So... you've bought several money mindset books and now have an impressive collection on your bookshelf. 

You've picked out the title which intrigues you the most, and you're ready to begin digesting its contents. 

How can you get the most out of your wealth mindset book? Is there a right or wrong way to read one? Read on to find out. 

The wrong way to read a wealth mindset book

It's easy for me to conclude that indeed there is a wrong way to read a money mindset book. 

That's because I've seen a familiar pattern over and over again. It's one that is best avoided. 

The pattern of ineffectiveness is to motivated by the sound of a title, read it energetically, and do nothing. 

Doing nothing sounds like an act of sheer negligence, or of great discipline, but unfortunately it is the status quo when reading even the best money mindset books. 

After all, our lives are but a series of many habits. Sometimes these are habits and attitudes ground into us from an early age. 

The default impact of any book, argument or lecture is to not change anything, because this to continue to repeat those habits simply comes most naturally to us. 

Change is hard. Change is what requires the willpower. 

The right way to read a wealth mindset book

Knowing this hurdle sits in front of us, what can we do differently to ensure that we will use this book for much more than just the passing of time?

The answer is to treat your money mindset book more like a textbook or workbook than a novel. 

First of all, resist any urge to 'binge' read. I don't care how compelling the author is, or how motivated you are to complete the book - I urge restraint. 

When we blast through a book, we gain only a cursory understanding of the content. 

Like with much learning, repetition is key. But you'll experience none if you race through chapter after chapter. By chapter 14, you'll probably only be able to recall or or two thoughts about chapter 3. If you can't even recall the content, how can you expect yourself to action it?

My advice is to read only a single chapter at a time. Once you've studied the chapter, take a journal or pad of paper and make some brief notes on the main points - no more than ten points.

The next day or week when you return to the book, be sure to read your summary of chapters so far before you move onward. This will help to reinforce the key messages, and having these 'executive summary' points in mind may also create synergy as you move onto later chapters. 

Perhaps a principle set out in chapter 2 totally evolves into a new concept by chapter 10. Would you have noticed that before?

At the close of the book, your pad of handwritten notes is now gold. You've digested the whole 200 - 400 pages and these few sides of notes contain the real crux of what the author had to say.

It's from here that you should build upon those notes by developing an action plan - a list of 2-3 things you can do at a specific time this week to begin putting what you've learned into action. 

Once you've begun your first action, you have already achieved that which many could not - you have begun to effect change in your life!