Success Strategies
By Rajesh Jyotishi
I have a pretty hectic lifestyle like many people. My day is usually planned out for me from the time I wake up, usually around 5:00 a.m. until I go to sleep, around 10:00 p.m. There is very little time for me to read interesting books. Many years ago, I discovered a great way to keep up with my reading.
Instead of fretting about not being able to read, I started listening to them. I’m now hooked to audio books! Listening to books allows me not only to multitask while I am stuck in the great Atlanta traffic, doing my cardio at the gym or if I am on an extended travel either by car or plane, but is also rewarding in other ways: I find that if I have a good audio book that I am listening to, it actually motivates me to get to the gym or look forward to the long travel.
I have been a listener of audio books for, believe it or not, about 25 years. Through the years I have listened to hundreds of books on all kinds of subjects including motivation, business, psychology, spirituality, self-improvement, marketing as well as autobiographies of famous people. As you can probably tell, I personally like to listen to things that are inspirational in quality where I can learn something. But you can listen to just about any subject in an audio format. If there is a print version of a book, chances are pretty strong there is an audio version too.
Many times the books are in the author’s original voice and it can make it even more interesting, especially, if he/she is a dynamic speaker.
Where Can You Get Audio Books?
You can get audio books at many places. One place you can get them is at your local library, where you can check them out for free. Usually, they come on CDs. You can also purchase them at your local bookstores as well as through various Web sites. I prefer to download them from a Web site called www.audible.com Audible allows you to purchase audio books and download them to your iPod, MP3 player or burn the files to a CD or listen to them on your computer. There are many membership options including monthly, annual or pay-as-you-go. Monthly subscriptions run to $14.95 or $149.50/year for 12 credits. I usually purchase 24 credits at a time, which costs me $229/year or about 9.56 per credit. Most books are one credit, which is pretty cheap when compared to actual programs you can purchase in stores that can cost $15-$60 per book. You can also use your credits to purchase audio subscriptions to some of your favorite magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Journal, etc. They even have books for kids and teens.
Share Your Library with Your Family and Friends
Audible copy-protects its files and limits the number of computers you can have your library on, but if you are sharing your personal library on your computer, it is generally not a problem.
Several years ago, I gifted iPods to our company staff for Christmas and it turned out to be my best investment for our company and staff. My audio library is on my computer in my office and everyone shares the same iTunes library. We have a library of about 175 books and 1500 songs and everyone in our entire company shares the same library. Now everyone in our company enjoys listening to audio books and it allows us to stay motivated and keep learning. I still haven’t been successful in getting my kids to listen to me or my books, but that’s a different story. However, my parents and some of our friends also love to listen to our audio book collection.
During these turbulent times, you can get a nice pick-me-up with audio books. Listen to some good motivators, learn some new skills or relieve your stress with some old fashioned entertainment. Try it out! What have you got to lose? If you need a recommendation for a good audio book, or if you have a success strategy to share, email me at Rajesh@Khabar.com
Sidebar:
Book Recommendation
OUTLIERS
By Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink, is back with another interesting book called Outliers: The Story of Success. In statistics, an outlier is an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data. In this book, Gladwell analyzes the success of some people based not so much on what people are like, as on their background, the time, place and culture they were born in.
It is indeed a very interesting perspective. Did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mozart and the Beatles have an advantage or opportunity that others in their time didn’t have? Why are more than 50 percent of professional Canadian hockey players born from January through March? Do the time and place you were born make a significant difference to your success? These are just some of the interesting facts analyzed in Outliers.
Check out the book and discover “outlier” situations in your life as well!
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
