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To Succeed You Must Read! by Jerry Maldonado PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jerry Maldonado   
Sunday, 22 June 2008

I will never forget the day when a very dear friend of the family stopped by. Our friend is often extremely busy with her career, so this solo visit was a rare occasion. As we sat around the large island in our kitchen, our conversations were mainly of the children. Our conversation suddenly changed to our friends work.

She is a sales specialist here in the Northeast, and our conversation turned to a specific author who specializes in sales. I interrupted her as I normally do when excited and, with passion in my voice, told her that I had a book by that author, that the book would help her tremendously, and offered to lend it to her. She politely declined, telling me that because of her busy schedule, she didn’t have the time to read such a large book.

Stunned! I realized this person just refused a pot of gold to help her career! Then it dawned on me! If she didn’t have time to read, that is understandable, considering today’s society, but no excuse. But as I thought about it more, I realized she was actually right. Here’s why. Most books of this type are filled of what I call “fluff.” That means they are filled with a hundred or so pages, even more in most cases, of information that should not be there. In other words, the authors should shut up and get to the point! As a person in the field of motivating others I can relate to sometimes being verbose. After about an hour at a seminar, if you as presenter can see people squirm, you know then you’re starting to lose them.

But seriously, if you don’t have time to read, try a different approach. I personally hate reading, but I love to listen. That is just my nature. I absorb things when they are presented to me. All I did was transform my car into a classroom and used my drive time as school time.

If you think about it, virtually every book can be listened to and you can repetitively go back to certain areas you want and skip the fluff. You will be amazed how much you absorb when a good narrator is talking. It takes your mind off the outside world to put you in a place that is helpful for your future. So stop making excuses, you are only hurting yourself. To succeed you must read.

 
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