Stevea Robbins here. Welcome to the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

They say that learning from books is academic, that it doesn't apply in the real world. Not always.

Juanita wrote in with one of the best questions ever. I really like learning through reading and audiobooks, but I rarely make it all the way through.

How can I create a course for myself so that I can actually absorb and apply the knowledge?

When you read a self-help or educational book, understanding is the easy part.

Understanding doesn't mean you can or will do what the book recommends. I read

the South Beach diet, then I read the North Beach diet, then the East Beach diet. By the time

that I made it to the South by Southwest, North Northeast diet, I had gained 10 pounds for munching

on sugar-coated pretzels while reading the books. I hadn't applied anything I had learned. Formal

classes work for a reason. They provide a framework, understanding, applying, practicing, and

recalling the material. When you're reading a book, you're being given the material, but the rest

is up to you. Here's how to turn your reading material into a course. Tip one, set out a timeline

and get a study group. Schedule a regular time to work on the material. Classes are effective

because they're held at regular times set aside specifically for study. Oh, and get yourself

a study group if you can. Find some friends. Use a site like

Meetup.com or Craigslist to find other people who really want to learn from the book, and then

establish one night a week when you'll gather to discuss. If you're really hardcore and have the

flexibility, you can schedule more nights a week. Tip two, structure each week with new material and recall.

Read a chapter or part of a chapter of the book for each class.

Take notes on the main points.

I recommend taking notes by hand, not by typing.

Writing the material forces you to review it, and it engages your muscles in memorizing.

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