Sandra Long’s Post

📚 How to Read a Book Effectively: A Simple Guide to Unlock Knowledge 1️⃣ Define Your Purpose Before opening a book, ask yourself: Why am I reading this? Whether it’s to gain knowledge, relax, or find inspiration, knowing your goal will guide how you read. 2️⃣ Choose Wisely Not every book is worth your time. Pick books that align with your interests or areas you want to grow in. 3️⃣ Active Reading is Key Highlight key points. Take notes in the margins. Summarize chapters in your own words. Remember, reading is a conversation between you and the author. 4️⃣ Apply What You Learn Knowledge is useless if not applied. Implement ideas, share insights, or teach others what you’ve learned. 5️⃣ Create a Routine Dedicate 30 minutes daily to reading. Morning or before bed works best for focus and retention. 6️⃣ Read with Patience Some books demand time. Don't rush. It’s okay to reread or pause to reflect. 7️⃣ Join a Community Discussing books with peers enhances understanding. Join a book club or share your thoughts online! ✨ As Francis Bacon said, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." LinkedIn Books Knowledge SUCCESS ASIF ALI 🌿

Are you making these 5 mistakes when publishing your first book? Publishing a book is exciting, but it’s easy to make mistakes that can slow your success. Avoid these common errors to give your book the best chance to shine: 1. Skipping Professional Editing: Your words deserve to shine! A professional editor ensures your book is polished and free from errors. 2. Underestimating the Cover Design: People do judge books by their covers. Invest in a design that grabs attention and matches your book's genre. 3. Rushing the Publishing Process: Take your time to plan. From formatting to marketing, every step matters for long-term success. 4. Ignoring Marketing: Your book won’t sell itself. Start building an audience even before your book is published. 5. Choosing the Wrong Publishing Route: Self-publishing, traditional, or hybrid? Understand your options to make the right choice. Feeling stuck on how to start writing your first book? Message me—I’d love to help you get started! LinkedIn

3 foolproof ‘hacks’ to succeed as a writer in a short time If you identify as a writer you must have consumed a gazillion how-to-succeed-as-a-full-time-writer content and many different variations of the same. You get the point. Good. Now this here is my list of ‘super day-lies’ that will let you kiss success in a relatively short time. So back to the fool-proof hacks: No.1: To succeed as a writer, you must aim to polish your craft every single day. You must write, write and then some more. No kidding. No.2 on the success list of ‘dailies’ goes to ‘Read, read and then some more’. Typically it should come as first but it’s my list, so my choice. Why should you bother to read the workings of some genius brain? To read the workings of a genius brain. Exactly. It gives you fresh ideas, you consume their knowledge and interpret it in light of your experiences and understand new meanings, hence new ideas.💡 (Please forgive me I suck at using relevant emojis) And the runners up of this hack list is Consistency. The consistent you are in doing the above 2, the leaner the curve it will be to your success. Feel free to like and repost. I won’t mind. Promise✌🏻

🤦♀️ Have you ever found yourself paralyzed by the sheer amount of writing you still need to do? 👉 Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the research tasks on your lists? 👉 Are you frozen in fear of the deadlines looming large? This happens to all of us. Fortunately, though, there's a simple solution. 💡 The solution is to take action. 💪 Regardless of how small it is, each action moves you closer to your goal. 🎯 It reduces overwhelm and gets rid of the tasks on your list. 👩💻 As one of our client success managers, Khalilah Nelson, has put it: "Try. try and fail, then try some more" You will honestly be amazed by how much you achieve in a year if you only take one small action each day. 🏇 In fact, if you do the math, just being 1% better each day will make you will be 37.38 TIMES better. 🙌 ❗I'll repeat it, because it's super important: You will 37X your results just by being 1% better each day. 💪 The only catch is that you have to start. And the best moment to start isn't tomorrow. It's today. So whatever research task is on your list, start doing it today. And if you want to get started with an exact framework to 3+ papers every single year, 🎥 Watch this new free training I just released. (link in the comments ⬇️) It's not publicly available on YT or anywhere else. I'm sharing it with you here, because I believe in your ability to become a published researcher who is an authority in their field and enjoys the writing process. 🎓 This unlisted secret video will show you exactly how in less than 20 minutes. 🎬 To your success! 📝

Actually, it's worse than that: No one cares that you're a book author, conference speaker, or "thought leader". (Which, as somebody who is those three things, makes me sad.) Yet, people will continue to put those posts on here, all in the name of "brand marketing" and "reach", because the algorithms actually DO care. And, of course, there's a chance that somebody on LinkedIn is looking for a book on the same topic, and there's a smaller chance that very somebody will be shown your post in their feed, and there's an even smaller chance that they'll buy your book based on it showing up in their feed... but considering the average time to create a LinkedIn post is about 0.2 seconds, all it takes is one sale to justify the time to create the post. And so the posts will continue to flow. For good or for ill.

Any recommendations? I'm about to come to an end of a beautiful holiday in Turkey (child & hubby free too this time 😉) with my mother and sister. Getting some R&R is so important to be a better version of myself. 💙 My holiday read is the below book by Steven Bartlett - such an amazing read full of advice, studies and the science behind people - I highly recommend it! I'm by the pool with my highlighter being geeked out by all the fabulous ideas I will be putting into action to enhance my event manager skills. What should my next self development book be?

There are many organizations and publishers today who have set up systems and processes that make it very easy for someone, who has never before written a book, to do so at a reasonable cost. Who knows what you’ll have to write about in 1, 5 or 20 years from now? It could give your life or career a boost, and provide opportunities that will lead to greater success and life experience. #firsttimebook #storytelling #authorship

Believe in Human Writing, Believe in Yourself, and Achieve Your Goals! When you believe in yourself and stay committed to human writing, you’re setting a strong foundation for success. Here’s how it all connects: 1) Clarity and Vision Self-belief helps you see your goals clearly. With human writing, every word reflects your true thoughts, making your vision even stronger and more personal. 2) Resilience through Challenges Believing in yourself and choosing human writing keeps you grounded, especially when you face setbacks. It gives you a natural, real approach to problem-solving and growth. 3) Consistency and Action Human writing with confidence pushes you to take action. Each step brings you closer to your goals, making you feel more in control of your journey. 4) Learning and Growth Writing from your own perspective means every mistake is a lesson, not a setback. This approach keeps you focused and resilient. 5) Adapting and Evolving Human writing and self-belief allow you to adapt when things change. You’re able to adjust your path while staying true to yourself. 📌 Tips for Strengthening Self-Belief ◾ Set Small, Achievable Goals: Start with manageable steps and build your confidence with each small success. ◾ Practice Positive Affirmations: Regularly remind yourself of your strengths and past achievements. ◾ Surround Yourself with Positivity: Connect with people who support and encourage you. ◾ Visualize Success: Imagine yourself achieving your goals. Visualization can make your objectives feel more real and attainable. Remember, every big goal was once just a dream. Believing in yourself is how you turn that dream into reality! 😊 —-------------------------------- Found my post helpful? Follow me on LinkedIn. Ring the 🔔 on my profile. ♻️ Repost to share it with your community.

𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓. Let me tell you why. I’ve gone through many bad experiences. People make fun of me for being a reader or even insult writers. But, Here’s the harsh reality: On the other hand, they ask me for good books to decorate their bookshelves. "What a double standard, man." 😐 They show off their bookshelves, but no one touches a single book on them. Books aren’t just for show. Understand that. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 "𝟐-𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊" 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. Here’s what I see: ↳ A book is my all-time best friend. ↳It’s the imaginative world of the writer. ↳It takes hours, sometimes years, of hard work. 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙. -> They can change your life. -> They can change your perspective. -> They can help you make better decisions. Many directors have made movies based on novels. You watch the movies, but you make fun of books and their authors. I love my friends (Books), if you don’t respect them, then just stay silent. Keep your thoughts to yourself. P.S. If you can’t respect others, don’t make fun of them. LinkedIn LinkedIn for Learning LinkedIn Life

At the risk of losing my job by saying this, I suggest that anyone who wants to write a book for their business pick up this book. It is excellent. I recently chatted with Bridgett, the publisher and co-author, who gifted me this book. And I know Ally, the other co-author, not well, from a ghostwriting group that I used to be in. Even if you don’t read the actual content of the book, which you should, you can take in how the book is designed and formatted, how the content is structured and pieced together, and aided by callouts and other information. This is not an end-all be-all book, but it’s pretty close. It’s a door stopper. It is comprehensive. Also, it took them two years to write. So if you’re thinking of writing something as comprehensive as this, know that it will take time. You cannot write a book in the weekend, or whatever lies others are peddling. Well, you can, but the quality be shit. Do not write a book until you read this one. There are so many other books out there on the same topic. You might resonate with them. The authors here recommend you reach out to them for their services. You might resonate with them. You might resonate with me or other cool book professionals I know. If you resonate with me, and are looking for mentoring or ghostwriting, reach out. I have a 90-day book mentorship program called Get Grounded, in which I help you ground your book in your own unique truth and message, so that it can be powerfully captured onto the page.