How To Read More Books And Apply The Lessons You Learn, With Nick Hutchison

[00:00:00] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: For a long time I was a Go-getter, right?

[00:00:02] Take, take, take. Then I overcorrected once I realized that impact was more fulfilling and so I just gave, gave, gave, and I wasn't open to receiving. But I've 

[00:00:10] realized over time 

[00:00:11] and after reading that book, that the 

[00:00:13] more you give, the more you can 

[00:00:15] receive

[00:00:15] Jeremy: That's Nick Hutcheson. For much of thE past decade, he's been researching and testing principles that help people expand their minds nick is an expert in creating knowledge through books and travel.

[00:00:24] Today, he's going to share the key lessons that have shaped his growth and some amazing recommendations for life changing books.

[00:00:30] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Another great 

[00:00:30] place to start is the Go-Giver by Bob Berg and John David Mann.

[00:00:34] It's a 

[00:00:34] parable, 

[00:00:35] so it's not a traditional non-fiction book. It's actually a fictional story, but it teaches real life lessons 

[00:00:41] Jeremy: By the end of this episode, you're going to learn three things. First, you're going to understand why books provide knowledge while travel leads to wisdom. Then Nick will map out exactly which books are essential reads, and he'll share a few of the 100 personal development habits outlined in his new book, Rise of the Reader.

[00:00:58] So if you're ready to transform your [00:01:00] perspective and success, then stick around to this episode of the fit mess. 

[00:01:25] All right. So Zach's going to join us in a few minutes for the interview, , but I wanted to start by telling you a little bit about my experience with reading. When I was a kid, apparently I was a great reader. I don't remember enjoying it. I don't remember loving it, but I do remember being set aside in one of the select groups.

[00:01:40] It was a small group of kids, uh, you know, third grade, I think, where we got time once a week to go read the advanced books, the books that the other kids weren't quite ready for. And I remember thinking that was cool. And that was a neat thing to be a part of,

[00:01:53] but then some things happened at home and life got oddly stressful for a child and for whatever reason, [00:02:00] reading was one of the things that I stopped doing so much.

[00:02:02] And honestly, it was one of the worst parts of school for me, Staring at page after page after page of letters in this book, I couldn't focus, I couldn't stick with it, it would just, it would bore me and I couldn't absorb the material in that way.

[00:02:16] So after fumbling my way in and out of school, in and out of college, I finally got those degrees and got those things taken care of. But luckily technology advanced to the point where audio books came along. And those are things I really started to enjoy. And I started to really learn a lot of the lessons that we talk about here on this show through absorbing audio books.

[00:02:36] And there's tons of research that says that just by listening to audio books, you're getting the bulk of the material you would otherwise be getting from reading a physical book.

[00:02:45] Fast forward a few more years and now I'm a dad. I've got two young daughters at home. That are watching me either looking at a screen, reading eBooks, or listening to audio books while looking at something else on my screen. And the message [00:03:00] they were seeing was that dad doesn't read.

[00:03:02] In fact, my oldest daughter even joked one time. I don't remember the setting, but I remember her saying, you don't read.

[00:03:08] And hearing her say that was heartbreaking to me. Because partially it was true, but more so that's not the impression I want her to have. I want her and both of my daughters to value reading because it is such an important part of personal growth. And by the way, they're both book addicts. It's hard to get them to put books down, but if I can do something to help encourage that behavior, I want to do it.

[00:03:30] So since being called out by my 12 year old daughter, I have made more of an effort to go to the library with them. Pick up paper books, bring them home and read them. So, so that I could learn something so that I could feel better and take all those lessons and apply them to my life. But more so so that my kids could see me sitting there reading a book rather than staring at my phone.

[00:03:50] So this year I've probably read a lot more physical books than I have in years, honestly,

[00:03:55] but the next one on my list is rise of the reader and it's written by our guest, Nick Hutchison.[00:04:00] 

[00:04:00] The reason it's next on my list is because I still suck at reading. It's hard for me. It's hard for me to keep my focus on it that long. I don't know if there's some issue that I am not aware of that makes it difficult for me, or I just don't have the practice yet to absorb information in that way, but I'm excited to read his book because from this interview, I learned that there are tons of tips and strategies that he has to help make reading more efficient and more effective.

[00:04:24] And to make the lessons that are written in those pages, much more applicable to your life, rather than being something that just makes you feel good because you're reading it in the moment. And then months later, you completely forgot everything that was on those pages.

[00:04:36] So we're going to get to those lessons and a lot of the tips and tricks, not only for reading, but just for personal development that Nick has for you. and we'll find out why reading is important at all. We're going to do all of that right after this.

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[00:05:50] Nick. Thanks so much for joining us. I want to start the interview here with just a really simple question. Why is reading important? 

[00:05:57] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Why 

[00:05:57] is it

[00:05:57] important? 

[00:05:58] Because these books 

[00:05:59] condense [00:06:00] decades of somebody else's lived experience into 

[00:06:03] days of reading. And so you 

[00:06:04] can condense time, you

[00:06:06] can overcome problems, develop 

[00:06:08] skill sets, and uh, you could do it pretty fast and efficiently. So I'm a living testament to somebody who's read hundreds of books, have implemented them. To design my dream life, and I just wanna spread that positive power of personal development with as many people as I can.

[00:06:25] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: All right, so when I read a book, and I hear this complaint from a lot of people, they read a book, they put it down, and then six months later you say. What was in that book? They can't tell you anything about it. They didn't do anything from the book. They didn't take any lessons out of it. Why? Why does that happen?

[00:06:43] Why do people actually do when they do read? They don't actually take as much out of it as they possibly could.

[00:06:49] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, it happens because people don't read 

[00:06:51] with intention, 

[00:06:52] and I'll define that in a minute. People just read aimlessly hoping that these books will solve 

[00:06:56] their problems, but you 

[00:06:57] have to do the work yourself. [00:07:00] Napoleon Hill said, 

[00:07:01] action is the real measure of intelligence. So if you read these books and choose not to take action, 

[00:07:07] nothing will happen. 

[00:07:09] So here's what I mean when I say 

[00:07:10] intention. When I read a book, I 

[00:07:13] set a smart goal, an intention for each book that I read 

[00:07:17] that is specific, 

[00:07:18] measurable,

[00:07:19] attainable, something realistic, relevant 

[00:07:22] to my life 

[00:07:23] or business. So I'm emotionally connected to, you know, reading the book 

[00:07:26] and then it's time 

[00:07:27] bound. And 

[00:07:28] so let's say 

[00:07:29] I'm reading a book on communication.

[00:07:31] I'm not just going to read it and hope that it changes my life. I'm going to set a 

[00:07:35] goal, something like 

[00:07:36] find and implement. 

[00:07:39] At least two 

[00:07:39] communication strategies 

[00:07:41] by the end of September. 

[00:07:44] Now, 

[00:07:44] at specific, it's measurable. I know whether or not the book 

[00:07:47] served its purpose for me. That's realistic action.

[00:07:51] It's attainable. I didn't say get on TEDx stage or something by tomorrow. I said just find 

[00:07:56] and implement two strategies from the book. It's relevant to my 

[00:07:59] [00:08:00] life and my business for a lot of reasons. And 

[00:08:02] I said by the end 

[00:08:03] of September. So I give 

[00:08:04] myself a 

[00:08:05] deadline to take action. And I think if people started to have a better intention and set a goal like that for each book they read, they'd be far more likely to tell you what the book was about because they'll have implemented 

[00:08:17] something 

[00:08:18] useful from it.

[00:08:19] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah. 

[00:08:20] Track 1: So I hear from a lot of people that wish they could read more, and I imagine that your book has a lot of solutions for how to read more, but the trick is we gotta read the book. So what are the obstacles? How do people let, uh, whatever it is, what is it that gets in people's way, I guess, and how can people overcome that obstacle that take keeps them from the pages?

[00:08:40] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: So 

[00:08:40] I think the number 

[00:08:41] one thing that gets in their 

[00:08:42] way is that they don't value these 

[00:08:44] books enough. Like your first question, why should we read? Why 

[00:08:47] should we be reading these books? so I love to tell, I love to ask this question For people that don't read, I love to say, oh, you don't read well. What if I paid you $10,000 to 

[00:08:58] finish a book by the end of the month, do you think you [00:09:00] could do it?

[00:09:00] And that same person's like, 

[00:09:01] well, I could read 10. You know, so it's not a question of whether 

[00:09:04] or not we can read. It's a question of whether or not we priorit or we value it enough to prioritize it. 

[00:09:10] So then I'll kind of respond 

[00:09:11] with the following math. And this is where things get fun. 'cause 

[00:09:14] there are no excuses here. 

[00:09:16] If 

[00:09:16] you read for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. Even if you're just starting out at a 

[00:09:23] minimum, that's about 20 pages. 20 pages a day, five days a week is a hundred pages a week. And as we know from reading a bunch of these books, 

[00:09:31] there are about 200 pages on average these days.

[00:09:34] That's a book every two weeks. That's 26 

[00:09:36] books a year, and you don't have to find that time. You just have to replace a little bit of your morning Netflix, or a little bit of your 

[00:09:43] morning social media. Same thing 

[00:09:45] in the evening. With reading a good book, something 

[00:09:48] that was meaningless, now you're 

[00:09:49] replacing it with something that serves 

[00:09:51] your future self. So 15 minutes, twice a day, 

[00:09:55] I mean, come on, changing 26 areas of your life a year. That way 

[00:09:59] everybody can do [00:10:00] that.

[00:10:01] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Have you done any research on, you know, the significant difference a person's life can take just by implementing that? I mean, like, that seems like a, such a low investment with a super high gain in my mind, but I'd love to hear your take on it.

[00:10:17] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, it's 

[00:10:17] the best ROI 

[00:10:19] that you could possibly have. I think like in terms of money and time, no, I haven't done any research on that. I haven't hosted 

[00:10:27] any research 

[00:10:28] studies or read any that that people have done. But I'll give a good metaphor for this in the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, and I think it's also repeated in Atomic Habits by James Clear.

[00:10:40] If they give you a scenario, imagine a plane is flying from Los Angeles 

[00:10:44] to New York City. It's about 3000 miles, 

[00:10:47] but at the beginning of that journey, 

[00:10:48] somebody just nudges the plane a 

[00:10:50] little bit and it's off by 1%. As 

[00:10:52] that 1% 

[00:10:53] compounds throughout the flight, it's almost imperceptible for a long time, 

[00:10:58] but by the time it reaches its [00:11:00] destination, it's 

[00:11:00] 150 miles off course.

[00:11:03] so

[00:11:04] using that 

[00:11:05] metaphor 

[00:11:05] in your own life, like what if you could nudge yourself 

[00:11:08] in the right direction, just 1% just by reading 15 minutes, twice a day, 

[00:11:13] how could that compound over time in your health? In your business, in your personal 

[00:11:19] relationships, in your, you know, whatever, your personal finance, your head space, your mindset, like that's what these books do.

[00:11:26] They nudge you in the right direction and then 

[00:11:28] you're a completely different human just a few years later.

[00:11:31] and

[00:11:31] so, yeah, I love the question 

[00:11:33] and 

[00:11:34] although 

[00:11:35] I haven't done any research, that's kind of how it's worked in my life.

[00:11:38] Track 1: I don't know if you've heard this number. We talked to, uh, another pod, a podcast host. His name's Chris Michael Harris, and he mentioned something like, , people that read a book a month are in the top 10% of, you know, top performers in the world. People that read a book a week or like the top 1%. I don't know what tool of measurement that's using, but if, if there's truth to that, that's a, that's a pretty remarkable [00:12:00] statistic.

[00:12:01] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah. One of the guys that 

[00:12:02] I interviewed a while ago, sort of an OG in the personal development space, Brian Tracy, 

[00:12:07] I remember him telling me that if you read 

[00:12:10] three books on a specific 

[00:12:11] subject, you're in the top 1% internationally,

[00:12:16] and it's just, you 

[00:12:17] just have to read three books on a subject and you know more 

[00:12:19] than 99% of the people you'll ever come in contact with.

[00:12:23] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Well, in that case, I know I am way up there in Star Wars 'cause I've read all the Star Wars books.

[00:12:29] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Well, you might be, and I hope that that's 

[00:12:31] serving you. 

[00:12:32] Track 1: Well. 

[00:12:32] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Oh, they, they've served my entertainment. They, I don't know if they've nudged my plane 150 miles north, but, but they've definitely entertained me.

[00:12:40] Track 1: Look, look for our Star Wars podcast coming this spring. No, I'm just kidding. Um, so what about for people that do struggle with just the attention, right? I mean, sometimes it's an a DH ADHD issue. Sometimes it is a a um, a learning disability, but like the ability to actually focus on the words on the page.

[00:12:56] Do you have any tips for people that struggle with that, with [00:13:00] that barrier?

[00:13:01] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, I think that focus and reading in general is a skillset, so. 

[00:13:07] You know, 

[00:13:07] if I went out and played golf with some of my buddies that have played every single weekend for their entire 

[00:13:12] lives I've never played before, I would stink, right? Because it's a skill that they've developed over time. They weren't born better golfers. They've just developed a skill. I think the same thing happens with reading these books, especially focus reading a physical paper book is a form of monotasking.

[00:13:29] It's an individual activity that you can do for a while and eventually get into a state of flow 

[00:13:34] and deep work as Cal Newport would put it. 

[00:13:37] And that's one of the reasons that I like 

[00:13:39] reading physical paper books is that you can't do 

[00:13:41] anything else while you're reading a physical paper book. 

[00:13:44] If you're listening to a book, you could be driving, 

[00:13:47] you could be at the gym, you could be folding laundry, 

[00:13:49] and so you're 

[00:13:50] not getting as much out of the book. 

[00:13:52] Also, 

[00:13:53] I'll just throw this out there. Since I've already started down this rabbit hole, 

[00:13:57] that 

[00:13:57] 80% of the inputs 

[00:13:58] to our brain are [00:14:00] visual. The 

[00:14:01] other senses only make up about 20%. and so by default, if you're just listening to something, you're 

[00:14:07] not getting as much from it. Don't stop listening to this podcast because I think that listening is better than just music or nothing.

[00:14:15] Right? you know, you could definitely find something useful in a podcast, in a book. I mean, I have a podcast and I listen to a ton of books myself, But, uh, yeah, you get more bang for your buck when you sit down and you focus, and then you can develop that 

[00:14:28] skill of longer periods of focused attention. Over time through repetition 

[00:14:34] and that skill is transferrable to other areas of your life.

[00:14:37] So 

[00:14:38] I'll just wrap up my tangent 

[00:14:39] by saying I, I 

[00:14:40] love 

[00:14:40] to joke around sometimes and say if I ever had to go back and get a nine to five, like if I had to be interviewed at bigger companies and they ask me, what, 

[00:14:48] what are your strengths? It's a differentiating 

[00:14:51] skillset nowadays to 

[00:14:52] say, I can sit down and focus on something for an extended 

[00:14:54] period of time and not be distracted by this.

[00:14:57] They're like, .okay, you're hired. You know,

[00:14:59] 'cause everybody's [00:15:00] distracted these days. 

[00:15:01] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Right? We can teach you the skills. We can't teach you to be focused.

[00:15:04] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Right.

[00:15:05] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Um, I, I guess I, I've got a personal question that I don't know. if it would be useful for people, maybe you'll just tell me I'm a weirdo, but like I read, I don't know, I read a ton of books, but every now and again I come across one where I'm just like, I need to read that again. I need like, I need to take all that information in. So I'll actually get the audio book and listen and read at the exact same time and get like the audio and the Visual Act Act.

[00:15:33] Um. Portions of my brain active. Have you done that? Have you heard anything on that or am I just weird or is that like a really good way to go, I need to know this stuff and bring it in?

[00:15:43] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: No, I 

[00:15:43] think it's amazing. Uh, I 

[00:15:45] actually 

[00:15:45] make that recommendation in my book to do that so you're not, yeah, you're not weird.

[00:15:51] It's multisensory. Uh, 

[00:15:53] you're, you're

[00:15:54] triggering the auditory and visual learning 

[00:15:57] centers at the same time. 

[00:15:58] You're strengthening your [00:16:00] connection to 

[00:16:00] the information. More efficiently 

[00:16:02] than just one or the other.

[00:16:03] So I think it's great. Plus it keeps you on 

[00:16:06] pace and it keeps you reading faster, I'm sure as 

[00:16:08] well. 

[00:16:09] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yes. Reading faster is not my problem. I've got a weird, this is, that's the weird part about reading for me that's weird is I don't, I read two lines at the same time forward and then two lines at the same time backwards and just makes sense in my head and I, every time I explain it to somebody, they're like, I have no idea what you're talking about.

[00:16:27] Track 1: When, when 

[00:16:27] you were 

[00:16:28] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: you're speaking to another nerd, so I get it.

[00:16:30] Track 1: when you, when you were talking about playing it and li and reading at the same time, it was like either the speed you read or the speed you listen to audiobooks would just be mind-numbing. 'cause you, I mean, you, you listen to like four x don't, it's like 

[00:16:41] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: I listen at three

[00:16:42] x, but if I'm reading and listening at the same time, I have to slow my physical reading down to the three x speed of the audio book.

[00:16:49] Track 1: That's wild.

[00:16:50] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Check this out. So there's a metaphor in 

[00:16:53] Limitless by Jim Quick. 

[00:16:54] It's a great book. And he says, imagine you're 

[00:16:57] driving a car and you're driving slowly through a [00:17:00] neighborhood. 

[00:17:00] Well, because you're going slowly, your mind starts to wander. You could check out the 

[00:17:04] driveways, the houses, the landscaping, like, oh, look at gwa, whatever,

[00:17:09] playing the license plate game.

[00:17:10] But if you were speeding through the neighborhood, your eyes are glued to the road. you can't look at the mailboxes in the landscaping, your 

[00:17:17] eyes are 

[00:17:17] glued to the road. So I think 

[00:17:18] sometimes people think that reading slower 

[00:17:21] means better repetition and understanding, or 

[00:17:24] sorry, uh, yeah, just a better understanding of the material, better retention.

[00:17:28] And it's not true. Reading faster, 

[00:17:30] using more of your brain's facility at the same time, 

[00:17:34] you're less likely to 

[00:17:35] be distracted and you'll actually 

[00:17:37] retain 

[00:17:37] more information by reading 

[00:17:39] faster. So yeah, I, I love that 

[00:17:41] kind of stuff.

[00:17:42] Track 1: So in addition to that, what are some other hacks? What are some other ways that we can make sure we're, we're pulling enough information out of the books that we're reading so that we don't end up six months later going, oh, yeah, did I read? At that I don't even remember.

[00:17:52] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, 

[00:17:52] well, Zach just kind 

[00:17:53] of mentioned that he rereads the book, so he'll 

[00:17:56] read something multiple times. I love to say that reading [00:18:00] and note taking are two completely separate 

[00:18:02] activities and they should be treated as separate activities so that you're not task switching. two. totally unrelated 

[00:18:08] things. So I 

[00:18:10] love to read 

[00:18:11] a book one time all 

[00:18:12] the way through.

[00:18:13] Now I set my intention and I'll highlight things related to fulfilling that intention, 

[00:18:18] but I'm just gonna read the whole book all the way through. 

[00:18:21] Then I'll go back and I'll look at everything that I've, I. Noted, you know, starred, highlighted whatever, whatever format I'm using. And then I'll spend a little bit more time 

[00:18:31] reflecting on that information. 

[00:18:33] And so that's like a second read through the book. But the second time through, I'm only reading 

[00:18:38] and reflecting 

[00:18:39] in a slow way 

[00:18:40] what's most important 

[00:18:41] to me from that book. And 

[00:18:43] so I 

[00:18:43] like to go through books multiple times as well. And then what I'll do is I'll take my notes. So I used an example, I think earlier in the conversation where I 

[00:18:51] said, maybe we're 

[00:18:51] reading a communication 

[00:18:53] book and we're setting a goal to find and implement two strategies.

[00:18:56] Well, maybe I've found and 

[00:18:57] highlighted 15, but 

[00:18:59] here's the [00:19:00] thing. They're not all created equal, so I'll rewrite. 

[00:19:03] Which is a form of repetition and repetition 

[00:19:05] leads to attention. I'll rewrite my 15 takeaways on it on a legal pad like this, and then I'll 

[00:19:11] look at them and I'll say, what 20% of these are likely to create 80% of the change?

[00:19:17] I don't 

[00:19:17] want 

[00:19:17] to implement everything that's overwhelming. I just want to implement the highest leveraged activities 

[00:19:23] that I can take action on, 

[00:19:25] you know, without too much friction. 

[00:19:26] And, uh. That allows me to take better action and draw the most 

[00:19:31] important information outta the book. Not 

[00:19:33] everything, I don't retain everything, but I could tell you something from almost every book I've read 

[00:19:37] because I've taken action on it, you 

[00:19:39] know? .

[00:19:40] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: , so in rereading books, I am curious on your take on this. I know for me, I've had, you know, I'm looking at one of my bookshelves that I have books that I reread on an annual basis because there's so many books out there that depending on where you are in your life and what your current situation is like, you pick out [00:20:00] different things and it means different things to you. Um, can you, like, is that something you recommend as well? 

[00:20:07] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Oh yeah. 

[00:20:08] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: more about that?

[00:20:09] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: So the, the question in its simplest form is quality versus quantity, and. Just 

[00:20:18] like you, I'm reading a hundred books 

[00:20:19] a year. 

[00:20:20] It's a little bit of both 

[00:20:21] for me. I think if you're first starting and you can only choose one, I 

[00:20:25] say choose 

[00:20:26] quantity. Read wide, read a 

[00:20:28] ton 

[00:20:28] of different subjects. Try 

[00:20:29] to understand as much as you can about how much you 

[00:20:32] don't know, 

[00:20:33] and uh, see what, see what kind of like fuels your fire a little bit.

[00:20:37] Once you sort

[00:20:39] of grow, maybe start 

[00:20:40] a business, you have a wide 

[00:20:41] foundation of knowledge. 

[00:20:42] You've read a ton of books. I stay, I say start to focus on the quality a little bit more. Reread the books that are the most meaningful to you if you can only do one or the other. 

[00:20:51] So again, in the beginning of your journey, 

[00:20:53] read a ton of random stuff, figure out what you like, and then eventually really focus in on what matters most.[00:21:00] 

[00:21:00] Track 1: when you find the, the genre or the style or whatever it is that you like, you know, and you're now, you're . Finding yourself in the library, the bookstore, and the giant section of thousands of books to choose from. How do you know which ones are worth your time?

[00:21:13] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, there are a few things that, 

[00:21:14] that I do to decide on the next book that I read. Uh, and in my 

[00:21:18] book, rise of the Reader, I have this whole personal inventory, a series of questions that you can 

[00:21:23] ask yourself to determine 

[00:21:24] what's best. I think at the, the, core, 

[00:21:27] like, like first principles, thinking. These books in the world of personal development, they solve problems and they develop skill 

[00:21:34] sets. There's a bunch of stuff in between, 

[00:21:37] but that's kind of like the core too. 

[00:21:39] And so are you facing 

[00:21:40] a problem? That you 

[00:21:42] could overcome 

[00:21:43] by reading about how somebody else overcame that same 

[00:21:45] problem, or are you facing a skills gap that you could 

[00:21:48] acquire and like remove the gap by reading about a book on how to develop that skill. 

[00:21:53] And so if you're asking 

[00:21:54] yourself that question and you go into the library, or, or, or 

[00:21:58] Barnes and Noble or whatever, [00:22:00] and you're analyzing those. 

[00:22:01] The books that are available, and you try to answer those questions like, will this solve my problem or Help me develop my skillset. You're kind of reading and picking the book with intention. I'll also add 

[00:22:12] just a fun little hack. 

[00:22:13] If 

[00:22:14] you're analyzing multiple books in a category, I recommend 

[00:22:18] going on 

[00:22:18] Amazon and looking at reviews, and 

[00:22:20] I recommend ditching the five 

[00:22:21] star reviews and ditching the one and two star reviews so that you're only 

[00:22:24] looking at 

[00:22:25] the three and four star reviews. 

[00:22:27] Those are 

[00:22:28] typically written with less emotion. Right. People put thought into their answer, the difference between one and two stars, not very much. Five stars people just check the box by three and four. You put some thought as to why you think the book deserves that rating. So they're written from A place of logic, 

[00:22:45] not emotion, and I think that can help you understand what the book's about as well.

[00:22:50] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: So what about, what about putting a book down? So I know a lot of people will go pick the book, right? They've gone through the process, they're, [00:23:00] this is the book. I'm gonna read two chapters in. They're like, I am just not feeling this. Do you continue? Do you slog through or do you put it down?

[00:23:09] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Earlier in my journey, the first couple of hundred books that I read, I read every word of the book, including everything before chapter one and everything after the last 

[00:23:17] chapter, because

[00:23:19] I thought that in order for the book to count, I had 

[00:23:21] to read the whole thing. 

[00:23:23] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Over 

[00:23:24] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: I started to realize that I, I'm not optimizing 

[00:23:27] for the number of books I 

[00:23:28] read. That's a vanity metric. I'm optimizing for behavior change in results. And 

[00:23:32] that doesn't mean reading bad books. That doesn't mean, you 

[00:23:36] know, there's, life is too short 

[00:23:37] to read bad books. So I've heard Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferris talk about this. They have a rule called the rule of 100.

[00:23:43] And so they say, take 

[00:23:44] the number 100, 

[00:23:45] subtract 

[00:23:46] your age. I'm 29, right? So the result's 71. I have to read at least 71 pages before I can determine whether or not it's a good fit for me. That's a

[00:23:55] fun rule. I've tried to follow 

[00:23:57] that for myself. The older you get, [00:24:00] 

[00:24:00] the less you have to read because 

[00:24:01] the wiser 

[00:24:02] you've become. And so, uh, it's a fun, it's a fun way to answer that question too.

[00:24:07] Track 1: is fun. Not only do you have reading tips in your book, but you have, uh, a hundred new habits to improve your health, wealth, and happiness. How does that tie into reading these books and can you give us some examples? Yeah. That, that maybe we haven't heard, uh, either at all or much of before? I.

[00:24:22] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, 

[00:24:23] absolutely. So the 

[00:24:26] reason that

[00:24:27] I

[00:24:28] decided 

[00:24:28] to include these hundred healthy, wealthy, and happy habits, I. 

[00:24:31] Is to show people how I've taken the books that I've read and implemented something from them. 

[00:24:36] So I try to detail 

[00:24:38] those experiences in 

[00:24:39] the book and share about a 

[00:24:40] hundred of my favorite takeaways from the 500 a thousand books that I've read. And so I've broken them into three categories. Healthy, wealthy, and happy habits. 

[00:24:51] And so each one talks about why 

[00:24:54] you should implement it. 

[00:24:55] So 

[00:24:55] I kind of set the stage. Then I 

[00:24:57] talk about 

[00:24:58] the expected benefits if you [00:25:00] choose to implement it a little bit more, like kind of bullet points and 

[00:25:03] then my experience as well as, uh, some 

[00:25:05] pro tips and stuff like that. 

[00:25:07] So I'll give an example 

[00:25:08] out of each category as far as healthy. Uh, I'm somebody who loves traveling internationally, and so one of my recommendations is to try strange foods. 

[00:25:19] It sounds a little goofy, but 

[00:25:20] uh, you know, as 

[00:25:21] human beings, 

[00:25:22] we come from various 

[00:25:24] backgrounds. A lot of them are 

[00:25:25] mashed together, and I. Like for me, I'm, I'm of six or seven different ethnicities all kind of jammed into one. 

[00:25:33] So like my 

[00:25:34] gut biome is pretty unique. There's no one size fits all answer. And so I love to try new and crazy foods to see how my body reacts, to see how I feel. And, uh, I, I talk a lot in that section of the book about some of the benefits, the nutritional benefits of trying new foods, the energy benefits and things like that.

[00:25:53] So that's an example of kind of like a fun and different healthy tip. Um, for happy. The one that [00:26:00] comes to mind is something that I love to tell people about and I haven't heard anybody talk about this, so you could tell me if you've heard this before, but. I 

[00:26:06] keep 

[00:26:07] a gratitude 

[00:26:09] time capsule. 

[00:26:10] What I 

[00:26:10] do is I record a one minute video every 

[00:26:13] Sunday highlighting the best things that happen in my week. 

[00:26:16] So I'll start and 

[00:26:17] I'll say, Hey, today is uh, Sunday, September 24th, and this week I was interviewed on a cool podcast called The Fit Mess, and blah, blah, blah. I'll just highlight all the best things that happened in my week, and then I'll upload that to a Google Drive that's categorized by year. And the idea is that in the future. I can condense an entire year's worth of 52 minutes into just one video. And, and in 

[00:26:40] less than one hour, 

[00:26:41] I can look at an entire year's worth of highlights.

[00:26:44] So

[00:26:45] what's happened, 

[00:26:45] what's really interesting about that is I know I'm recording the video every Sunday, so I've 

[00:26:50] started to filter for opportunities to be grateful and it's just 

[00:26:55] bled right into my 

[00:26:56] life and I'm just so much happier, uh, as a [00:27:00] result of that. And I'll share one from the wealthy section. I mean, I have a bunch of productivity tips, kind of personal finance tips. 

[00:27:09] I think one thing that surprises people sometimes is to cut 

[00:27:12] unhealthy spending. So a lot of people are 

[00:27:15] spending money on things that are actually damaging their health. If you 

[00:27:19] can cut that money, 

[00:27:21] you know, which puts more money back in your bank account and you're 

[00:27:24] healthier as a result, they kind of compound together. 

[00:27:27] So, for example, 

[00:27:29] people spend a lot of money on sugary Starbucks drinks in the afternoon. 

[00:27:34] Well, not only 

[00:27:35] is that caffeine hurting your sleep, the sugar is terrible for your health, that money is unnecessary to spend. You know, 

[00:27:42] but 

[00:27:42] you know, 

[00:27:43] so it all kind 

[00:27:44] of compounds together. And I talk about like analyzing your spending behavior and looking at 

[00:27:49] not only 

[00:27:49] things are hurting your bank account, but they're also hurting your mindset or your health.

[00:27:54] So those are three of the 100 plus examples that I have in the book. But, you know, tons of fun, indifferent stuff.[00:28:00] 

[00:28:00] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Nice. I like, I like the gratitude one. That's, that's a good idea. I might, I might take that one up myself.

[00:28:05] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: It's yours.

[00:28:07] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Um, I, I know we usually like take, you know, one minute at the very end of, of a show to be like, Hey, what's your, what's your book recommendation? I wanna take a couple minutes for this one. 'cause I, I really wanna, you know, get your take on, you know, maybe one or, or your top three books that you've read, that have like, totally changed your life and like totally, you know, not just a one degree change, but like a 25 degree change and, and landed you in Miami or something like that. But, you know, go for it. Like one, two, however many books you wanna talk about.

[00:28:40] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, 

[00:28:41] I mean, I have so many of those books that have definitely created dramatic change in 

[00:28:45] my life, but I will mention a few. So number one, the first book 

[00:28:50] I ever read was Rich Dad, poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, 

[00:28:54] and I've read that book 10 times 

[00:28:56] talking about rereading books and every.

[00:28:58] every,

[00:28:58] time I revisit 

[00:28:59] it, it feels [00:29:00] like a totally new book, 

[00:29:00] because I've changed, 

[00:29:02] which is another cool thing about rereading 

[00:29:03] books. .But that book taught me the importance of financial literacy. It taught me that we're all forced to play the game of money. You don't have to be materialistic to value food, water, shelter, and impact. And the more money you have, 

[00:29:15] the more people you can help. And so. 

[00:29:17] Yeah, that's a really important 

[00:29:18] one for me.

[00:29:19] Money, unfortunately, is not a subject that's typically taught at school. It's taught at the home. And so if you grow 

[00:29:24] up in a poor or middle class family, you're going to learn 

[00:29:27] poor or middle class money habits. And to break that 

[00:29:29] stigma, you have to read books written by rich people like Robert. 

[00:29:33] So I really love that 

[00:29:35] one. Uh, in a similar vein, last year I read a book, a hundred million dollars Offers by Alex Hor. so $20 in a few hours of my time, and I generated over six figures of 

[00:29:47] additional revenue 

[00:29:48] for my small business within a handful of months. 

[00:29:51] Talk about return on investment. I mean, it was wild and I had somebody remind me recently, my, my ops guy at Book Thinkers, he's like. Dude, you only gave [00:30:00] like a half-ass 

[00:30:01] implementation 

[00:30:01] of that book anyway. I only implemented a few things from it and look at the impact that it's had. So if anybody in your audience today is running a service-based business, they have to stop everything they're doing 

[00:30:12] and read that book. And I'll throw one more out there that's very different. 

[00:30:17] Vagabonding by Rolfe pots. 

[00:30:20] Have either of you read it?

[00:30:21] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: I read it a long time ago.

[00:30:23] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: It's, it's the uncommon art of long-term world travel or something like that as a subtitle. And 

[00:30:29] it talks about 

[00:30:29] how the traditional, the traditional American narrative, that travel is expensive and it's reserved for either the ultra rich or 

[00:30:36] maybe a family who takes maybe a vacation 

[00:30:39] every year or two, and they have to save up 

[00:30:40] for it. It tosses those out 

[00:30:42] the window. And 

[00:30:43] so as a result 

[00:30:44] of reading that book, I've traveled to over 25 different countries sometimes for up to three months at a 

[00:30:49] time. 

[00:30:50] You know, I'm working and building a remote business at the same time, 

[00:30:53] which is 

[00:30:53] part of the reason that I can do that. But, uh, man, I've learned, I would say [00:31:00] almost 50% 

[00:31:01] of everything I've learned has come from 

[00:31:02] international 

[00:31:03] travel and that like diversity of 

[00:31:05] perspective. And the other 50% is the books that I've, I've read 

[00:31:09] and implemented. So if it wasn't for books, I'd probably work in the travel space.

[00:31:13] Track 1: So there's obviously, I mean, I, I think we've outlined a, a lot of the important reasons that reading can make a big impact on your life. So if someone's convinced. And they're feeling like, oh, where do I start? Obviously read your book first, but what other sort of, uh, you know, first steps, what are some first things people can do to, to make this a part of their daily habit?

[00:31:32] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: I think another great first read 

[00:31:35] outside of Rise of the Reader or Rich Dad Poor Dad, is the Compound effect by Darren Hardy 

[00:31:40] and, and really at 

[00:31:41] the core of that book, it talks about how small steps in the right direction over a long period of time will compound and build a beautiful life for you. Kind of that plane and analogy. But the book goes through that on steroids and it just really reinforces 

[00:31:54] that 

[00:31:54] it's small actions. 

[00:31:56] You know, it's not 

[00:31:57] eating the elephant in one bite. It's just one bite at [00:32:00] a time, and it 

[00:32:00] it makes it manageable 

[00:32:02] for people. 

[00:32:02] So I think that's another 

[00:32:03] great place to start. 

[00:32:05] Another great 

[00:32:05] place to start is the Go-Giver by Bob Berg and John David Mann.

[00:32:09] It's a 

[00:32:09] parable, 

[00:32:10] so it's not a traditional non-fiction book. It's actually a fictional story, but it teaches real life lessons and 

[00:32:16] it's 

[00:32:16] such an easy short. Impactful Read teaches five major lessons. My favorite one is the reciprocal nature between giving and Receiving. You know, for a long time I was a Go-getter, right?

[00:32:27] Take, take, take. Then I overcorrected once I realized that impact was more fulfilling and so I just gave, gave, gave, and I wasn't open to receiving. But I've 

[00:32:35] realized over time 

[00:32:36] and after reading that book, that the 

[00:32:38] more you give, the more you can 

[00:32:40] receive, which gives you more to give

[00:32:42] and uh, it's such a beautiful 

[00:32:44] book and story.

[00:32:45] Track 1: Powerful stuff. I know you have to run, so I'll just ask quickly, where can we learn more about you, the book and find out, uh, more about what you do.

[00:32:50] zach-tucker-_1_09-22-2023_160307: Yeah, If 

[00:32:51] nick-hutchison_1_09-22-2023_160307: wants a custom book recommendation, it's one of my favorite things to do. So dmm me at book Thinkers, tell me about a problem you have. Tell [00:33:00] me about a skill that you wanna develop, or something in between. And I'll provide a custom book recommendation. And from there, the links in the bio, everything else is available. 

[00:33:08] Jeremy: All right. Our thanks to Nick Hutchison for joining us again, the book is rise of the reader. You can get the link to that in the show notes for this episode at the fit mess. com tips, tricks, strategies, lots of ways to make your reading more efficient and more effective.

[00:33:20] But I think the key takeaways there are that you can gain so much knowledge from people from the past hundreds, thousands of years by reading their thoughts, the things they put down on those pages that are still applicable to your life today so that you can

[00:33:34] build the life of your dreams.

[00:33:36] But also, and maybe more importantly, it's not just about reading the books. It's about like he does taking a couple of things from each book and finding a way to implement them into your life so that the lesson isn't lost when you close the book and put it back on the shelf or take it back to the library, using the strategies, just the ones he outlined in this interview for finding those nuggets between the pages and making them a part of your life

[00:33:58] can lead, I [00:34:00] think, to a better life.

[00:34:01] But that's going to do it for this episode. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you learned something. And I hope that this encourages you as it has for me to make reading a bigger priority so that you can become better at it and learn even more to implement these strategies into your life. And if you found this episode valuable at all, I hope you'll consider sharing it with someone, you know, who maybe struggles like you and I do to get the most out of the books 

[00:34:23] that we try to make time to read every day.

[00:34:25] But that's it for us. Zach and I will be back next week with a brand new episode. You can find it at the fit mess. com. Thanks so much for listening.