All too often, we fall into the trap of reading the same sources of information over and over. Let me give you an example of my own reading habits.
Every day I go to the gym at 5:15 a.m. to get my corpulent body moving so I might shed a few pounds so I can enjoy a square of dark chocolate the size of a postage stamp after dinner. While I'm on the elliptical trainer, I read the Wall Street Journal. After I finish the Journal, my wife, who looks like a fitness trainer, makes me a healthy breakfast of Egg Beaters and whole-wheat toast and a cup of green tea. I am from Philadelphia so I read the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Evening Bulletin, two Philadelphia dailies. Usually, I am running late for the train, so I run out the door like an Olympic sprinter, jump into my Prius, and drive off like Jeff Gordon. I run up the steps of the train station and just manage to get on the train. I open my backpack and pull out Business 2.0 going into the city and Inc. coming out. Through out the week I read Fortune, Forbes, Success and the local weekly business publication, The Philadelphia Business Journal. Throughout the day, I read TheStreet.com for up-to-the-minute news on the stock market and opinions and advice from other columnists. Some of the magazines give me ideas, but for the most part I am reading news about what other people are doing. What I am not getting enough of are new ideas, concepts, processes and in-depth personal stories about successful people that will provide me with the tools to improve my performance and, by extension, that of my company and clients.


