Reading Books, Re-Focusing on Your Success
I know what I’m about to say might sound crazy, but I’ve probably only read a few books cover to cover in my life.
I’m a chapter guy.
When I go to buy a book, I don’t start at page one. I start with the title that speaks to me. I pull it off the shelf, flip through it, land on a chapter that catches my eye, read a few pages, and if it hits—I buy it. Take it home. Put it on the shelf.
Sometimes—on a bathroom break (yeah, I said it 😂)—I’ll grab it and thumb through those same chapters again.
That’s been my rhythm for years.
But last week, something shifted.
Out of all the books I’ve collected over time, I decided I was going to slow down and read a few of them cover to cover. Not to impress anybody. Not to post about it. Just to re-stimulate my mind.
Back in 1986, when I was in college at Shaw University in Raleigh, one of the few books I actually did read from beginning to end was Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain.
That book changed how I think.
It taught me how to use my imagination with intention. I started journaling. Writing names down. Putting pictures on the wall. Mapping out what my radio career could look like—who I wanted to meet, work with, learn from.
And here’s the wild part:
Most of it came true.
What I understand now—at this stage of my life—is that the mistake isn’t learning the process.
The mistake is letting the process die.
Creative stimulation is what carried me through a 40-plus years broadcasting career. It’s how I built shows, adapted to new cities, survived bad partnerships, and still created winning programs. Some masterminds were stronger than others—but the imagination did the heavy lifting.
I’ve kept journals my entire adult life. I’m up to 58 and counting.
Journals don’t lie. They don’t flatter you. They show you who you were when nobody was watching.
When my mother passed in 2009, I found her journals among her possessions. Reading them was humbling. Powerful. Eye-opening. It showed me what people carry quietly, what they never say out loud.
You really do move toward what you constantly think about.
One of the most powerful reminders of that is Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret—recorded back in the 1950s. Still relevant. Still sharp. Still uncomfortable in the best way.
“You become what you think about.”
The full version is about 36 minutes long. Worth every second.
I have so many books in my library—and stacked in my garage—that if knowledge alone made you rich, I’d be a scientist by now.
But knowledge does something else first.
It gives you perspective. It helps give you a knowledge of yourself.
It gives you self-respect.
And it changes how you see the world—and yourself.
A lot of millionaires are self-taught. Their thinking is documented. Their mistakes are documented. Their blueprints are right there for us to study.
If someone else has done it, that’s proof it can be done again.
Tell me—what are you reading right now that’s waking your mind back up?
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