How I read books... and retain the information

I think first I should mention there are two reasons to read. The first is for entertainment or pleasure. The second and this one is the most important in my aspect is to gain knowledge. 

I ascribe the Ramit Sethi philosophy on when to buy books. 

“If you’re thinking about buying a book, just buy it. Don’t waste five seconds debating it. Even one idea makes it more than worth the price.”

And that is the key to why I read. To find one idea. 

If I can find just one action item, one new way of thinking about something, or an idea on a different perspective on how to do something or a life hack of some kind, then the cost was more than worth the dollars I spent.

I should note here that I "read" books. I put this in quotations because I do all my "reading" through audiobooks. I find them to be easier to get through. I generally listen to an audiobook on 2x speed. This helps me digest the content in half the time. 

The first thing I do when I decide to read a new audiobook is figure out how much I need to listen to per day in order to complete the book in one week. My goal is always to consume the entire audiobook in one week which puts me on pace to read 52 books a year. 

My philosophy on why 52 books a year is because over a 10 year period you will have consumed 520 books on this plan. Do you think you will be smarter or dumber after reading 520 books? 

Once I have figured out the timing on how to read one book per week and how much I need to listen to in one day I start the listening process. 

I have a very specific way of listening to the audiobooks (and for the example below I will include podcasts in this reference). First I always note the time. this is like a digital bookmark for me to return to listen to in case I want more context on the part I took a note on, secondly I color code important notes for future reference. 

I have a three system color-coding process: 

• Yellow 
• Green  
• Blue 

I will highlight notes I take while listening yellow for things I find interesting or what to revisit at a later time. A lot of times I have no idea what I plan to do or think about these yellow highlights but for whatever reason, at the time I found them insightful or interesting and deemed them worthy or return. A lot of times these yellow highlights serve as a basis for blog postings. 

I use the green highlight to denote tools and resources. These could be things like todoist or Google Keep. Tools or resources that can improve productivity or save time or are a unique way of doing some sort of tasks or follow up. Generally, these are things that I hear or read about that are being advertised or touted by a podcast guest for the next best life hack. 

Finally, blue is for immediate actions items. Get this blood glucose test on the next doctor's visit, buy my new kettlebell workout program, sign up for this tri-Athlon, you get the point. The blue represents a thing I need to take action on, set up, and discuss with someone to add to my routine or life. 

Here is an example of what these notes might look like...