How to Build Knowledge Fast

On my journey to develop my skill stack and increase knowledge I have found that one of the of the most accessible and low cost options out there are books. I like having access to online training too because the online training can help to simplify complex subjects into easy to understand courses.

While books are a great low cost option to learn new skills and develop your knowledge there are only so many hours in a day and there is a limit to how many new books you can read which may or may not limit the speed of your skill set development. Additionally, as I get older I really struggle sitting for long periods to read a book end to end. I have offset this with daily reading goals and audio books I can listen too while driving, walking or swimming.

The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.
voltaire

I want to read more, but it’s often the case that while I have the goal of reading, this does not translate into the number of hours I want to sit down and read. I recently found Headway, an app that tries to teach you new things based on the summaries of nonfiction books without requiring you to set aside hours of your valuable time. It reminds me of an online version of Cliff Notes from my younger days.

The concept is not unique. We have had the idea of Cliff Notes for many years. Summarize all the key concepts from a long multiday read into a short 1 to 2 hours session. Headway claims that they can condense a 320 page (20 hours) read into a 15-minute summary session..

Summary is the new black
Use summaries: comprehensive 15-min abstracts from nonfiction
books with the main concepts and recommendations.
Key insights & ideas
Typical book
320 pages - 20 hours
Summary
- 15 minutes

The library contains many nonfiction titles focusing on self-growth and development. Categories include:

Self Growth
Happiness
Money & Investments
Negotiation
Health
Productivity
Family and many others

Each book gives you a brief introduction to the book’s contents and the key points that it covers. I started my reading plan with Think Rich and Grow by Napoleon Hill. Just by reading the summary, I know that I will walk away with some key learning opportunities:

Want to achieve more? Change you mindset
How do you achieve “unwavering desire”?
Faith cannot be seen, but it is powerful
Don’t generalize: Make your knowledge specialized

The application also provides a simple summary or your daily metrics including minutes read daily toward your goal, your daily streak, a percentage completed towards you reading goal and number of page read. It also groups things into 14 and 28 day challenges around success, wealth, achievements, wellness, relationships, self-confidence, and other helpful categories.

Is it better than reading a whole book? I cannot answer that now, but I will say one thing, my current active reading plan extends into January of 2021. Today is April 14th, 2022. When I can hit 28 books in 28 days, I believe there is some value in getting the high-level concepts and investing in the books you consider the top 5 or 10 from each 28 days challenge. There is nothing more frustrating than investing money and time in buying and reading a book to realize that it was not a good investment.

Additionally, the approach has a good structure that would support your development of discipline and systems to increase your skill stack and improve your knowledge.

Other benefits of the app include: