I read for 50+ hours last month. Here's what I learnt:

For reference: I run an SEO/B2B Lead Gen/Sales agency - https://pearllemon.com.

We're fully remote as are our clients who come mainly from inbound SEO

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I just discovered the biggest gap in the success I've had and the success I could have.

For me - it's reading.

That might come as no surprise...but let me explain.

I'm talking about the INTENTIONAL kind of reading, the one where you stop, think, take notes, and immediately implement something into your business or life from the mind of a great thinker.

First of all let me go through the books I've read/close to finishing:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Essentialism by Greg Mckeown
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
• Digital Minalism by Cal Newport
• The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday
• Traction by Gino Wickman

Let me go through the classic mistakes I used to make before I started this journey:

1. I didn't read consistently (i.e everyday)
2. I didn't track my reading stats (now Audible helps me with that)
3. I didn't plan when I read (now I have)
4. I read too many 'Shoe Dog' type books - fun entrepreneurial journey, not any practicality

Here's not what I've 'learnt' in the last month (May 2020). Here's what I've CHANGED:

1. I use Freedom.to to block Whatsapp from 9pm to 11am
2. My internal marketing director now manages my LinkedIn and Facebook (i.e I've reduced social media usage around 500%)
3. I track productivity in the background via Rescue Time
4. I listen to Audible when I eat now if I'm eating alone
5. I only watch 'shows' with my partner during dinner. If we don't eat together I don't watch it
6. I've asked all my remote team to use Clockify (a free time tracker) - not for me to measure them - but for them to measure themselves (I've found it working)
7. I'm finally engaging in Deep Work (i.e heavy focus leaving me exhausted)
8. I don't take ANY meetings before 11am internally or externally
9. I only take 'client calls' From 2pm - 5.30pm each day (less on Mon-Fri)
10. Every team member has ONE metric that is their north star they report on e.g revenue booked/messages sent/meetings had etc
11. I'm slowly documenting everything we do within our business from hr, marketing + sales, operations to finance (this will be a big task)

I think there is likely more - I'm just writing this after a wave of inspiration.

This all came in the last 30 days after reading all those books above.

FYI: When I say 'read' I listen to Audible at 1.75x speed and plan to keep doing so for 1 hour per day/30 hours per month which is 52.5 hours of actual listening time.

The rule is a max of books a month is allowed for 'fun'. This month it's 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins and 'World War Z' by Max Brooks.

The other 3-4 must be to learn.

I'm very excited to see what competitive advantage simply 'reading' gives me in the months to come.

Thanks guys!

p.s I've written a newsletter about my life - if you're interested just sign up here: https://deepakshukla.com/52k