At some point, you’ve probably seen a statistic claiming top CEOs read 4-5 books per month.

Personally, I love to read. Some months I might even hit that number.

But I highly doubt the statistic is true.

For one thing, that’s roughly 54 books per year.

Which is a LOT.

Especially when speed-reading billionaire genius Bill Gates claims he reads 50 per year…

…even though he’s known for taking week-long “reading vacations” where he just reads books in a cabin in the woods.

Hard to imagine more than a handful of people in the world surpassing old Bill.

And while I do believe the famous quote, “leaders are readers”…

I DON’T believe reading a book a week is necessary to be a leader or succeed in business.

Because it’s the quality of the knowledge you gain and how well you apply it that really matters…

Not how many pages you turn.

My best explanation of this is in the following response to a recent client question:

Q: “Craig, I’m really busy… What do you think of adding a goal of reading for 20 minutes per day? Am I missing out by not reading a book a week?”

Answer:
Great question…
 
Now let me ask you…
 
What are we really after here?
 
Is the goal to add more “good activity” to our schedule?
 
Or…
 
Is the goal to generate a “specific accomplishment” from learning time?
 
Of course the answer to adding any action should be a specific accomplishment.
 
Now we ask…

Is reading the fastest way to achieve the accomplishment?
 
In most cases it’s not…
 
For example…
 
If you want to improve at phone sales…
 
What’s better?
 
60 minutes of reading a generic sales book?
 
Or
 
A 15-minute conversation with Sales Guru Joe Marcoux at our January Mastermind?
 
Answer: The 15-minute convo!

It will be life-changing… you’ll get custom advice… and you’ll remember it better compared to the “tips” from reading on a kindle while watching TV or listening to an audio book while you lift weights.
 
Likewise…
 
If you want to know how to get leads from Linked IN…
 
Is it better to watch a course created in 2020…
 
Or talk to Aiden from my team at the January 2023 Mastermind?
 
Again… better to get the most up-to-date info than old news that might not work.
 
So back to “reading”…
 
Is it helpful?
 
Yes.
 
But is it the most helpful of all the learning options available to you?
 
That’s the question to be asking about how you use every minute of your time.
 
The means is not the end.
 
The doing of the activity is not the pursuit.
 
The result of the activity is what really matters.
 
If you need specific business help, perverse procrastination with some “book a week” challenge or 20 minutes / 20 pages daily is often NOT the right path…
 
Especially when you can simply connect with someone (such as an intro through my network) to someone that can solve your problem in 15 minutes.
 
Accomplishment > Activity

***

Hopefully that gives you some perspective…

And you can see that, while reading is no doubt beneficial…

It’s not the only way, or always the best way to boost results.

Which is why vague metrics like ‘reading X number of books per month’ aren’t the most important thing for you to be focusing on.

Success Loves Speed,

Craig