Summary:

Behind my love for God and my love for my wife, and my love for my family, I have an affair — a love affair with my bookshelf. All of my books I bought on purpose – each of them has helped me grow, has entertained me, or has expanded my world.

I encourage you to also become an avid reader. Here are five tips for doing so:

1. Turn off the television – if you do watch it, make sure the shows you view are pouring the right things into your head.
2. Get a bookshelf and declare it your library.
3. Get some type of online membership (like Amazon Prime) that allows you to purchase books easily. Then purchase one book each month.
4. Learn to read faster! I suggest using an inexpensive online program called “eyeQ Advantage.”
5. Commit to reading for one hour each day for a year. Specifically, commit to reading an hour each day on a specific subject- you’ll then be in the top percent of experts in that subject’s field.

Onward and upward,

Coach Brett Blair

Full Transcript:

Become a reader! My friends, become a reader! I think 11 years ago,
about now, I quit my job that I had for over 25 years, and I did a scary thing and I started my own business, which I’m really glad I did. But I also did something else that was even more important in my life, and that was I hired a coach, Dr. Tom Hill, as my life coach. And among the many, many, many things that Dr. Hill taught me or encouraged me to do, was to become an avid reader. And as I look back I am so glad he helped me develop that habit.

And behind my love for God, and my love for my wife, and my love for my
family, I have an affair, a love affair, with this thing, with my bookshelf. I’m in love with my bookshelf because each of these books I bought on purpose because they help me grow, or entertain me, or expand my world.

So, my friends, I want to encourage you to also become an avid reader. And I want to give you five tips, five things you can go out and do, to start on your pathway to becoming an avid reader.

Number one is turn off the television. Now, I don’t mean literally, you can watch shows on purpose that you tape, or you watch on Netflix, or whatnot. But make sure that they’re positive, that they’re pouring the right things into your head.

Number two is get a bookshelf in your house or in your apartment. Buy a shelf and call it your library. You know, 12 years ago, I don’t think I owned any books and now I have thousands of them. Every one of these I just bought one at a time, and when I first started with my bookshelf, it was one, literally, a little bitty shelf in a room in my house. So start now and declare a shelf in your house to be your library.

Then buy and add to that library one book per month, literally, buy one book per month and put it on your bookshelf. I have an account with Amazon, actually I have Amazon Prime which allows free shipping, but however you get your books just go do it.

Number four, and this was huge for me, is learn to read faster, and there are a lot of ways to do this. I used a program called eyeQ Advantage and it’s on the internet, it’s very, very inexpensive, it’s by a company called Infinite Mind and I increased my reading speed from about 300 words per minute to over 1000 words per minute. So by learning to read faster, reading becomes more enjoyable, and it’s a self-fulfilling cycle: the more you read the faster you read, the more you enjoy it, and it makes it that much better.

Finally, I encourage you to commit to reading one hour per day, on one particular topic. It could be whatever you do for a career, for a living, it could be some interest you have, but if you read one hour every day, on one topic, for a year, you’ll be in the top percent of people in that field after that year. And how do I know that? It’s because nobody else does this. That’s called adult learning, that’s called commitment to growth. And if you do that, it’ll make a difference in your life.

So, my friends, I hope that you’ll do these five things and start on your pathway to becoming an avid reader, and watch your life flourish as a result.

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