Why People Read But Never Apply
By: Brian Kim - June 29, 2007
I wouldn’t be surprised if statistics showed that a very, very small percentage of people go on to apply advice they’ve read in books. This proves to be one of the primary issues that becomes frustrating for both the writer and the reader.
On the one hand, the writer is sure that his/her advice will work because he/she has applied it before and has gotten successful results from it. The writer really wants the reader to benefit from the advice.
On the other hand, the reader reads the advice and marvels at it, then shuts the book and goes on his/her merry way, never benefiting from it in the first place.
If you look closely at the reasons why people read but never apply, you can see that the reasons lie on two sides - from the writer’s side and from the reader’s side. Both bear some form of responsibility.
On the writer’s side, you have these three common mistakes that are made.
1. Too many ideas.
2. Not enough passion.
3. Not enough logic.
Too many ideas.
The first mistake is a double edged sword in that writers have a ton of great ideas that they want to share, so they dump it all out, thinking that they’re doing their readers a favor by giving them all these ideas. On the contrary, readers will see all these ideas and become suffocated by them to the point where they close the book as it’s becomes too “dense”. The whole point of writing is to communicate and if the writer can’t trim down what he’s trying to say in a couple of ideas, then there’s no way that the reader will comprehend them, let alone apply them.
Not enough passion.
Another big thing in writing is passion. We all know the difference between the exact same speech given by two people, with one being more passionate than the other. There’s no comparison. Similarly, there’s nothing that will turn off a reader more than “dry” writing (writing and speaking are more similar in nature than most people realize). Passion must be infused into writing and that responsibility lies solely with the writer.
Not enough logic.
Whatever the writer is writing in terms of advice, it must make sense. The word “why” is a writer’s best friend. Why is one of the most important words in writing because it effectively sells the reader. Do ___________ because_____________________. And in the “because” part, the reason(s) must be clearly explained.
A lot of writers give cop out reasons or very briefly go over simple logic and that’s a BIG mistake. Logic must never be skimped on or glossed over, but instead, be thoroughly presented, to the point where it’s more than sufficient enough to get the point across and to get the reader to understand the added value of applying the advice being given.
Once these three mistakes have been corrected, it “primes” the reader to get them ready to apply the information they’ve read.
For example, when I wrote How to Find What You Love to Do, I wanted to incorporate all these factors, but by far the most important fact was stressing that the writing exercise MUST be done. I had to think of various ways to convince readers to do it because I knew the efficacy of the article would hinge on selling the power of the writing exercise. That’s why I stressed writing so much in that article and provided so many examples regarding why it should be done and judging from the success stories that have come from readers applying the advice from that one single article, I can tell that it has paid off.
Now if the writer has fulfilled all these objectives, the responsibility then falls solely on the reader.
On the reader’s side, you can basically boil their mistakes down to two things.
1. Lack of desire.
2. Lack of foresight.
Lack of desire.
Lack of desire is probably the biggest mistake that readers have. They just don’t want it bad enough and that’s the worst state of mind to be in. You would think that there was some desire that prompted the reader to seek out information in the first place, and there is that desire, but that desire is not strong enough to provoke them to action.
Desire is one of those things that can only be authentically created from within each person and one of the easiest ways to increase your desire is to ask yourself why. Why are you looking for this information in the first place? How will it help you? Visualize the benefits of applying the information. Do this to get your engine back up and running.
Lack of foresight.
Lack of foresight is another big mistake that readers make and what I mean by that is not being able to project into the future, the benefits of applying advice that you’ve read. When you apply the advice you read, the benefits you get from doing that start branching out from that one application - in ways you can never imagine. It’s never a “finite” amount of “benefits” you get from applying advice.
Once you start applying advice you’ve read, you get results and these results in turn, fuel your desire and increases your understanding of the domino effect of benefits that subsequently happen as a result. So you read more and apply more and the cycle starts engaging automatically in your favor.
Here’s a very simple example to illustrate the power of foresight. You read some great advice on creating a spectacular cover letter and resume. You read some great advice on how to handle yourself in a job interview. You apply the advice on your job hunt, and thus get your dream job. This opens up several other opportunities which in turn, makes it possible for you to live the life you’ve always dreamed of. All because you applied the advice you’ve read at that moment in time.
Yes, it’s a sappy example, but you will always find these types of examples in everyday life. Everybody in the world has their own version of this type of story where they applied some advice they’ve read or heard and one thing led to another and another and another and here they are today and if it wasn’t for that application of advice at that moment in time, they would not be where they are today.
So the next time you find yourself reading and not applying, look to see where the mistakes are. Are you reading writing that has way too many ideas, not enough passion, and not enough logic? If so, look for other material to read.
If the writer is doing their job, then the fault must be with the reader. Up to a certain point, the responsibility falls on the writer but after that, there’s absolutely nobody else to blame but the reader.
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5 Responses to “Why People Read But Never Apply”
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June 29th, 2007 at
I think another reason could be summarized as “it doesn’t apply to me”. I think that could be both on the writer and reader side, as you’ve defined them.
On the writer side, a lot of advice is portrayed as universally applicable to everyone, with no attention paid to the vast differences in people’s personalities and circumstances. Good advice for you might be bad advice for me, for a myriad of reasons.
On the reader side, a lot of people have tunnel vision. Even if it IS good advice for me, I might not see it that way. Maybe it’s outside my comfort zone, it doesn’t fit with my own vision of what’s possible for me to accomplish, or it just seems “wrong” for me. I think a lot of people read advice, but really what they’re looking for is an easy fix for their problems, or simply validation–that they’re right, they’re smart, etc.–they’re not necessarily open to changing themselves if it requires a radical departure from their past behavior.
July 1st, 2007 at
I think it’s more about lack of passion. Writers who attract many readers with their great ideas should be responsible enough to do their work with passion. It’s not enough to make it wonderful without the flavor.
July 2nd, 2007 at
I agree with the reasons. Most of the time, I think it’s about the readers. People who are interested in learning the principles and lessons offered by the book are willing to read. But people who are only after the good part and the benefits usually don’t last long with the book.
July 7th, 2007 at
One thing which needs to be mentioned is Writers show the direction to the reader and readers can’t expect writers to spoon feed everything for them and this is where most readers fail.
July 23rd, 2007 at
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