Reading Wiser
In the past three years, I have created a habit of reading daily.
I wake up at 5 AM - most days :) - do a bit of stretching to get my body all woken up and ready for the day. Then I take time to give my mind a workout by reading for a bit. The books of choice are mostly business related and a few self-help too. I know may not sound all that amazing first thing in the morning but for me and my entrepreneurial mind, they are enjoyable!!
With business books not being a lite read and me wanting to remember, or better yet learn specific details of the books, I started taking notes - pen to paper. I had all of this great information or quotes that I found and written done and all was good.
Then I hear of Readwise…
Readwise was a total game-changer for me. It took my notes or important points I wanted to remember and helped me to increase the speed and uptake of the information.
“How” you may ask - well here is a screen capture from their website explaining the basics…
Here is how I increased my uptake of information AND saved time doing it!
The books I am reading have information that I really wanted to not just read but remember. Taking notes 100% helped. I had done this for just over a year and was accumulating quite a library of notes books full of quotes or other points that were amazing points and I wanted to remember.
BUT…. it was getting a bit out of hand. I now had all these full notebooks but not knowing which notebook had what info. Ended up wasting a lot of time just leafing through the pages to find something I was wanting to review. I was just getting more confused instead of getting smarter.
Then while watching YouTube, I came across a guy who was talking about this app that helped manage and organized what I was trying to do - read and review what I was reading - Readwise.
Looked into it and found out that yes it could ingest the written notes that I had done - by me typing them in :( but could also link to a Kindle reader and use the highlight feature to “take notes”. So much better than writing it all out right?!
Looking further at things I quickly realized that the app can do so much more!! So as part of my New Year’s Resolution, on Jan 1st I bought myself a Kindle, and some e-books and gave it a try. Worked amazingly.
At first, I had the app send me an email each morning that had 10 points from past books I had highlighted. It was so good!! I loved it and but was able to customize it for me. I no longer have the email sent to me, found it better that I just go into the app daily to get my highlight reviews done. I now only review 7 highlights a day. You can set how many you review each day and 7 seems to work best for me.
So I am still readying each day - but now on a Kindle - love it! - and each time I highlight a point or something that I really want to remember the app sends knows that in days to come it can send me that highlight and allows me to review it furthering my learning of that topic.
But wait, that’s not all!
The app does so much more like create quotes to share with others, allow for highlights from books you already read in paperback form, and track streaks of many days in a row you have read your highlights - I am proud to day am at a 143-day streak!!! And there is so, so much more.
Yes, it does have a monthly paid subscription but the amount is so low that I am getting so much from using it, it literally does not even matter to me. They have a free trial period, which I started from, so not need to pay upfront which is nice - free trial link below!!!
I can easily say that this one app is my most used app of ALL TIME and instead of wasting time on apps like Instagram or Tik Tok, this app 200% makes me S-M-R-T-R!!!
“I am so smart!!!” ~ Hommer J. Simpson
Interested?
In no way am I affiliated with or get paid anything by telling you about this app. I just want others to know about it and benefit as I have if it fits into your reading wants and habits. I truly love it.
You can find out more and you can get extra use time by using this link!
Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
Got any good book recommendations?
I would love to hear them!
Send them my way at jason@infiniteeye.ca or leave the book name in the comments below.
