How to Become More Knowledgeable If You Only Have Ten Minutes a Day

Here’s how you can use this time to your advantage.

Do you feel like you don’t have enough time to do everything you want?

Between working, staying fit, being social, and spending time with your family, you try to carve time for personal development.

If it sounds like you, you’re not alone.

Time is a scarce resource.

Not many of us can work on self-improvement full-time, so we often do it on the go. We consume audiobooks during the commute and listen to podcasts while walking the dog. We aim for efficiency.

In this story, I share how one online resource can accelerate your self-improvement. It’s free and doesn’t require more than 15 minutes a day. After reading this article, you’ll know how you can use it to your benefit.

If you don’t have much time for personal growth, here’s your shortcut to quicker learning, efficient reading, and unlimited inspiration.

Here’s How You Can Be More Knowledgeable

Blinkist provides short summaries of books. It’s a subscription-based service that gives unlimited access to their entire library, but only if you’re a paid user.

For free, you can access one book summary a day. You can’t choose which one — it’s automatically offered by the service.

And that’s the beauty of it.

It doesn’t matter how many book summaries you can access per day if you use the service as an add-on to your self-improvement process.

Besides, having access to just one summary per day has its benefits.

You save time because you don’t have to choose what you want to listen to today. You open the app and decide whether to play it or not. It’s as simple as that.

If today’s book summary is not exciting, you can always come back tomorrow.

The idea is to use it consistently to become more knowledgeable in the long term while spending ten to twenty minutes per day (depending on the lengths of the books and their summaries).

How You Can Benefit from It

“A book summary — what a basic tool,” you might think.

And you’re right. It’s fascinating how you can benefit from such a simple service. Let me explain.

#1 You’ll know if a book is worth reading

Blinkist is a great way to learn more about a book before committing to it.

Before you embark on a journey of reading a 500-page book and spend hours, days, and weeks on it, try listening to a summary first.

Many books are full of fluff. They have one basic idea that authors drag across 300+ pages. It would be a pity to waste your precious time reading a book that doesn’t add much value. It’s not worth your time.

When you listen to a Blinkist book summary, you might find the topic or book intriguing and want to learn more. In this case, add it to your future reading list.

If you feel like the summary was enough to grasp the main idea, mark the book as read. It’s not about the number of books you read or listen to. It’s about not wasting time and focusing on the content that will benefit you.

There are more books in the universe than you can ever read. There is no point in spending time on books that you don’t like or are not valuable to you. Choose wisely.

#2 You’ll get ideas and inspiration

If you’re a writer like me, you are constantly on the hunt for new ideas.

Sometimes, they come after reading a book or learning about something in-depth. You wrap your head around it, and the ideas start to form.

Other times, you need a nudge — a push to become inspired and get the idea. This is how Blinkist can help you.

By listening to their short summaries, you can get inspired by the topic. You get a general idea for the article or a book that you can further develop.

It doesn’t matter what you create. What matters is the content you consume. Without good input, you can’t generate good output.

You don’t have to always dig deep. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration — your brain and creative thinking will do the rest.

#3 You’ll learn about a broad range of topics

You don’t always have a chance to listen to a book that fits your interests. And it’s okay.

You don’t have to always consume content only within your area of expertise. Sometimes it can be beneficial to step out of your zone and broaden your thinking.

Every day one book summary is available for free. It can be about habits, productivity, or health. Or it can be a book on history, science or fashion.

It might not be your first choice, but it doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant. Consider it a chance to learn something new about a topic you haven’t explored before.

You have an opportunity to tap into an entirely new field with little effort and in a short time.

It sounds like time well-spent to me!

You might get curious about the topic and want to learn more. If not, ten minutes a day is not a big deal. Besides, you’ll know for sure the book is not worth your time.

In Summary

Time is scarce, and resources like Blinkist can help us make the most of it. Even 15 minutes a day can make a difference in the long term.

Here’s how you can benefit from using Blinkist for 15 minutes a day:

• You get a chance to learn about new topics.
• You can understand if the book is worth your time.
• You get new ideas and inspiration for your articles.

Take advantage of this free resource, and you’ll accelerate your learning progress and become more knowledgeable in different areas.

[The story is not sponsored and is written based on my personal experience.]

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