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(Literal) Text Transcription of the video How to become smarter and more knowledgeable than others:
Olivier Roland: Hello, Olivier Roland here, welcome to this video. I’d like to share an interactive and fun experience with you today.
In fact, what I propose you do from tomorrow or even today, is that you pose the following question to your friends, your colleagues, and even your family: Do you read books regularly? For example at least once a month. And if so, do you read non-fiction books? And then ask the following question: Do you watch TV? If so, how many hours a day?
I think that in a “normal” environment, you will find that there are very, very, few people who read. Purely read. Apart from newspapers that is. I am not talking about newspapers or magazines, I’m talking about books. And beyond that, there are even fewer people who read non-fiction books.
I’m not asking you to take my word for it. Experiment and then share in the comments below. It will be very interesting to see the results. Maybe you’re lucky and you live in an environment where it’s the exception that confirms the rule, and there are people who read non-fiction books mostly but you will see that other than in extraordinary circumstances, it is totally, completely, and I mean completely, the opposite.
So, why am I sharing this with you today?
Because I have met hundreds, maybe even thousands of entrepreneurs who have had enjoyed huge success.
When I say success, I don’t necessarily mean money. It can be someone who earns 30,000 euros a year but who, when you look closely, works ten hours a week and has time to travel all over the world or who lives in Thailand or the Philippines and who is very, very happy with things; or even someone who earns even less than that, but who is happy.
I remember, in the Philippines I met a Frenchman, Thomas, who achieved his dream. Fact: he earns 600 euros a month as does his wife. He has a restaurant. But crucially, next to his restaurant, he has a diving center. And what he does is, he dives all day with his clients which was always his dream. And today, he really does live in paradise on earth, El Nido in the Philippines. It’s just magnificent. I lived there for a month and I can tell you that it’s really brilliant. And 600 euros a month in the Philippines, is more than enough to live on. The average salary there is 200 euros a month.
All this to tell you that when I talk about “successful entrepreneurs“, it’s not just about money, it is also about having a great lifestyle.
There is something striking that I have noticed in most of the entrepreneurs that I have met. Many of them regularly read non-fiction books and watch very little, if not no television at all. And I don’t think this is a coincidence. This is an extremely important factor for success.
So when I say entrepreneur, I don’t mean that it’s just about reading, of course not, they also act! But there is nothing like taking action as a result of being guided by the knowledge that is relevant to what we want to achieve, to be helped by someone who has already done it, who went through the different stages, who understands the obstacles, who knows the pitfalls and how to avoid them, and who shares this with you.
So, I say a book. It can also be training, or even meeting the person in real life, but what is the best way to access the best brain in the world?
These are the books. And besides, the books, the big advantage compared to the formations and meeting people is that, of course, it also provides access to the best brains of people who simply died. We have access to the genius of humanity that has existed for thousands of years since writing was invented.
So, we make this video to encourage you, if you do not do it already, regularly read non-fiction books. And when I said regularly, I mean, already I shared that with you recently in a video precisely where I proposed simply to reduce the time spent in front of TV. I told you: if you read two books a month only, this is not huge. It’s one every two weeks, okay, it’s still not the sea to drink. Two books a month, that’s 24 a year. After 10 years, you will have read 240 books.
Do you think that can do a difference in your intellectual horizon? Not only to your general knowledge that is clear, but especially in the relevance of the knowledge that you will have and in the actions they have inspired. Do you think you’ll be able to have actions that will be more relevant than those of the majority of people having read 240 awesome books?
And when I say 10 years, imagine after 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, what does it do? 240 x 4 does it – Normally, we never do math in front of the camera – well, it’s over 800 books, plus 1000 maybe even. And it just makes a huge difference.
That’s what I wanted to share with you today. So, you’ll tell me: Ok, Great, but where do I start, Olivier? That’s right I did not read much of books of non-fiction so far, where can I start?
So, for entrepreneurs, I have three books to recommend. So if he there is at least one of these three that you have not read, I recommend you simply to start, to start with that one.
The first most important of course, that’s the one: “The 4-hour week“. You can click here on the cover and you will go to his Amazon sheet to see the comments of other readers. And there you go, “The 4-hour week”.
I mean, we have the right not to be agree with the contents of this book, but as an entrepreneur, we can not not having read it. Okay?
And I’m stunned, I’ve been talking for years of that, and there are still people even among those who follow me who have not read it. I say: but what good is it that you follow me if you do not even follow the recommendation most common principal that I give, namely to read this book. So, read it, here. Very, very important.
“Well live the principle 20/80“, I have already spoken recently. Very, very interesting book on the art of getting more result with less effort. I think it interests everyone.
And then, it’s not because I wrote the preface that I’m talking about it. But really, because the book is awesome “The personal MBA“.
The personal MBA for those who know my story, you know it’s this personal list MBA that started me right in my blog Books to change lives and all the books I read. But here it is, Josh Kaufman, he was not satisfied to make a list of the best books in the world, he has downright synthesized the reading those hundreds of books he tapped himself to make the list for in making the book with all the concepts that an entrepreneur should know, really all the concepts that an entrepreneur should know. It’s a bit thick, but frankly, it’s really a gold mine. With that, frankly, I think it replaces several years of business school without any problem because there you are. What’s interesting also as an entrepreneur is that self-education is an excellent complement to entrepreneurship because can learn at your own pace and then apply as you go along what we learn.
So, if you are not an entrepreneur or that you are interested in other topics, and quite simply, what I recommends you obviously brilliant books, it’s “How to make friends“. It, it’s in all areas and not just in the business world. “Influence and manipulation, “an excellent book on the art of influence that I highly recommend. There are hundreds of others but I want to keep the list short.
If you do not read a book of these five, please, read it. And if you do not have read many of these books, I recommend starting with “The 4-hour week “. And then, “Influence and manipulation”. I think it’s really both best of the list.
Here. That’s what I wanted to share with you today. Thank you for watching this video. As usual, if you want to receive my book for free, it makes you another book to read, “Live the life of your dreams thanks to your blog” which teaches you how to start a business in the most efficient way possible with a blog on the Internet, you can click on the cover that appears where you click on the link that appears here you leave your first name and your email and I send you the book immediately. It’s like that, it’s free.
In addition, I believe that there were more than 330 comments on Amazon with an average rating of 4.6 / 5, just to say that people appreciate it in general. And as usual, I need your feedback. If you liked this video, click on “like” below and then share it. If you did not like, click on “I do not like” and then, do not share it not.
Thank you for watching this video. See you tomorrow for the next. Goodbye.