When people visit me in my office they see pictures of my family and pictures of beautiful golf courses on my walls.  During their visit they will most likely see a large bookcase filled with many of my favorite books.

As an educator and self professed life-long learner, I believe that books are one of the very best bargains around.  Even though a book may only cost you $20.00, the cost of your time to read it may be significantly higher.  For example, if your time is worth $100.00+ dollars per hour; then reading a book must be worth thousands of dollars to make it worthwhile.

Here are 5 suggestions to make the most of the current books on your bookshelf, and, the future books you plan to read:

1.    Select books that are aligned with your professional and personal goals. In doing so, you will be feeding your mind great thoughts that will fill you with the knowledge for greater achievement.
2.    Underline or highlight key points that deliver a message that hits the mark with your specific interest or needs.  This technique will help you to filter the messages and narrow your focus to specific useful ideas.
3.    Once completed, put the book away for at least a week and then go back over the underlined items and place an * or other symbol next to the top ideas for future follow up.
4.    Review all the * items and then create a list of follow up actions you will take to execute on these ideas.  Capturing these valuable ideas without a follow up action plan is worthless.
5.    Insert these new, actionable ideas in your calendar. Make sure to block out sufficient time to complete these priorities.