reading with purpose each time. it will also act as a good gatekeeper of your time - do you actually have the energy for this type of reading right now? Or would something else be a better and more recharging use of your time?

  • Get a system that will help you retain the knowledge - it might be highlighting, it might be taking notes, it might be pausing and talking through each idea with a buddy, it might be sending yourself a message (I sometimes do this when walking the dog as this is when my mind can wander with the new learnings).

  • Once you have decided an idea is important to highlight in some way, try to get the idea out in the open. One of my favourite quotes is “the brain is for having ideas, not storing them”, we need to hear our thoughts out loud to help us to process them and turn them into something real. This could be simply voicing the idea to yourself, or with others and see where the conversation goes.

  • And then comes the action…. you’ve decided the intention, you’ve highlighted the ideas, you have started to formulate how these can work in your real life, it’s now time to make that book smart life smart. Side note - you do not have to wait til you have finished a book. You can decide to take action and use your learning in a way that suits you. Extra side note - you don’t have to read the whole book if you don’t want to. I love Brené Brown’s books but why would I read the section on Daring Greatly as a parent? It’s not relevant for me, it doesn’t meet my needs.

• Start Small & Simple - Ask yourself what is the first step you can take? How can you make this as simple as possible. This is a new task for you, a new learning and so it needs to be as simple as possible to help your brain take action and build new neural pathways.

• Look to Role Models - do you know someone who is already doing this well? For example does someone you know communicate in a particular style you have read about and would like to do yourself? If so take inspiration from them (it could also be someone famous), it can help us to actually visualise how this skill works in the real world and how you can make it your own.

• Imagine it - speaking of visualising, why not give it a try. Play out the scenario in your mind, imagine what your body language might be like, your pitch of voice, who might be there and their responses. Working through this can help to make the new skill real.

• Give it a try - what’s the worst that can happen? Try it out, and then you can always….

• Review, Refine, Try Again - because we all know that if it doesn’t quite go to plan then we can always learn something and try again with more knowledge, right? Good :)

• Be realistic - there are hundreds of non fiction books, many with very similar learnings, you are not going to be able to apply everything you learn. In fact you probably won’t want to. Some books, some explanations, some writers will just resonate with you more than others. I’ve read a number of books on habits, Jen Sincero did not really give me a buzz, I resonated much more with the way James Clear and Charles Duhigg explained the topic.

Will you be giving this a try? What do you have to lose? What could you gain?

I’d love to know what you think of this post, drop me an email to discuss, or if you would like to know more about my coaching options.