Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

RAPID OBSOLESCENCE
Knowledge and information in your field are doubling every two or
three years. Whatever information base you have is rapidly becom-
ing obsolete. You must be in the process of continually taking in
new information and ideas just to stay even.
Fortunately, there is a simple, three-part program that you can use
to keep yourself ahead of the pack. I have used it and taught it to many
thousands of people, and I have files full of letters from people whose
entire lives have been changed as a result. The three keys to continu-
ous personal and professional development are 
continuous reading
,
con-
tinuous listening to audio learning programs
, and 
continuous training
.
■
READ EVERY DAY
In order to stay on top of your job, you should read in your field at
least one hour per day, underlining and taking good notes. Anything
less than one hour per day will put you in danger of being passed by
your competitors. My friend Jim Rohn advises,
“Work at least as
hard on yourself as you do on your job.”
At the very least, you should get up every morning and read 30
to 60 minutes in something educational. Take careful notes. Review
your notes on a regular basis. Reflect on what you have learned, and
think about how you could apply the new ideas in your daily life.
Use your powers of visualization to imagine yourself using the
new information in some way. This will dramatically increase the
speed at which you learn and retain the new ideas, and increase
the likelihood that you will use them at the first opportunity.
If you read just one hour per day, that will amount to about one