Increase Your Intelligence and Learning Ability
The more you learn, the more you can learn. Your mental capacity grows and expands, like adding additional microprocessors to your mental computer. And the faster you read a book, the more information you get.
The faster you read, the more you retain. The faster you read, the more you are forced to focus and concentrate your mind, which actually makes you smarter. The intense concentration required by speed reading drives more blood into your brain and activates more of the neurons and ganglia in your neocortex, your thinking brain.
There is a direct relationship between the number of words that you know the meanings for, and how well you think. There is a direct relationship between the size of your vocabulary and the amount you earn. There is a direct relationship between your understanding of the differences in meaning between similar words, and how smart you are.
You can increase both the quality of your thinking and the quantity of your income by disciplining yourself to read intensely on a regular basis. Just as you become fitter physically when you engage in physical exercise, you become more fit mentally when you use your brain to read material that increases your knowledge and skills.
254
Time Power
Cancel Useless Subscriptions
Cancel useless subscriptions. Over the years, I have received solicitations to subscribe to every type of magazine, newspaper, newsletter and journal. If it seems to be of interest to my life and work, I always take out a trial subscription and read the publication when it arrives. Over the years, I have accumulated as many as 50 to 60 weekly, bi-weekly and monthly subscriptions of all kinds.
At a certain point, you have to stand back and ask, “Does this publication help me to achieve my goals?” Does it help me to achieve my goals better than other publications that I receive in the same area?
Remember, you simply do not have time to read everything that comes to you in the course of a day, week or month. If a publication is not helping you achieve your goals, or is not serving some other important part of your life, cancel the subscription.
16. Eliminate Your Stacks
One of the problems that you face today is called “stackaphobia.” This occurs when you receive an unending stream of reading material that you don’t want to part with. You begin to create stacks in your office and at home. Sometimes, you consider it a sign of progress when you begin a new stack because the existing stack is too high. You often spend a good deal of time rearranging your office or home so that you can accommodate ever-higher stacks of material.
255
Time Power
Once a year, I apply an important rule to my stacks. I ask the question, “Is this more than six months old?” In other words, has it been here for more than six months, without me reading it? The rule is this, “If you haven’t read it within six months, it’s junk!”
To keep your mind clear and operating at maximum efficiency, you must develop the habit of going through your stacks and throwing things away.
My rule is, “When in doubt, throw it out!” If you haven’t read it in six months, you will probably never read it. Whatever it contains is probably obsolete. Think of business or financial magazines commenting on business conditions or industries. Sometimes, all the information in those publications is obsolete within a month. Throw it away.
Don’t Worry About Missing Something
Here is another point. If the article is on a subject of importance, someone else will rewrite the article in a different way at a later time in a different publication. Don’t worry about missing an important idea. The more important the idea is, the more likely it is that it will come back to you from a different source. Throw it out.
Always ask, “If I did not have this information, and I needed it, could I get it somewhere else?” The fact is that, almost any information you need is available with a few clicks on the Internet. You can go into the archives of the major business magazines and retrieve articles that were written several 256
Time Power
years ago, print them out and have them at your fingertips in a few seconds.
When in doubt, throw it out.
17. Listen to Audio Programs in Your Car
Develop the habit of listening to audio programs in your car when you drive from place to place. Audio listening has been called, “the greatest breakthrough in education since the printing press.” With audio listening you can become one of the best-educated people in America. You do this by simply turning driving time into “learning time.”
The average car owner in America drives between 12,000 and 25,000 miles each year, according to the American Automobile Association. This translates into 500-1000 hours per year that you spend behind the wheel of your car. This is the equivalent of 12 and a half to 25 forty-hour weeks, or three to six months of 40-hour weeks. This is equal to between one and two full time university semesters.
Attend Automobile University Full Time
According to a study at the University of Southern California, you can get most of the educational benefits of full-time university attendance, just by listening to educational audio programs as you drive around during the day.
Imagine if your boss came to you and said, “I am going to give you three to six months off each year to engage in personal and professional development activities.” Imagine if your boss was willing to pay you to take three to six 257
Time Power
months off each year so you could learn to become more effective and efficient in what you do, and be paid more money.
You can acquire the same benefits almost full time learning just by listening to audio programs in your car as you drive from place to place.
The rule is this: never allow your automobile to be moving without educational audio programs playing. You cannot afford not to be listening to audio programs. Turn your car into a university on wheels. Turn your car into a mobile classroom.
Knowledge and Ideas Condensed and Compressed
The information contained in audio learning programs can be enormous. The average program contains the best ideas of 30-50 books. The author of the audio program has probably invested hundreds, if not thousands of hours studying, reading, researching and teaching the material contained in the cassettes or CD’s. You can “hire” this expert for pennies a day. You can have him drive around with you, stopping and starting at your leisure, sharing the best ideas he or she has learned over the years, To learn the equivalent of the information contained in a good audio program, you would have to purchase 30-50 books and read them. This would cost you $500 – $1000 and take 300-500 hours of study. And even then, you would not have the ideas and information organized as helpfully as you can find in an audio program.
258
Time Power
Increase Your Income from the First Day
Over the years, I have produced dozens of audio learning programs, many of them have been translated into as many as 20 languages and have now been used successful by millions of people. After speaking in 24 countries, and meeting countless people whose lives have been changed by audio listening, I have never met a single person, in more than 20 years, who has not seen their income increase dramatically from the day they began listening to audio programs in their car. No exceptions.
In my experience, audio listening becomes addictive. When you begin listening to an audio program in your car, you are struck by the number of great ideas that you can learn so easily and enjoyably. Because of the Law of Attraction, you will almost invariably find an opportunity to use or benefit from these ideas shortly after you learn them. You almost immediately see results and improvements in your life. This motivates you to listen more consistently. As a result, you get even better results. Your performance improves and your income increases. Audio listening affects certain parts of your brain in a remarkable way. You actually become more intelligent. Try it and see.
18. Attend Seminars and Courses Regularly
Attend seminars and courses given by people with practical experience and successful track records. In a seminar or workshop given by an expert, you can learn a tremendous amount of practical information in a short period of time. This is because of the way seminars and workshops are developed.
259
Time Power
When I conduct a full day seminar on sales, leadership, management or strategic planning that lasts six or seven hours, I will usually invest several hundred hours of reading, study, research, consulting and practice to get the information that goes into it. I will read anywhere from 20 to 100 books, underlining and taking notes. When I design the seminar, I will take the very best ideas that I have learned on that subject from every source. I will organize the seminar around the key concepts that can be immediately applied to get better results.