5% Of The Ideas Create 95% Of The Change

I heard my friend Nick Hutchison off-handedly say something last week that instantly resonated with me. Like me, he is a recovering personal development junkie. For years he was constantly reading books to hear the latest and greatest the world’s smartest minds had to offer. He learned all about habits, productivity, goal-setting, business, relationships, and so much more one tip at a time.

That’s why what he said was so impactful: “5% of the books create 95% of the change.”

I’ve found that to be entirely accurate. For me, reading used to be a numbers game, and even a stroke to my ego, where I could talk about all of the different books I’d read. It made me feel like I was applying myself, learning, and growing. The problem is it didn’t translate into real life change. For years I was trapped in a cycle of knowing so much yet feeling so far behind. I wasn’t as successful as I thought I should be given how much I knew.

The difference-maker is Nick’s personal and company mantra: “Read Less. Implement More.” Your life changes when you take the best ideas and actually use them in your life. When the words on the page turn into new behaviors that generate new results. 

And the thing is, it doesn’t take many new ideas to radically change your life - Just a few of the right ones. Reinforcing those same ideas, over and over again, and finding new ways to apply them is how you generate real improvement.

For me, there are 2 books I try to read once a quarter because they’re the right ideas for me. There are maybe 3 other books I aim to read once a year. And it’s done so much for me!

As for personal development, there are a few concepts that rise above the rest that are most impactful in building the life I think we all aspire to create. They are ideas I revisit often and try to build my entire life around. I call them the 7 Fundamentals To Self Improvement and if you want to learn what those are, get my 5 book recommendations, and hear the single sentence that summarizes the best ideas covered on the podcast in the last 8 years… Click here and you’ll get them all!

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