Ryan Holiday's 3-Step System for Reading Like a Pro, by Daily Stoic on YouTube. 8 min 7 s.
- Video length
- 8 min 7 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes per session
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 7
What you need
Steps
Set a purpose before you start. Write down the question you want the book to answer, then read to answer it rather than reading cover to cover.
Read with a pencil in your hand. Mark the passages that answer your question, surprise you or seem worth remembering later.
Keep each mark short. Note the page number and a few words next to the passage so you can find it again quickly.
After each chapter, close the book and summarise it in two or three sentences in your own words. This checks what you actually understood.
Copy the marked passages into one place, such as a notebook or note app. Add the book title and page number to every entry.
Group your notes by theme rather than by book, so ideas on the same topic sit together and build on each other.
Review your notes once a week and pick one idea to apply to a real task, project or decision. Ideas you use stick; the rest fade.
Tips and common mistakes
Highlighting alone does nothing. Pair every mark with a few words of your own explaining why it mattered.
Keep notes short. A line or two per idea is far easier to review than a full page.
Skim your notes on a topic before you start the next book about it, so the new material connects to what you already know.
Do not force yourself to finish every book. Time spent on a book that is not helping you is time lost on one that would.
Questions
Do I need to write notes on every page?
No. Mark only the passages that answer your question or change how you think, which is usually a handful per chapter. A page of marks you never revisit is wasted effort.
Should I handwrite or type my notes?
Either works. What matters is that the notes are in your own words and all stored in one place you will actually check again.
What if I forget the notes soon after making them?
Add a short weekly review. Two minutes of skimming and choosing one idea to use will keep the notes alive far better than rereading the whole book.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
