What I love about books is that, even though the barrier to entry is getting lower, there is still a barrier to entry. It’s not everyone writing a book or doing a podcast. In order for a book to be good and recommended, people have to spend time editing it, refining it, and making the ideas better by sharing the most valuable pieces.
All of those filters in the publishing industry are actually helpful.
My strong opinion is that filters are good, and everyone should consume less but higher quality information.
If you are reading a good book that’s recommended by others or established in the industry, it’s much easier to find those books than it is to find valuable content on other platforms or in other ways.
And what I have noticed for myself is that I listen to this podcast or spend time on social media to learn new things, but actually lot of that time is really just focused on entertainment. There’s so much content out there that it can be overwhelming.
The signal to noise ratio from reading books is so much higher than it is from other media.
And how does this translate into an unfair advantage? There are a few ways.
One - I like the way my mind feels during and after reading a book. I think the act of reading long form text is very powerful for the brain. You learn to focus, to quiet down, and really process information.
Further, you get to learn in 2 hours what someone may have taken a lifetime to learn. Incredible! All you need to do is read it, take some notes, and then remember to use those insights as you go about your life.
For me, it’s becoming incredibly valuable to use those insights alongside LLMs (Large Language Models) in running my business. I don’t think you get that same experience from social media or podcasts. I should say that you can get it, but the signal-to-noise ratio is much worse in those mediums than it is from reading a book.
The workflow that I've really been enjoying lately, and I feel like it's super powerful, is reading a book about some kind of subject matter.
For instance, right now I'm reading a book called Great Leads, which focuses on introductions for sales copy, often referred to as leads. As I read, I'm pulling out principles from the book.
Then, as I'm going about my day-to-day tasks, I've been working on new email onboarding for ColorBliss. I take these principles and ask the AI to write a few versions of an email using one of the concepts from the book.
For example, the "What is the Copywriting Rule of One?" is one of the ideas presented in the book. Providing this direction to the AI has significantly improved the output of the emails it generates. This process has been incredibly satisfying, and I feel like it's enhancing my business quite a bit. I'm enjoying putting the emails together more, and I think my customers are enjoying and responding to them better! It's a win-win.