It is not a secret that learning is a crucial key for transforming yourself and attaining the ability to achieve anything you desire. I often refer to books as the treasure or one of the main secrets to success. Everyone learns for various reasons. Whether it is to make money, get ahead in your career or to improve your self-esteem or solve a certain problem.

Unfortunately, not everyone enjoys reading. In the past, it usually took me between six months to a year just to complete one or two books. I struggled quite a bit because reading has never been a fun experience for me. Even when I was studying at university, I found it to be difficult. I would lie on my bed and try to read and within about 30 minutes, I would fall asleep. So, I struggled tremendously with learning efficiently.

Everyone learns, but it is really a matter of how much you learn within a minimum timeframe. For instance, I spent time trying to learn, but I was not doing it at a very efficient rate. Then, I discovered audio books and they literally transformed my life. Suddenly, I gained a huge advantage for learning.

As you may or may not be aware, when you read, you retain about ten percent of what you read. When you listen; however, you remember twice that, about twenty percent. Therefore, audiobooks give you a huge advantage when it comes to learning.

Once I discovered this, I started to listen to audiobooks more and more. To make things easier, I use a service from a website called audible.com which is a site owned by Amazon. The advantage of this service is that the length of most books is about 5 hours. That, of course varies, but on average, they are about 4-5 hours. The books can be downloaded from your digital library, which you can check online, listen to the books from your library online or download the books to your computer or Mac and then burn the books to CDs through iTunes. This is quite efficient for me because I mainly use the books while I am in the car. Plus, having a digital library can save you a huge amount of space by eliminating the need to have big stacks of actual books.

If your sound system in your car has Bluetooth, then you can link the Audible app on your tablet or phone through the car system and you do not even need to burn the CDs at all. The Audible app is available and can be downloaded for free on most smart phones. Your digital online library will be shown on the audible app, so you can listen to the books through your headset from your smart phone and then when you get into the car, you complete the book from where you have reached on the sound system. Also, you can bookmark some chapters or add notes to it through the app.

Most people spend, on average, between two and three hours driving in the car per day. Imagine for a moment if you skip listening to music while you are in the car and instead just listen to the audiobooks. In most instances, I can finish a book within just a couple of days. Now, on average, I finish 2-3 books per week, whereas in the past I was only able to finish 1-2 books per year.

This method has completely transformed my life. Now, whenever I wish to learn about something, I just go and buy an audiobook on that topic and listen to it in the car. This method also works if you spend a lot of time commuting, perhaps not driving in the car, but on the subway or the train or whatever. Download the book to your tablet or smart phone, put in your ear buds and listen while you commute. It’s also a good method for the person who may not struggle with reading, but perhaps you just find it difficult to find the time in your schedule to read.

Of course, not all books are found in audio version. Even so, many books are available in an audio book version, and more and more are added on daily basis as authors are discovering how important it is to have an audio version and demand increases day by day.

I have also found it to be cost-efficient, as well. While regular books can cost up to $60 each, with audible, books range between $9 and $15 per book. This is based on the subscription plan you choose. They offer different plans with varying amounts of credit. Basically, one credit will buy you one book or you can buy the books directly from audible without subscripting into any monthly plan, but of course the books will cost you a bit more, up to $30.

This method has given me a huge advantage for learning. Not only does it make learning more mobile for me, but it also allows me to learn on demand based on any topic that I want to learn about and in a very efficient way.

The post How to Make the Move from Reading a Couple of Books a Year to Two Books a Week appeared first on 1on1 Business & Marketing Mentoring.