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The Invisible Mentor Weekly Newsletter: Brain Food Wednesdays Number 106: How Can I Help You to Achieve Your Reading Goals?
Hello, there Reader,
I took time off during the holidays and I read what I wanted to read. I read a lot of fiction and thoroughly enjoyed myself. To be honest, I don’t think I read any nonfiction, and I’m okay with that. I didn’t have an agenda. I worked on my goals for this year, created action steps that I’ll turn into habits. I have an accountability partner and we’ll meet on Zoom once a month for three hours to talk about how we’re doing with our goals and any adjustments we need to make.
What did you do over the holidays? Did you get a lot done? How can I help you? I’m running monthly reading challenges in my Facebook group, why don’t you join us there?
Join my Facebook group Reading Rocks: Read a Book, Discover Solutions, Change the World.
I added only a couple of Bookish Notes to my membership site because I was really off resting. I have about 10 I need to clean up, then add.
The membership fee for the Art of Learning is low right now as I build out the content, and as I identify more benefits to add to support your success. Give the gift of a membership to yourself. You’re worth it.
In the News
Here are some podcasts I appeared on. They’re packed with a lot of information.
208: Have You Been Reading Books Wrong? https://elkinsconsulting.com/sarahs-blog-podcast/2021/12/21/208
Ellevate Network: http://ow.ly/s8pR50GCBTy
Envision2BWell: https://blog.envision2bwell.io/post/1157/envisionwell-podcast-invisible-mentors
313 Challenge with Ryan Foland: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/avil-beckford-read-and-get-new-ideas/id1484382840?i=1000523572323
I would appreciate your support in growing my YouTube channel.
✅✅Subscribe to my YouTube channel ✅✅
Ask Avil
How Can I Help You to Achieve Your Reading Goals?
I mentioned that I worked on my goals for this year. There are a few things that I’m doing differently. First, I have an accountability partner. Second, I’m focusing on only three months at a time. Third, I created the actions I need to take to achieve my goals, and turned them into habits I need to form. I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions.
If you haven’t set your goals yet, it’s not too late. Start where you are. In terms of setting your reading goals, think of quality over quantity. To decide on the books you want to read, use the following to guide you.
- What skills do you want to learn?
- What kind of problems do you want to solve?
- What cause do you want to know more about?
- What hobbies are you interested in?
- What kinds of books do you want to read for fun?
After you’ve answered the questions, it’s time to find books that align with your responses. Ask friends and colleagues for book recommendations. Read up about each book to choose the ones that are the best fit for you. Write down your purpose for why you want to read each book. Keep in mind that you do not have to read entire books if you’re looking for information to solve problems or answer questions.
Remember, you’re reading nonfiction books to learn what you need to know. If you make that your focus, you’ll reach your reading goals. You’re building knowledge, not trying to impress others.
Collaboration
Learning To Ride A Bike – A Lot Like Life by Carol Walkner
climb on,
fall off
get on
fall off
climb back on
thinking…
this time I won’t
fall off
of course
you
fall off
and of course
you
get back on…
just like life…it
doesn’t matter
how many times you
fall off, what counts
is the times you
get back on…
I probably was 8 by the time I learned how to stay on and keep going without falling off. I can count, with all my fingers and toes, the dents in the bike and the scars on my knees, but it was never an option to NOT climb back on. I finally just got a smaller bike…I was born at night but not last night! Resilience & persistence – two important aspects of a life that works.
I Did Not Know…
that long after the scars on
my knees healed, turned white,
I would be fired, hired, re-fired,
re-fired, downsized, outsized,
married, divorced, re-married,
re-divorced, lose everything
more than once and ALWAYS
get back on to ride again! My
friends call me courageous,
persistent, innovative and
creative. I call me in love with
life, enjoying the ride!
Everything I Know About Sales, Marketing & Business I Learned When I Was 8 And Had My Lemonade Stand.
I gave the customers my 300-watt smile with their cup of lemonade.
I looked my customers in the eye when I handed them their purchase – that way they trusted me more. Then they would come back again. That one-on-one connection is most important.
My marketing was creative and loud – it got me noticed and brought in business.
My lemonade was never watered-down and it was consistently good – I made sure of that.
I stood out from the competition – others tried stands – mine lasted. Keep your enemies close and your competitors closer.
There’s a customer born every minute and I wanted them all
When demand is low for one product, diversify – when everyone had had their fill of lemonade there were baseball cards, bubble gum, cookies, lemon bars and penny candy that I charged 3 cents for. I’m no fool! It’s called ROI.
I followed my intuition, listened to that deep part of me – it led me to success…Then and throughout my life and still to this day…
Reading List
I’ll get to some of these books in the next two weeks.
- The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave by Robbie Kellman Baxter
- The Subscription Boom: Why an Old Business Model is the Future of Commerce by Adam Levinter
- Retention Point: The Single Biggest Secret to Membership and Subscription Growth for Associations, SAAS, Publishers, Digital Access, Subscription Boxes and all Membership and Subscription Businesses by Robert Skrob
- Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman
- Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission by Tony Rossell
- The Leadership Gap by Lolly Daskal
- Brave Leadership, Kimberly Davis
- How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
- Business Model Shifts by Patrick van der Pijl, Justin Lokitz
- The Invincible Company by Alexander Osterwalder , Yves Pigneur
- Love-Based Business Models by Shawn Driscoll
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 1
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 2
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy by Leigh Gallagher
- Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
- Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business by Amos Schwartzfarb
- Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo
- I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream by JT McCormick
- One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Phil Howard Cooke
The Invisible Mentor Blog
Blog Posts
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Summary
The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone by Fredrik Eklund, Summary
Sell It Like Serhant by Ryan Serhant, Summary
Self-Leadership and the One-Minute Manager, Summary
Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World by John Hope Bryant, Summary
Turn the Page by Chris Brady, Book Summary
The One Problem
I’ve published 43 podcast episodes already. How time flies. You can also find these on my YouTube channel.
- Hedieh Safiyari, Founder, Prompt Health, Healthcare Solutions
- Benita Lee, Trade Consultant, Founder, Benita Lee Professional Corporation
- Jenny Siede, Chief Design Thinker, Green Neurons
- Pamela Jeffery, Founder, The Prosperity Project & Women’s Executive Network
- Alta Odendaal, Financial Coach and Consultant
- Larissa Russell, Founder and CEO Queer Voicez and Creative U Business
- Glain Roberts-McCabe, Founder, the Roundtable, Group Coach Academy
- Dr Marsha Carr, Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Gabriella O’Rourke, Business Consultant, Borden Ladner Gervais
- Stefanie Booker Atchison, Wisdom Coach & Motivational Speaker
- Michelle Griffin, Founder Brandthority, Building Your Personal Brand
- Donna Knutson, Founder of Write Journeys
- Sophie Gray, Founder of DiveThru: Being Disconnected from Yourself
✅✅Subscribe to my YouTube channel ✅✅
Product Alert
7 Day Reading Makeover Challenge
This is an affordable program to get started on leadership reading. Leaders read to learn what they need to know. You’ll also learn how to synthesize information.
Art of Learning Membership Site
How would you like to access the best, most useful information I have, that’s better than book summaries? Buy monthly access to the Bookish Note that’s behind my paywall. I group Bookish Notes together by a common theme, turning them into a course. Imagine reading themed Bookish Notes and starting to lay the foundation for a new skill.
Until Next Week,
Avil Beckford, Founder, The Invisible Mentor!