It's funny. Since it 2015, the term books on "tape" isn't really correct anymore, is it? I haven't purchased a tape since I was in middle school I think. At any rate, what I'm talking about here isn't the actual medium through which this book is shared, but the concept of listening to something that is read to you as opposed to you reading it yourself. Now, this by no means implies that you should stop actually physically reading books, as there is no substitute for the mental stimulation one gets from allowing one's brain to work, as you visually inject information while reading. However, this is to substitute that visual learning experience by giving you the opportunity to digest more than you would based on your ability to sit down and plow through a book. For those of you who desire to become super successful in life, there are several reasons why listening to books on "tape" could be the difference between you becoming ultra successful or nah...
You spend so much time in your car.
The first reason while listening to audiobooks is so beneficial is that you can do it somewhat passively while you are doing other things. Running. Cleaning the house. Or the usual activity: driving your car. For those of you who live in Atlanta (or any other major metropolitan city), you know how horrendous the traffic can be, as rubberneckers slow down traffic tremendously to watch a fender bender on the side of the road or someone tries to negotiate her/his way out of a super-speeder traffic ticket. This leads to hours upon hours that we are in our cars every week. While, we could invest these hours in ourselves by trying to learn the lyrics to the latest Taylor Swift or Kendra Lemar song (two solid artist BTW), wouldn't this time be so much better spent with you gaining knowledge on some new skill that you could implement to improve yourself, and subsequently, ability to be successful in life? Please don't misunderstand, I love Drake and J. Cole as much as the next person, but neither one of them are giving out the best money management advice, interpersonal communication tips, or business framework strategies that will generally help me become more successful in my daily endeavors. There is a time when I listen to these guys on the weekend and maybe later in the day, but on my way to work and during the day, I much rather feed myself "food" that is gives me sustenance and helps me grow, rather than consume "sugar" and "sweets" that give no discernible health benefit.
You can consume SO much more SO much faster
This becomes a double plus because not only are you giving yourself access to more information than you would normally get if you just only focused on the physical reading of books, generally you are able to digest the information much faster as well. You can generally listen to a 300-page book in about 1-2 weeks if you spend 1-2 hours in your car each day. This would probably take a busy person about 2-3 months to read if you could find the time to squeeze this into an already packed schedule. For some, it might take much longer. By listening to audio books, you give yourself the ability to digest so much more information at a much faster clip than you would if you were physically reading it. Also, there are so many different types of audio books to which you can have access, you can learn about topics in which you would've never thought you would be interested in the past. Before, you may have had to go to the library, store, or Amazon to purchase a book, but with so many books being offered in their audio version, you can download them immediately without having to wait a minute to receive them or worry about them being in stock. This allows you to start out listening to a book to see if you like it before making the mental investment that reading sometimes takes on us. If you don't like it, it is much easier to just stop listening to it than it can be to stop reading a book once you are 100 pages in. That way you can move on to consuming other information that is more useful to you as well and not feel bad about it.
Most people DON'T do it
This is generally the reason that I do a lot of the things I do that others may seems as being maniacal or TOO dedicated. The fact is that being the minority means that you are in the lower percentile of individuals when it comes to certain things. The great thing about audio books is that the majority of people would rather listen to music while they are doing leisurely activities. This is why the average American makes about 50k per year; because they do what most people do. If you desire to set yourself apart from everyone else and put yourself in a class that is different from most of the people in the world, then listening to audio books is one of those things that will give you the intelligence to begin separating yourselves from the masses. If you think about the rat race of the corporate world or the competitive nature of business in general, the investment that you are putting in yourself to consistently get better and improve with time will allow you generally beat out your competition in the long run, as you continue to dedicate yourself to excellence.
So where do you start? There are many good companies out there to use, but I personally use audiobooks.com as my company of choice, but you can't go wrong either way. You just have to sign up and begin listening. And while I know it may seem a little dorky to listen to audio books in your car rather than the new Drake mixtape, I'm sure someone once called Bill Gates dorky. Look how that turned out for him...
Ken Middleton is an Account Manager at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech (Graduate in May! - Whoop Whoop!). You can follow his daily quotes of inspiration and motivation on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIN
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