Business books are not the greatest literary tools in the world for entrepreneurs.

Some of you might be confused about that statement, because I have mentioned about how important it is to read business books in the past. Not only that, I have written business books myself. So, how is it possible for me to say that they don’t work very well?

To be clear – there is nothing inherently wrong with reading business books. Reading these types of books responsibly is a wonderful way for entrepreneurs to receive much needed assistance when it comes to many professional problems.

However, if you spend nearly all your time reading business books and not implementing their lessons, then you are not doing it responsibly. You might as well be reading Harry Potter for the hundredth time!

The whole point of a business book is to do what you learn. Take into account this example:

A few summers ago, I spent my entire summer with a giant stack of business books. I made sure to read them all, all the while thinking: “Man, I am accomplishing so much! This is going to be amazing!” Only later did I realize that using every lesson I just learned will amount to a lot of work – much of which may not be necessary for me to do, given what I do as an entrepreneur.

I have seen a lot of people make the same mistake I did. They love reading about the best business tips and tricks, but putting them into practice can make people get cold feet. Either that, or laziness wins out before long.

Therefore, my conclusion is that the process should be the following: Read a business book, implement it, then read another business book only when you have finished putting into practice the new things you have learned.

If you read a look of books all at once, you might feel overwhelmed. Furthermore, chances are high that you are not going to remember everything you just read. Whenever that happens, it results in nothing but an excuse to not do the work that really matters.