By David Kirkpatrick
Speed Reading and Memory Coach
Hard workers learn by manual trial and error. Smart workers read books to avoid failure. I read one book called "Billion Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years." And thanks to what I learned, I'm 30 years ahead.
In the video above, I'm sitting in front of my book collection explaining why reading beats learning through painful mistakes. These people who lost billions were very talented with many accomplishments. But a couple things blocked them.
Pride Kills
They thought they knew it all. When you've made millions, it's easy to believe you've figured everything out. But the marketplace doesn't care about your past wins.
Stop Growing
They've made millions and billions but they stopped growing and became obsolete in the marketplace. Success can be the enemy of continued success if it makes you complacent.
Weak Decisions
Poor strategy and decision making brought them down. Here's the thing: consistent acquisition of knowledge through book reading strengthens your prefrontal cortex. That's the decision making hub of your brain. It's a muscle.
The Bottom Line
You can learn from your own failures through trial and error. Or you can read books and learn from people who lost billions in minutes. One path costs you years. The other puts you 30 years ahead.
Reading isn't just about gaining knowledge. It's about strengthening your ability to make better decisions before the stakes get high.
Pick up a book today and start training your brain for success.
