Leaders are Readers and Readers become Leaders

The knowledge of the entire world is contained in books, e-books, and research papers, but for that knowledge to be of any value to you it must be transferred from the written word to your memory banks in your brain cells.

Therefore, in order for you to become a leader who is knowledgeable in your field you MUST become a reader!

Learn to love books. Start your library today. Your library will become a legacy to pass on to your children. Once you purchase a book, personalize it by placing your name in it and the date you acquired it. Include your address and phone number in the event it is lost it can be returned to you.

“Paul’s Precepts”… for being an effective reader

• Thou shalt “Own thy own book”. Do not borrow a book, buy it.

Then you can write in it.

• Thou shalt “Never loan thy book to anyone”. Your books are an

extension of you. You may never get it back. Promote them buying their own copy.

• Thou shalt “Get in the habit of reading EVERY day”. “What book are you reading now?” The best time is before you go to bed.
• Thou shalt “Read your book with a highlighter or pencil in one hand”. (Read it through entirely and then read again so you can highlight or underline important ideas.)
• Thou shalt “Have several books throughout your home”. Bathrooms and patio areas, on top of the TV guide and on bedside tables.
• Thou shalt “Always keep at least one book in your car”. You may have a long wait somewhere and be able to use the time wisely by reading. (Resist the temptation to read at long red lights or while driving).
• Thou shalt “Read instead of watching television”. “Wealthy people read; the poor watch TV” Most of evening television is of no educational value. Soap Operas and sitcoms will corrupt your morals, destroy your sense of right and wrong and distort your worldview. If you must watch TV, view programs such as public television, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel. The Travel Channel will get you dreaming and setting goals.
• Thou shalt “Never GIVE a book to someone”; make them buy their own. Unless it is a gift for a special occasion. Write a note to them and sign & date it.
• Thou shalt “Read the book again after several months”. You will be amazed at what you forgot and how much more you learned the second time you read the book.
• Thou shalt “Take the book off the shelf and review it again once a year”. This will be real easy because all you have to do is

read the highlighted sections and circled paragraphs or

underlined sentences. The more frequently you read, the greater your hunger to read more and learn more. It takes discipline in the

beginning, but before you know it, you have a new habit, a good habit that will change your life for the better.

Paul’s Favorite Books for Personal Growth and Self Development

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie*
• The Magic of Thinking BIG! by David Schwartz
• How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
• How you can have Confidence & Power in Dealing with People Les Giblin
• The Psychology of Relationship Selling Orv Owens
• See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar*
• Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking Robert Schuller *
• Life is Tremendous by Charlie T. Jones
• The greatest Salesman in the World Og Mandino*
• The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale*
• Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar*
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Steven R. Covey
• Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

*or any other books by this author.

Oh, by the way… One more book that is a ‘must’ to have in your library: The Bible. There are two reasons I don’t have it on my list of books to buy; one reason is that everyone should already have a copy, and the second reason is that being a Christian I consider the Bible to be far more than just a book. Regardless of your particular religious affiliation there is wisdom to be gained from reading the ancient scriptures. Each passage is filled with scriptural principles that are as useful to us today as they were for our parents, our grandparents and our great grandparents. The precepts are timeless and only grow in value as we understand them and implement them in our daily living. The best place to start out is with the book of Proverbs. You will notice there are 31 chapters. That is just enough for you to read one chapter a day for a whole month. Each chapter is relatively short and can be read within a few minutes. Over the years I have encouraged thousands of people to read one chapter of Proverbs per day every month for a year. Just grab your Bible, or run out and buy one if you don’t have one and start reading it today.

Whatever day of the month it is just start with that chapter. If today is the 16th day of the month, start reading chapter 16. If you miss a day; don’t worry, just read the next chapter the next day. You will be amazed at how each time you read a chapter, even if it is the 6th or 10th time you have read it, something else will jump out at you that you can use in your everyday personal life and in your business. A method to really get the most from reading Proverbs is to invite a friend or two or three to do it with you at a certain time each day. I did this for months (actually it was the better part of a year) with one neighbor and business associate. We would meet on his boat each morning and go through the chapter in Proverbs that correlated to that days date. Another friend lived just a little too far for us to get together in person so we got on the phone each morning and would study proverbs together. I would read 5 verses and then Jim would read 5 verses until we had read the entire chapter. After reading the chapter we would take a few minutes to discuss what we read and see how it would apply to our business.

Reading, assimilating the knowledge and then applying what you learn from reading these books will change your life dramatically.

Reading the above books could give you far more common sense information, more valuable to your success than a 4 year college education. Paul Morris “Who we will become five years from now will be the direct result of the people with whom we have associated and the books we have read.” ~Jim Janz “Who we will become five years from now will be the direct result of the people with whom we associate (and have allowed to mentor us), the self-help books and auto-biographies of successful people we have read (and understood ), the audio ‘books on tape’ and recorded lessons and seminars to which we have listened.(and assimilated)” ~Paul Morris "When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character." ~William Somerset Maugham If you look only at the opportunities that come to you and never at the people who bring them, you take the chance of getting yourself into longstanding situations (let's call them relationships) that may tug you gradually (or even suddenly) away from the person you want to be and turn you into someone you'd find disagreeable if, say, they were characters in a movie.

The old saying that “Knowledge is Power” is simply not true… We have discovered that there are a lot of very knowledgeable people who are broke.

It is our conclusion that it is not just the acquisition of knowledge but rather the acquiring and APPLICATION of that knowledge that causes one to become successful.

Buy a new bookcase for your home and begin filling it with good wholesome books. Start building your “Family Library” that will become a legacy for posterity. Start with the books mentioned above and then add a new book each month or more frequently if you so choose. Try to learn as much as you can about the author. Read books where the author is of good reputation and has his own life in order. Once you learn a new principle or precept, put it into practice as soon as possible. Also, share what you have learned with someone else as soon as possible. The very act of remembering what you learned and then teaching it to someone else helps you have a more thorough understanding and a better command of what you have learned.

Tip: Encourage a close friend or a group of several friends to all be reading the same book as the same time so you can discuss what you are learning with others. You could even meet once a month and have a round table discussion of what each person learned and how they are going to apply it in their business and in their daily living.

If you live at a distance from each other you could three-way each other on and do a conference call. As a group leader you could even make up a fill in the blank outline for your group members to “fill in” as they are reading the book. During the conference calls you could ask each group member to explain what chapter meant the most to them and why. Then have them explain how they are going to use it in their life.

Now when you talk to or visit with your business associates you will always have something new to tell them, which is a characteristic of a leader.

See, “readers really do become leaders”!

Tip: A good source for some of these books is yard sales. Over the years millions of Amway distributors, NuSkin distributors and Herbalife distributors have purchased these books and now as these distributors are retiring or moving they are selling them in garage sales. So the next time you drive by a garage sale stop by for a few minutes, you may get a good bargain on some of these books and you just might get a good prospect while you are at it.

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. ~Mark Twain What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books." -~Thomas Carlyle Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn." - Joseph Addison Paul Morris is a very successful Network Marketer who has built some of the largest and fastest growing downline organizations in the Network marketing Industry. He lives in Sunny South Florida, and is happily married to his wife and business partner Sandy. Paul and Sandy have three children and three grandchildren. Much of their life has been involved with Scouting and Outreach Ministry. Paul does consulting and is available for Public Speaking and Training Seminars. Whether it is a group of 14 in a living room or a crowd of 14,000 in an auditorium, Paul is sure to have them laughing, crying, and ultimately motivated and inspired to become all that they are capable of becoming. Paul can be reached at 954 785-9303 or via e-mail paulmorrisFL@yahoo.com