My Favorite Reading/Studying Strategy

Do you know how to read?  Do you understand how to maximize your reading efforts, especially if you don't have a lot of time for reading?  Do you have a pile of books that you really want to read, right now?

I am going to help you answer all of those questions right now.  Until recently I really didn't know how to read like a leader and maximize my reading efforts.  I always read one book at a time, I thought that is how you make sure you're focused on that book and getting the most out of it.  Then I read Turn the Page, part of the LIFE Leadership Essential Series.  This is where I was introduced to the idea of reading several books at a time.  I love this approach to reading and studying because it allows me to read six or seven books at one time.  Surprisingly, I actually get more out of all of the books by reading like this than I ever did reading just one book at a time.

I will share with you my study strategy to give you an idea of what I'm talking about; then you can put together something that works best with your schedule and learning style.

I have 7 books lists that I use, one for each day of the week.  Here's how my week looks:
Monday- Change the World Book Study book
Tuesday- LIFE Leadership Essential Series
Wednesday- LIFE Subscription book of the month
Thursday- 8 F's ( faith, family, following, finance, freedom, fitness, friends, fun) book for corresponding month.
Friday- LIFE Leadership's Top 50 book list
Saturday- JFL Education Solutions 100 Classics List 
Sunday- TJed 100 Classics List

With the book lists for Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I like to break up each of them into quarters and then attack them quarterly, according to the calendar.  But feel free to organize these lists however you want, after all, it's you're education.

Reading like this will probably be uncomfortable at first, if you're a one-book-at-a-time reader.  Don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed, get excited about all the books you will be reading that you thought you didn't have time for!  I challenge you to try this for 90 days, if you can't get comfortable with it then change.  But I strongly encourage you to start reading multiple books at a time.  You don't have to start with 6 or 7 like me, that's just what I have chosen for my hunger level.  Feel free to start with whatever is comfortable for you.  The point is to break the habit of being a one-at-a-time reader and start reading like a leader.  Even if you decide to start with 2 or 3 books at a time, your learning capacity will be stretched and your growth rate will accelerate like you won't believe.

Whatever you decide, I am proud of you for taking the time to read this article and evaluating your current study strategy.  You are capable of reading like this and I know that you will be richly rewarded if you take an approach like this to your reading.

Jason Fredrick
JFL Education Solutions

10 Books EVERYONE Needs To Read By Age 16

1. Luther's Catechism- Martin Luther
2. The Narrow Lutheran Middle:  Following the Scriptural Road- Deutschlander
3. Bible: God's Inspired, Inerrant Word- Keller
4. Personality Plus- Littauer
5. The Theology of the Cross:  Reflections on His Cross and Ours- Deutschlander
6. Creation:  God Made All Things- Weigand
7. A Thomas Jefferson Education- DeMille
8. Gospel Motivation:  More than "Jesus Died for My Sins"- Koester
9. Christ:  He Is My Lord- Kuschel
10. Financial Fitness:  The Offense, The Defense, and the Playing Field of Personal Finance- Woodward/Brady

My Education Journey

My education started out in a very typical way.  Like most Americans, I was "educated" on the conveyor belt until the age of 18.  From kindergarten through eighth grade I attended a Lutheran Elementary school.  This proved to be a blessing, of sorts, primarily because I received a Christian education.  I was privileged to go to a school where we studied God's Word, everyday.  This proved to be extremely important as I strayed from God's path for my life, in my 20's.  Without that foundation that was built on God's Word from the ages of 5-14, I would not be writing this right now.  My life would look totally different.

After I left St. Matthew's Lutheran school, I headed off to the public high school in Oconomowoc, WI.  Here I received a very typical conveyor belt schooling experience.  Teachers cared very little, homework was pointless, and nobody wanted to be there...especially the teachers.  I did have a couple of really good teachers in my 4 years of high school, but most were just there punching the clock.  Overall my high school experience was pretty forgettable, except for the friends I met there.

I don't remember ever really being challenged in high school, or having a teacher taking an interest in me and really pointing out areas where I was gifted.  Overall high school was pretty easy for me, I could sleep through the classes, not do any homework, and still ace the quizzes and tests.  That wasn't because I was special, or even super smart, it was because that's how easy and unchallenging conveyor belt schooling is.

After high school I got a job in construction.  The biggest lesson this taught me is that I don't want to spend my life working for someone else.  So I started my first business when I was 22.  I started a landscaping and lawn mowing business with one of my brothers.  This business got off to a very slow start,  but over the next 11 years I learned many lessons about business, life, finances, the importance of communication, and most of all the difference leadership makes.  Mostly because my brothers and I lacked alot of the necessary leadership skills we needed to really succeed at a big level.  The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is the devastating effect a leadership void has on any situation in life.  When I left this business in 2009, my entire life was in shambles.  I was reeling from a lifetime of not learning and developing my leadership skills, and myself personally.

Enter Orrin Woodward's leadership team (then called TEAM).  I was introduced to TEAM in 2007 and that's when my education really began.  I plugged into a self-directed education program that consisted of:  monthly audio trainings, a book of the month program, and a monthly seminar.  I totally immersed myself in this self-directed leadership education.  It was like breathing oxygen into my soul.  As I sit here tonight looking back over the last 7 years, I can safely say that I have listened to thousands of leadership and personal development audios, I have read hundreds of books, and I have attended nearly 100 seminars.

As a result of this last education model, my life has been richly blessed.  On April 24, 2010 I married my wife Heidi.  Before meeting the LIFE Leadership community in 2007, I had totally given up believing that I would ever get married.  I was 31!  On January 4, 2012 Andrew arrived.  After Heidi, he truly is the greatest blessing God has ever given to me.  I currently own 2 businesses and I am truly living my God-given purpose.  None of this would have ever happened had I not been introduced to a self-directed leadership education 7 years ago.

If all you have known in your life is conveyor belt thinking, I strongly encourage you to investigate the power of a leadership education.  Your life will never be the same.

God bless
Jason Fredrick