Unleashing the Power of Reading: A Journey from NFL Fields to Libraries with Nick Hutchinson

Reading for Personal Development

Speaker 1 0:08

Alright , thanks for tuning in . I am really excited about this episode Chance to talk about one of my absolute favorite things , which is self-development , and to do that I have a true expert joining me today . Nick Hutchinson is the author of the upcoming book Rise of the Reader . So Nick has read over 400 self-development books and is a true expert at learning how to take those nuggets from the book and apply them . And he is going to drop some knowledge on us , Nick . Welcome to Leadership . Jock Talk .

Speaker 2 0:43

Yeah , I'm excited to be here , Nate . Thank you for the opportunity .

Speaker 1 0:47

Yeah , you got it To kick us off . Would you mind just sharing with the listeners a little bit about yourself ?

Speaker 2 0:52

Sure . So what might surprise everybody that can visualize my background , which has like a thousand books , is that I was not much of a reader growing up . I didn't care much for personal development . I was more of the athlete stereotype through middle school , high school , not really much of the academic . I played football . In fact , my senior year we got to play in Gillette Stadium on live TV , which was a lot of fun , and I was captain of the wrestling team . So those were the things that I focused on growing up .

Speaker 2 1:22

But it all changed for me going into my senior year of college because I took an internship at a local software company and my boss at the time , kyle . He recognized that I had some potential that I wasn't necessarily fulfilling and he said hey , listen , man , you commute about an hour each way to this internship five days a week . That's 10 hours a week in the car . Why don't you try listening to some podcasts instead of music ? Right , like these business or personal development styles , shows might help you get closer to where you want to be in life . And so I started to listen to these podcasts and very quickly I realized that so many of these people being interviewed , these successful people , they gave at least some credit for their success to the books that they were reading , and so everything switched for me . I went from a non reader to a big time reader almost overnight , and I have not looked back . Over the last 10 years I've read hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of books , and I've really enjoyed getting into this world of personal development .

Speaker 1 2:22

So you've traded teams from jock to nerd almost .

Speaker 2 2:25

Yes , I have .

Speaker 1 2:28

But , as I understand , you still follow sports . So you're taking in all this self development , you're learning , but you're still a sports fan . Can you tell us a little bit more about your relationship with sports ? You said you grew up football and wrestling and kind of who you follow and how you follow sports still .

Speaker 2 2:43

Yeah well , growing up in the Boston Massachusetts area over the last 29 years has been great . Obviously , there are a lot of very storied .

Speaker 2 2:53

Yeah , good timing right . There are a lot of very storied franchises up in the New England area , and so when I was younger I paid more attention , I think , to the Red Sox . I mean it was a lot of fun growing up watching David Ortiz , manny Ramirez , pedro Nomar Garcia-Pera , and my dad was a really big Red Sox fan too , so I paid a lot of attention to the Red Sox . When my dad was a little bit younger he worked for a company that sold a lot of Converse and as a result they worked with some athletes on the Celtics , and so my dad spent a lot of time around Larry Bird , robert Parrish , kevin McHale in the locker room going to these games , and so I grew up sort of in with a house where the basement was like all sports member Billy and stuff .

Speaker 2 3:41

And then during my kind of late let's see what year's late middle school , early high school , mike Vrabel , patriot , former Patriot linebacker , and I , head coach of the Titans , was neighbors with my parents , and so I had a lot of great access to the team . We went to church with his family on a lot of Sundays and I got to know his kids , and so then I got into football and I started to pay a lot of attention to football . So today I'm still a big Patriots fan , but I'm more like an NFL fan these days because the Patriots sort of stink . So I play a lot of fantasy football . I watch football on Thursday , sunday and Monday and I'm a big fan of the league . I think there's a lot of fantastic personal development lessons in watching a sport like football as well .

Speaker 1 4:29

All right , yeah , thanks for the background , nick . Friends of the show know that we should be enemies , with my Pittsburgh allegiance and probably some jealousy for all the championships Boston's had over the last several years . But Nick is such a smart and great guy that we're not going to hold it against them and dive into some of the self development stuff . And I want to double click back into that comment about Rable being your neighbor a little bit later . But let's jump into some of the reading .

Speaker 1 4:54

So I'll put it out there I am not a very effective reader . It's maybe why I like doing and listening to podcasts a little bit more . I imagine some of my listeners are in a similar boat , where you kind of read these books , or you try to read these books and you don't get a lot out of them , and I think that's really part of your message , right ? How do you not just read books for the heck of it , but how do you apply them ? Drop some knowledge on this , nick . What is your secret or what can you share with us ahead of the book ?

Speaker 2 5:21

Yeah , I'll say a couple of things , because I believe that our ability to read and implement personal development information is one of the most underutilized skill sets that we all possess today . I mean 10 years ago . I was insecure on one side of the spectrum , filled with ego and emotionally reactive on the other . I , you know , as a recent college graduate , I didn't really have my wits about me . Financially , I wasn't the healthiest , I didn't focus on a lot of those things , and now I'm living my dream life , and it's been less than 10 years . Like I do joke around , I'm 29 years old , but if you include all of the books behind me , I'm thousands of years old , because people live amazing lives and then they end up condensing decades of lived experience into days of reading . They spend their entire lives figuring out how to solve the same problems that we're dealing with today , and then they give you the solution for $20 in a few hours of your time , and then we choose to ignore the advice and spend all this time trying to figure it out ourselves , and so I think that's inefficient . That's what I have to say about it .

Speaker 2 6:27

So over the last 10 years , I've read books about everything that you can imagine . I mean , every single time a problem pops up , there's a book about how somebody else solved that problem , and if you can read and implement it effectively , you can solve the problem too . I'll kind of finish this emotional rant by saying that if you are dealing if anybody listening or watching this is dealing with the same problem on a daily basis , check out the following math Over the next 30 years , you're going to deal with that problem 11,000 times , right ? 30 times 365 . So why not spend a few dollars , a few hours of your time , solve the problem so that you don't have to deal with it 10,950 more times , right , if you take 50 days to fix it ? That's how I think about everything in my life right now , because these books they're like magic , they're like a shortcut and they're available to us in a lot of ways for free , and we choose not to read them . And it just kind of blows my mind .

Speaker 1 7:29

The math resonates with me for sure . So I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit . If you don't mind , hit me , I'll put myself out there

Managing Overcapacity Stress and Prioritizing Reading

Speaker 1 7:36

. So I would say managing a lot . Maybe that's some level of overcapacity stress . So I got three young kids , I have a big job , I do a podcast on the side , I try to work out every day and there's not enough hours in the day and I feel like I'm always disappointing someone or something , either my family , my work or myself . And I , how do I , if I'm stuck right and that problem has probably been persisting for a little while how do I get started Right If I'm stuck ? How do I get past the inertia to find a book , start a book , get going ? Give me a tip .

Speaker 2 8:12

Okay , I will give you a tip . First I'd like to ask a question . If I paid you Twenty thousand dollars to read a book by the end of the month , what do we have ? Like two weeks left ? Do you think you could do it Like would ?

Speaker 1 8:25

you be motivated to do that . Yeah , I'll get that done yeah .

Speaker 2 8:28

So it's not a question of whether or not you can read , but it is a question of whether or not you value the reading enough to prioritize it over some of the other things in your schedule , and I think that's the case for all of us . It's a question of value and priority . But let's say that I , you know , had that magic wand and I could afford to pay twenty grand . And now you're reading . How would you fit it in ? Instead of trying to find time , I recommend replacing low impact activities , like a little bit of social media or a little bit of netflix or whatever you're watching in the evening , with reading a great book , maybe even a little bit of football from time to time . And the following math is pretty surprising , but kind of follow me here .

Speaker 2 9:09

So if you spent fifteen minutes in the morning reading right by replacing a little bit of scrolling , and fifteen minutes in the evening reading by replacing a little bit of sports , that's thirty minutes a day . Now , if you're just starting out , thirty minutes is equivalent to twenty pages . Twenty pages five days a week monday through friday is a hundred pages a week . That's a book every two weeks or every three weeks . That's twenty six books . Twenty to twenty six books over the course of the next twelve months , simply by replacing a little bit of social media and a little bit of netflix with reading a good book . So that's what my recommendation would be schedule it into your calendar and don't re prioritize family or work or the gym , but maybe a little bit of some of those other things that you could probably find . If you looked on your screen time . You know there's probably a few areas in there that don't matter so much , you know .

Speaker 1 10:03

Yeah , it's great . Alright . My follow up is what is the sports equivalent of this ? You just gave a great tip . Fifteen minutes in the morning , fifteen minutes in the afternoon . Make a parallel for us .

Speaker 2 10:12

Yeah , I was reading the compound effect by Darren Hardy a while ago and he had a great metaphor . He said Olympic athletes that win the gold , they don't win by a mile , right , they win by a point or a millisecond or whatever the equivalent is for the sport . They just went by a little bit much , a little bit more , but they win ten times as much in sponsorship money , prize money , tv time , accolades . They get the gold medal and all they did was put in one extra rep or you know , one extra swing or one extra free throw or one extra , whatever the sport is right . So it's not these big giant strides that change , but it's fifteen minutes here and there . It's that extra rep , that extra book that makes all the difference . And I think that you do get ten extra rewards by just putting in a little bit more effort . That's sort of how I think about reading these books . One percent change as a compound over time can lead to a wildly different place in these books are a great way to identify and implement these one percent changes .

Speaker 1 11:21

Hey , make sense to me , put in that extra rep . What ? What suggestions or what advice do you have of getting the right book ? So I can imagine , if you know people start to do this and that first book goes down like I didn't get a whole lot out of that or that wasn't really worth it . They're probably gonna stop . How do you , how do you get the right book ? What's your strategy for Sifting through , you know , starting a book , one on your , on your path of four hundred ?

Speaker 2 11:45

I think before jumping in and buying something because you see it on Instagram or somebody else recommends it , I would say Do a little personal inventory . Ask yourself is there a problem that you're dealing with on a daily basis that could be solved if you read about how somebody else solved it ? I think that's the best place to start , because you're emotionally connected to the outcome . And then from there , I think we need to set an intention for the book and we need to follow the smart goal framework . So smart stands for specific , measurable , attainable , relevant . Again , you're emotionally connected .

Speaker 2 12:19

In time bound , you give yourself a deadline and so let's say you're dealing with an issue At work . It's a leadership issue and you find a good leadership book that might help solve that problem for you . But has somebody else overcame Delegation ? Set a goal find an implement at least two delegation strategies At work by the end of the month . Right , that specific , it's measurable . Find an implement at least two things . You know whether or not the book achieve its goal . It's attainable , not change a thousand things just to some motion . You're emotionally connected to . It's relevant . You give yourself a deadline to achieve it by the end of November or whatever the case is , and so solve that problem and it's gonna feel so good when you don't have to deal with it anymore . You'll say how can I get more of that stuff ? I think that's what's gonna happen .

Speaker 1 13:07

Alright , I think I'm in for this . I hope the listeners are to this . Might it might be the earliest episode challenge that we've dove into , but we'll circle back to that at the end . I wanna go back to what you said earlier that you grew up . Baseball was sort of first then Mike rabel , famous patriot defensive defensive end linebacker that caught a number of touchdowns in the Super Bowl , playing on offense with Tom Brady and kind of the heyday . So he was your neighbor and said you want to church with them and you know that really Spark your interest in football . Can you tell us more about your relationship with Mike and how that sort of shaped who you are now ?

Speaker 2 13:43

Yeah , absolutely . I ended up writing my senior paper applying to colleges about my millionaire neighbor , my famous neighbor , because he was just such a normal guy like . You could find him having a beer with my dad in the backyard right . But then you could also find him catching touchdowns from Tom Brady right unlike little trick plays and stuff . And so I realized that these famous people on TV they're not so different than we , are the normal people . They do normal things , they go to church , they raise kids , they drive by your house , they play catch with you in the front yard , they have a beer with your

Leadership Lessons From NFL Coaches

Speaker 2 14:19

dad like .

Speaker 2 14:19

And I think that was really important for me , because I was pretty insecure when I was younger . I cared way too much about what other people thought of me . I didn't have a ton of self confidence In front of other people , and so I didn't know what I could achieve in life . And then here's this guy on Sunday that everybody wants to be like and be around , and he's just a normal guy . And so that was a really important thing for me to realize that these professional athletes they're just normal people and they're relatable . And it also showed me I was Capable of accomplishing whatever I set my mind to and that was exciting for me . It opened up a lot of inspiration and possibilities . You know it'd be fun . I should go back and try to find that college paper and reread it . I mean , I probably haven't read it since it was written . Yeah , you know , get it just for where my headspace was . However , many years ago that was 12 years ago , something like that- yeah , that's a great idea , okay , so Okay .

Speaker 1 15:15

So brable now is the Tennessee Titans coach and is probably one of the best coaches in the league . He's seems to me at least , as a creative strategist . He is strong and accountability and sort of his expectations of the team . He seems to get the most out of a roster that I don't think anyone would say is in the top tier of the NFL , but he seems to compete year in and year out and probably has a lot to do with work ethic and some of the stuff that you mentioned and being a regular guy . Let's dive into some coaching analogies . So , nick , if you would , I'd like to hear your top three , maybe top five coaches in the NFL , but not just a list . I'd like you to justify why you're drawn to them as coaches and leaders . What do you notice in your top coaches in the NFL and their leadership ?

Speaker 2 16:11

Well , born and raised in the Boston Massachusetts area , I've witnessed a number of super bulls under the great coaching of Bill Belichick , so I have to throw them on the list .

Speaker 2 16:22

My favorite , my favorite thing about the Patriots and about what Bill has created is the Patriot way . Right , you show up , you do your job and that's what it's all about . That's what you're optimizing for . And he's been able to take some wild personalities over the years people like Gronkowski , you know , and bringing in , you know , even like Juju Smith Schuster this year , and some people like that . And then they fall in line and they do their work and they show up and they're allowed to have fun . But I think that's like , I think that's a great thing that he's able to do . You know he's an older guy but he's able to relate to some of these younger people and say , hey , listen , you have the opportunity to show up and do amazing things here and you have to act that part and you'll get penalized if you don't .

Speaker 2 17:10

I remember before Book Thinkers , my agency took off . I was working a full-time sales job and I remember flying on time with the CEO of that company and I remember saying to him hey , listen , I'm really enjoying my time here , but is there opportunity for growth ? Like there are a number of people ahead of me sales directors , regional directors and stuff like they've been here for a while Do I have the opportunity to take their jobs or is it sort of like a seniority thing ? And he said to me he goes . You know what , nick ? I think a lot like Bill Belichick does If a rookie shows up and kicks the butt of a veteran , that rookie's on the field . It's about doing your job and he's going to put the best people in place to win . Now , that hasn't been great over the last two or three years , but I think Belichick's a great representation of that .

Speaker 2 17:58

I'll mention a couple more Obviously , you asked me to give three to five . You know somebody who I've become a bigger fan of over the last couple of years and it's hard not to root for is Dan Campbell . The guy will get on camera , he'll cry , he'll yell , he's relatable , he's just a man's man in a way , and I just I feel like he's so vulnerable and transparent that it's hard not to root for him . So very different than Bill Belichick , who will not ever answer a single question that you ask him , because that's the Patriot way . On the other side of the spectrum , here's somebody who will answer everything and , like I said , he'll cry on camera , he'll yell , he'll swear , he'll joke around . Recently I think he was being interviewed and he said that he was distracted during a play call because he was looking at the fans doing the wave , you know , in the stadium and it's like who else is going to admit that on camera other than him ? So I have a lot of respect for him for that reason .

Speaker 1 18:57

Yeah , before you jump into the next one , I want to just comment . I think that's an important lesson of leadership . Authentic leadership is so important , right ? Dan Campbell could never be Bill Belichick and Bill Belichick could probably never be successful being Dan Campbell . So you might need to flex your leadership style . At times , you might need to move yourself on the spectrum , but you also need to know who you are , be comfortable with who you are and lead that way , because that's how you're going to build trust . So I love that you gave two kind of polar opposites , and just want to comment on that before I turn it back to you for any other coaches you wanted to call out .

Speaker 2 19:32

Oh yeah , of course I can give maybe two more examples of again polar opposites . So I've come to respect . After the quarterback documentary that Netflix put out Patrick Mahomes was one of the featured quarterbacks I've come to respect Andy Reid a little bit more over the years . I mean , obviously he's running a very successful program and the chiefs are not a team that have a ton of weapons these days , but they're still performing very well . And I saw a clip recently I think it was yeah , it was about Andy Reid and when he drafted Travis Kelsey and he got on the phone with Travis's brother and said , like who am I going to get ?

Speaker 2 20:09

Like this wild , crazy guy , or am I going to get somebody who shows up and takes this seriously ? And he was willing to have those conversations with potential players , family members , in advance of drafting them . And so again , when you get the transparency and you understand that these are just people and they're looking for opportunities and they're willing to take risks , you know , I think that's the sign of a great leader and they've built a great program over the last couple of years .

Speaker 1 20:36

Yeah , that's great , and so I'll let you off the hook with any more . Three awesome answers . As you've talked about this , nick , and the rise of your writing and your company and so forth , I'm sure that you are leading people in various capacities . Love to hear a little bit about how , what your philosophy on leadership is and what you try to do and emulate for your staff .

Speaker 2 20:57

That's a great question . I've read so many books on so many amazing leaders and the company that I've built and the people that I'm leading . It's a little bit different . We think about prioritizing personal flexibility and impact over profit . And so my business book thinkers and the people on my team everybody's location independent . Nobody is being tracked as far as the number of hours that they're working . They're being tracked on output and results , and if somebody can do their 40 hour a week job and 20 hours a week from the beach in Jamaica , great , I love that for them .

Speaker 2 21:36

So , again I've just found in my life I value personal flexibility over profit . I value community over profit , and so I've looked to just continue to build a great team and pour into them and focus my time on them , and that's been a big piece of the internal culture that we've built over the last couple

Comparing Books to NFL Players

Speaker 2 21:56

of years . And I'll throw one more name out there , which is Mike McDaniel . I know you let me off the hook , but here's a young coach who's just free , flowing and flexible and playing the music and getting in the stands and it's such a different environment than what we're used to . But he's like this new age of coaching who's doing something a little bit different . And I feel that way as a business owner . It's not top down militant leadership anymore . It's about let's have fun and let's make sure that we're having an impact and that we're focused on enjoying our time , and that's what I'm focused on .

Speaker 1 22:32

I love Nick . We preach servant leadership on this podcast and in my day to day , and it sounds like you live that out in a lot of different ways and I love hearing how you lead by output and not butts in seats , and that you care about people being flexible and having being the best selves in addition to supporting the company . So I appreciate you sharing some insights about book thinkers . I have a game for you if you're up for it . Of course , we're going to do book comps . So NFL draft .

Speaker 1 23:04

Every year there's always player comps . How does this prospect comp to an existing NFL player ? As they're looking at the draft , I want to throw a couple books at you some of my favorite books , and you to give me some type of NFL comp to the book , and then I'm going to flip that on his head and I'm going to give you three players and I'd love to give you you to give us a comp of the book , and I'll try my best . We'll see how this goes . We'll see how this goes . I did not prep him for this .

Speaker 2 23:32

So this is off the cuff .

Speaker 1 23:35

One of my favorite books is Mindset by Carol Dweck . I'm sure you're familiar with it and I've talked about this on the podcast . I did a cool episode after Yanis' comment and losing the playoffs this year and kind of how he alluded to growth mindset . So it was very transformational for me to get out of a fixed mindset and I describe myself as a recovering perfectionist . So what NFL comp do you have to the book mindset ?

Speaker 2 24:03

Hmm , a growth mindset . I Love Carol Dweck's work . You know we'll go back to the lion said coach . I think that I Think that he's a great opportunity of like accepting that there's room for improvement , acknowledging that , always striving for it , encouraging people to focus on areas of improvement , and I I love this idea that we're all capable of doing whatever we set our minds to do right , we can ditch this preconceived notion that we're limited by our physical abilities , our mental abilities . No , like science shows that our brains are malleable and that we can change and grow and adapt , and I just feel like that Organization right now Was so bad two years ago and they're so good right now and they have so much momentum , and it stems from that belief that it's capable . I think that's sort of where it all starts .

Speaker 1 25:00

Yeah , it's such a good point the quarterback right in the swap with Matt Stafford and it was like they thought they were gonna cut them and he's like no , jared Goff is our guy , right , and they have stuck behind that and they have in a lot of ways , preached a growth mindset for Jared to step into that role and to be the leader . But they've lived that through their actions where they had an opportunity to trade up and take a quarterback or they had a chance to bring in another veteran and they're like nope , this has been our guy and it's really pain dividends . He looks great . He looks like an upper echelon quarterback . As a Steeler fan , I I wish we had him maybe get to that later , but I think that's a really good representation .

Speaker 2 25:40

He was a number one overall pick .

Speaker 1 25:41

Right , he was , yeah and he went to a .

Speaker 2 25:44

Super Bowl early . They lost to the Patriots and that's Super Bowl . But yeah , he went so early and then fell and you could say he's not capable of went , you know winning anymore . But look at what's happened .

Speaker 1 25:55

Yep , that was , I think that like 13 to 3 Super Bowl where , yeah , so fella check really just had an awesome game plan against McVay and the Rams and after that there was sort of the knock on them that you know they're never gonna be able to win with him . He was holding them back and his stock , just like you said , just plummeted like a rock . But they've really built him back up and I think Dan Campbell and the Lions organization deserve a lot of credit for that .

Speaker 2 26:17

Yeah , I think so too .

Speaker 1 26:20

All right , book number two . This is also one of my favorite books . Thanks for the feedback by Sheila heen and Doug Stone , and this book is about . I've talked about a few times on the podcast around how we often spend so much time Talking about how to give feedback , but really the receiver feedback is the one in control , whether they take it or not . So what is an NFL comp to Thanks for the feedback man , an NFL comp for

Book Recommendations and Football Comparisons

Speaker 1 26:48

thanks .

Speaker 2 26:48

I have not read this book . I'll put on your list . Yeah , I'm a . I'm a big as I . I'll talk through , as I think I'm a big believer in constructive feedback . In my book , razz of the reader , I talk all about the importance of building an accountability group of people who will hold you accountable to your potential . The path of most resistance , and I think that you know there probably are a number of teams and a number of organizations who have taken feedback Over the years and made a lot of adjustments . We'll toss one out there . We'll just say the New York Jets . The Jets have been terrible for a very long time and I'm sure that they've received a lot of constructive feedback .

Speaker 1 27:32

You know New York right , especially New York .

Speaker 2 27:34

I mean , it's such a loud city , it's a , it's , it's a , you know . So , yeah , I would say the Jets . Now , if Aaron Rodgers didn't get hurt , the Jets would probably be undefeated right now . They've lost a couple of close games , but they've . They've shown up and won some big ones too , and so they've taken the feedback . They've Drafted , but they've also I mean , they've drafted well , like some young wide receiver and running back weapons so I'm actually some defensive weapons too , but they've also , you know , grab some people like Aaron and yeah .

Speaker 2 28:12

I would say that's a team that's taken a lot of heat over the years , but they've listened to the feedback and they've made adjustments and they're in a great position now in a very tough division with Miami and Buffalo and my Patriots , and they're potentially a scary team .

Speaker 1 28:27

I agree , all right . Book number three Atomic habits .

Speaker 2 28:34

You got a great book small steps in the right direction , repeated over a long period of time . You know , show up and do the right things a great lesson from atomic habits again , I'm talking out loud as I think about a comparison . Yeah , a great lesson for atomic habits is that every action you take today is a vote for who you know , for the person that you're becoming , and where you are today is a result of the actions that you've taken in the past , and if you want to change , then you should change . We'll go with the 49ers as a team . They just seem to show up and do the right thing .

Speaker 2 29:09

They're not incredibly flashy I mean they do have some very flashy players but they just seem to do the right thing . I think Brock Purdy just threw his first interception on the year last week , and so he's somebody who just small steps in the right direction , not going for anything crazy , just playing good football , good traditional football . They have a strong running game , which is the foundation for a lot of offenses . They have an amazing defense and they just do the right things , and that's what atomic habits preach is like . Where you're gonna end up at the end of the season is a result of the daily Actions , the inputs every single day and they they seem like a team that's doing that really well right now .

Speaker 1 29:50

Yeah , it's a great comp . Brock Purdy , mr Relevant , last pick in the draft . Most of those folks don't even last , let alone Become the starting quarterback of a high-powered offense , and I think if he didn't have that mindset of get a little better with each snap and get a little better each day in practice , he probably wouldn't be where he is . So I like the comp All right . Now I'm flipping the game on you . I'm gonna give you three players and you're gonna tell us what book comes to mind and why okay .

Speaker 1 30:18

All right , first one we're gonna go with Patrick Mahomes by the the face of the league at this point , chief's quarterback . What book comes to mind when you think of Mahomes ?

Speaker 2 30:29

Well , again , I loved watching this quarterback documentary thing on netflix because you really got to see who pat is behind the scenes . He is somebody who shows up Day in and day out . He's very focused on mobility , flexibility , injury recovery , injury prevention . But also he's well balanced . I mean he has a family now it's . It looks like he's rolling with like 20 people everywhere that he goes , and he's young guy went in super bowls . So who's a good represent ? What's a good book representation ? For that ? I'll tell you what Hundred million dollar offers by alex hormose . So alex hormose is a young entrepreneur . He's built a very big portfolio and he seems super well balanced . He just does the right things . He shows up every single day , and so I'm making more of a comparison to the author . But his book does the same thing . He simplifies very complex business language and he teaches it and a well balanced sort of easy to digest way , and that's what patrick , my home , does . He's just balanced , and so that's what comes to mind first , at least .

Speaker 1 31:42

All right , I love it . You're a . You're one for one on this awesome start . My next one I gotta go with my , my stealers , my stealers love , so I'm gonna give you , can you pick it a ? There was high hopes for Kenny coming into the year . I struggled a little bit out of the gate . Definitely some concerns and fits very around the offensive coordinator and the coaching . Who comes to mind ? What book comes to mind when you hear Kenny pick it ?

Speaker 2 32:07

yeah , well , when I hear Kenny pick it I hear high hopes , kind of in a period of flux right now . So there are a number of books that I've had really high hopes for that just really haven't lived up to my expectations . So I'll go with .

Speaker 2 32:24

Start with why by simon cynic book that was very popular , lot of high hopes . When I open that thing up and for me , just didn't do , it didn't live up to the expectations , now that doesn't mean that it can't rebound , right , I could read the book again and it could change my life , you never know . So I think there's always an important opportunity to give a chance . But yeah , that's a . That's what my mind goes to I'm hoping Kenny has a rebound .

Speaker 1 32:51

Alright , and my last one you mentioned Mike McDaniel previously , so I'm gonna take you to to a what do you got for to us ?

Speaker 2 33:03

Listen , I was at the . I was at the Miami new england game a few weeks ago where we got our butts kicked . Yeah , it was fun to watch , to light it up . Didn't light it up that much in that game , but he lights it up every single week .

Speaker 2 33:15

So when I think of to right now , I think of to a and tyreek almost as like a duo . Yeah , because I think a lot of to a success right now is based on His wide receiving corp . Got waddle , I mean he's got a couple of amazing half backs . He even has the best full back in the league , alec engolt . Shout out , alec is an author .

Speaker 2 33:36

So when I think of to , I think of somebody who almost like a home run hitter . You know what's a good example of a home run hitter that just knocks it out of the park . Every time you read it Is this kind of what's happening right now with that . My offense putting up points a few weeks ago I'll go with can't hurt me by David Goggins . I mean there's not a person on the planet that I recommend that book to where just doesn't knock , knock it out of the park for them . And that's sort of what's happening with to a he's just willing to like throw that long ball and he's got the fastest , got the fastest five players in the league to back him up . So that's what I think about alright .

Speaker 1 34:15

Hey , nick , that was awesome . I have not done book comps ever before . No one that could do it better , so Thanks for playing along . Now that we've talked at the sports angle , I'm guessing people are super interested in this . I'm really interested and I can't stop thinking about the fifteen minutes and I'm probably wasting in the morning and at night that I could be doing something productive with . Tell us more about what you're doing when the books coming out , how people can learn more about you and learn more from you .

Speaker 2 34:43

What , just over the years of building my community , it's called book thinkers on instagram . We have about a hundred and fifty thousand book lovers in that community and put up book recommendations every day . I've just received the same questions , the same problems , hundreds and hundreds of times , like how do I choose the right book , how do I take effective notes , how do I implement these books to change my life ? And so , yes , I've decided to write the book on solving that problem here .

Speaker 2 35:09

Now it's on both sides rise of the reader yeah and this book can help you get more from the other books that you're reading . I mean , that's the primary value here . I hope that the fifteen minute example that we talked about before resonates with everybody a little bit , because it's not about working a thousand hours a week . It's about doing the right activity that creates leverage so that you can enjoy the passage of time and that you don't end up regretting not having done more . These books are the most beautiful shortcut that I'm aware of on the planet for living an enjoyable lifestyle , and this book , rise of the reader , can help you get more out of it . So , as far as launch day , november , first available for preorder now and then available everywhere on november . First you can find it on amazon . You can check out our instagram and find links in the bio book thinkers on instagram . And yeah , I wanna make reading cool again .

Speaker 2 36:02

I did switch from jock to nerd , but I think that there's some cool parts about being a nerd that people don't talk about .

Speaker 1 36:10

I love it . I a we talk about the world needs more leaders on on this show and how , if we had more leaders in the world , the world would be a better place and everyone can do their part to get a little better and become a better leader all the time . And I think you've given us a hack , you've given us a cheat code , a shortcut . How can we take advantage of small steps of reading and incorporate and learn from , as you mentioned some of the math earlier , the thousands and thousands of years and days and hours of people the condense down to you know short passages that we can learn from ? So we always do an episode challenge before our listeners Turn this off and start the next episode over the next couple weeks , what is something that they can do to put into practice ? So you gave the early example of the fifteen and fifteen . Can you give us another one in addition to that everyone can do to take a step in the right direction ?

Speaker 2 37:04

Yes , absolutely . How about this , If anybody wants a custom book recommendation from me ?

Speaker 1 37:12

so .

Speaker 2 37:12

DM me on Instagram , tell me about a problem that you're facing , tell me about a skill that you want to improve or something in between , and I'll make a custom book recommendation . So I think the challenge could be let's get started , let's go from non-readers to readers . Let's go out there and buy a book . We'll set a good intention , We'll schedule our reading time , read the book . I have a whole spreadsheet tracking system where I love to follow up with people and see if they've read the books that I've recommended and if they were able to take educated action , efficient action and if any life change happens , so that's available to anybody that wants it .

Speaker 2 37:49

I am available , I answer every message , and nothing brings me more joy than hearing about how these books change lives .

Speaker 1 37:56

Sounds like there are zero excuses . Mike Tomlin would like that . All you got to do is give Nick a reach out to Nick on Instagram , ask him for a book recommendation . So do a little thought of what problem are you trying to solve ? I think all of us are trying to solve some problem . Ask Nick what's the right book and then start reading it . Trade out 15 minutes of screen time and trade in 15 minutes of reading a book .

From Non-Readers to Readers

Speaker 1 38:18

Look , I can't thank you enough for coming on the show sharing all your wisdom , telling us about book thinkers and rise of the reader . As I mentioned , I am someone who struggled to read and maximize reading and probably am , in my own head , making excuses , and you've taken those excuses right out . So I think all of us , myself included , let's take that step from going from non-readers to readers . Let's become better leaders , and Nick will link all your info and the show notes and no excuses . Let's take that next step . Thanks again for coming on , nick . Anything you want to share to close this out ?

Speaker 2 38:54

Yeah , I'll just share . This was a really cool show format . It was very different than any other podcast that I've been on . Obviously , I'm talking about books most of the time , not sports , but this was a great intersection between books , sports and leadership and it was challenging to do the book comps , but it was a really fun exercise and I sort of had to dig deep and create metaphors and so I had a good time . I hope everybody else had a good time listening and thank you for the challenge .

Speaker 1 39:22

Thank , you for the opportunity . I'm grateful for you . Thanks a lot for all that you're doing and , like I said , check out Nick's stuff . I think you'll get a lot out of it . Take care everyone .