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Before Headway, I was slow with business books. Really slow. Maybe one book per month, if I were lucky. Usually, it took me several months to start a book.
With full books, there's this weight to starting. You buy a book, and it sits there. You know you should read it, but you also know it'll take hours. Maybe weeks. And if it turns out disappointing, if you get halfway through and realize the advice is too basic or does not apply to you, you've wasted all that time.
I can't personally stop reading a book once I've started. It feels like failure. So I either force myself through something that isn't helpful, or I avoid starting altogether.
My background is in geochemistry and landscape geography. During my dissertation, I spent months buried in research papers and books, always trying to extract what I needed as quickly as possible.
You learn to be efficient when you're racing deadlines and drowning in literature. But that efficiency became a habit. I started reading everything the same way: fast, extracting insights, moving on. It turned out to be useful in marketing too.
📘 No more guilt, no more unread books — just real progress with Headway!
Six books, zero time: Rethinking my approach to learning
It was a regular morning. I was going through my newsletter inbox with coffee, deleting most emails, when a headline stopped me: "Forget 10,000 Hours. These 6 Books Teach You to Learn Anything in Months."
I clicked immediately.
I've always been someone who loves learning. I enjoy picking up new languages, even the ones I never master.
After German and English, I tried Romanian and Italian, for no particular reason. I never became fluent in either, but I loved the process of figuring them out.
What made me think "I need to read these" was the realization that I'd been approaching learning the same way for years, and it wasn't working anymore.
The article offered not one, but six books, which I immediately added to my list:
'The 4-Hour Chef' by Tim Ferriss
'Ultralearning' by Scott Young
'The Art of Learning' by Josh Waitzkin
'Skip the Line' by James Altucher
'Peak' by Anders Ericsson
'Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes' by Daniel Everett
The truth is, I don't have time to read six full books right now. I'm already consuming a lot of content every day for work.
When I have spare time, I want to read for fun, not plow through more nonfiction about productivity and learning systems.
But I also knew I couldn't just ignore these books. That's why I opened Headway.
How I used pre-reading to filter out empty marketing titles
I've been burned too many times by books with great marketing titles that turn out to be empty. So my first session is a pre-read. I'm trying to answer one question: is this book actually useful, or is it just a clever title?
When I find something interesting, I don't wait. I open Headway immediately and search for the book. I spend just a few minutes on each one, skimming the key ideas section, looking at the structure, and getting a feel for whether there's real substance underneath the promise.
I use Headway when I need to grasp the core idea of a book quickly and actually use it, not when I want to pretend I'll read the full version someday. It lets me gather the insights I need without the guilt of another unread book on my shelf.
My experience in Headway is pretty straightforward. I'm there to read insights and move through them quickly. Sometimes I copy ideas that catch my attention, but that's about it. The actual work happens outside the app.
When I find something I can use, I don't highlight it in Headway or organize it there. I create notes for myself. I send myself a message or write down how I might actually apply this insight in my work or personal life.
I'm not browsing around, looking at other books, or exploring features. I'm focused on one thing: can I use this information immediately?
📘 Stop wasting time on empty books — find what works fast with Headway!
Putting "Deep Work" to the test in a real marketing strategy
It wasn't a direct line from reading a summary to solving a work problem. I'm a content marketing manager at Setapp, a subscription service for Mac users. We're naturally tied to productivity topics, which means I'm always on the lookout for strong content formats.
Reading through Headway's blog, I noticed how they connected popular productivity books to practical applications. That got me thinking about actually testing some of these content formats myself.
It turned into a whole content series across the Setapp blog and other platforms. And I personally took part in the experiment by testing one of these books myself: Cal Newport's 'Deep Work.'
My plan was to implement Newport's principles and carve out a quiet space to rebuild my focus. I read the summary on Headway, grabbed the core concepts, and started experimenting.
The main idea was to schedule blocks of uninterrupted, focused work instead of constantly switching between tasks. Now, protect that time like it's sacred.
I documented the whole experience and wrote about it on LinkedIn. Headway even gave me access to frameworks I could test.
And testing Deep Work principles actually changed how I structure my workday.
📘 Test frameworks like Deep Work in real life — start with Headway!
What helped me erase the mental weight of the unread book
Now I can get through multiple books in a week when I need to. But the bigger difference is the mental load.
With Headway, that weight is gone. I can start a book in minutes. I can tell within the first few insights whether it's actually useful or just repackaged common sense. If the information is too basic or I already know it, I stop.
That lower barrier to starting means I actually consume the books instead of just owning them. I'm learning more because the friction is gone. I use it to stay ahead, to get the frameworks and insights faster so I can actually apply them rather than spending months just reading about them.
Most business books have one or two core ideas buried in two hundred pages. Headway gives me those core ideas in twenty minutes. I would rather spend three months testing six different frameworks than three months reading one book about one framework.
📘 Start books in minutes, not months — download Headway now!
Want more inspiring stories?
Check out:
How I Read More Books in a Year Without the Overwhelm with Headway.
A Day in My Life with Headway: How I Use Bite-Sized Learning to Stay Inspired.
How Daily Micro-Learning Transformed My Leadership Coaching Practice
How I Fit Learning Into My Life as a Developer, Triathlete, and Parent of Three
How 20 Minutes with Headway Daily Transformed Me from Reactive Manager to Strategic Leader
Editor's note: Find more expert tips on the Headway app
Marketing managers, content creators, and professionals who consume information for a living face a common problem: there are too many frameworks and not enough hours in the day. The pressure to stay informed often leads to a backlog of unread books and unused advice.
Headway solves this by removing the friction between finding a good idea and actually applying it. By summarizing key concepts from bestselling nonfiction, the app helps you evaluate a book's substance before committing your time to it. Using Headway allows you to:
Get core ideas in twenty minutes instead of reading two hundred pages.
Test multiple frameworks in practice quickly.
Remove the guilt of unfinished books sitting on your shelf.
Evaluate if a book actually has real substance before you commit to your schedule.
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Get startedYou can skip the padding and go straight to the parts that change how you work. If you would rather spend your time testing new principles instead of just reading about them, try it out today. Start your self-growth journey with Headway.
