4 Ways to Finish More Books & Remember What You’ve Read

1.Maintain a booklist

Keep the Pages Turning

After realizing I should get back into reading, one of the first things that I did was truly expand the book list I had. I’ve always been quite organized and have had a list of some of my favorite books for as long as I can remember.

That changed a little bit after I got into reading books that actually grew me rather than just entertained me.

Now, I’ve got a list of probably 300–400 books along with a list of 20 different lists of books that others have curated.

My intention is to always have books that are unfinished on the shelf. Before I finish a book, I identify what I’m reading next.

I don’t want to finish a book, get out of the daily discipline of reading, and end up not getting back to reading for a while. Frankly, that’s too much lost time and the opportunity cost is far too great to do that.

Book lists also allow me to give credit where it’s due.

When someone recommends a book (and almost everyone has a book or two that they suggest reading), I can thank them for the recommendation once I finish the book.

Without a book list, I might re-read books that were not good, I might forget about authors that impacted me more than others, or I might simply get overwhelmed by the seemingly endless options.

2. Read a minimum number of pages each day

The Slight Edge

When I started getting back into reading, my good friend Nick Berger gave me a book by Jeff Olson called The Slight Edge.

This book talked about the little things that the most successful people did each and every day — no matter what.

One of my main points was to commit to something that you can do every single day no matter what — and then to actually do it.

For me, that meant 10 pages a night, every single night. Now, I read my daily pages each night as one of the last things that I do before sleeping.

While I do not always get my reading done, I am fairly consistent and have found that reading prior to bed is the most effective reading time for me. This allows me to reflect on the book before sleeping, calm my mind, and end with a success every night.

Without a book list, I don’t know what I would be reading — or if I would be at all.

3. Document the key takeaways

Reviewing all Important Learnings

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve always kept lists and documented a lot of different things.

Keeping a running document of the key takeaways is one of the best things that I’ve done and I’m so glad that I decided to do this when I first got back into reading.

Now, when somebody asks about a book, I can send my notes to them or give them the three-sentence summary right away. I don’t always remember what each book was about (many have not been great) but when I read the key takeaways, I am reminded of the context.

It’s been incredibly impactful to page through each book that I’ve completed and see my main takeaways as a whole picture rather than just as segments.

My memory and overall recall of the book is also greatly increased through the multiple touch points.

I read certain segments of the book multiple times.

I highlight and make notes in the margins of each book.

I review my notes after completion of every book.

I write reflections about each book.

4. Utilize audiobooks

Audiobooks have been great.

I drive a lot. I recently spent 50 hours in the car over the course of just over a week. I drove from Florida to Wisconsin, through Kansas City, to Atlanta, and back to Florida. I listened to 7 audiobooks during that week.

While this does not have the same impact as reading because you are not forced to be as disciplined, I’ve sought to mitigate that by listening at a higher rate of speech.

I consistently listen at 3x or 3.5x speed now. I have continually increased the listening speed as Jim Kwik shared in his book Limitless:

“The human brain has the capacity to digest up to 400 WPM of information but the average New York speaker talks at about 125 WPM. This means that 3/4 of your brain could be doing something else while someone is speaking to you.”

As a result, this has proven, again, my method of listening at a higher rate of speed. The main impact that it has for me is my mind is more focused.

As there is not any additional capacity, I’m either listening to the book or I’m not. Sometimes I get distracted and need to go back a few minutes in the book but that’s no problem.

The focus for me is to learn and earn. I learn more through the numerous audiobooks that I finish.

Audiobooks provide another way to expand your learning abilities as most of the time we don’t learn auditorily.