4 Ways Audiobooks Will Increase Your Time Efficiency
Some people learn best by listening.
I don’t.
I prefer to chow down and digest each page by letting loose with a highlighter and pen, taking notes and dog-earing those important pages I’ll likely never see again.
But I’ve still found an important place for audiobooks – as an avenue used by the Spirit for furthered spiritual growth- that printed versions cannot fill.
Though this post focuses on the Christian nonfiction genre, most of the points cross apply elsewhere.
4 Reasons to Listen to Audiobooks
Here are four ways audiobooks will increase your time efficiency.
1. Means for Redeeming Driving Time
I once heard that if you listened to audiobooks and lectures during the twenty minute drives to and from work, by the time you retire you will have listened to the equivalent of seven PhD’s worth of information.
2. Employment for the Mind While Exercising the Body
Maybe you don’t share in my pains, but I find the gym to be mentally boring. I find it easier to exercise longer when my mind is engaged. Audiobooks are a way to work out your mind and body in tandem.
3. Helpful Method for Ingesting Books That Never Make it Off the Shelf
Face it: The volume of quality books out there would easily crush your nightstand with their collective weight. But there is a limited amount of time for reading. Using audio increases your opportunities to ingest more books because books that do not fit into your reading time may fit into your listening time.
4. Increased Fuel for Meditation
We are more likely to engage our minds in worthwhile thinking throughout the day if we take opportunities [such utilizing audiobooks to increase overall book intake] to provide ourselves with mental fodder for meditation.
Where to Buy Christian Audiobooks
Now for an unsolicited plug for my favorite audiobook download site, http://christianaudio.com. They’ve got a free audiobook each month, run great sales periodically, and have a great selection.
One track at a time, I am plowing through Deep Church by Jim Belcher and 8 years worth of John Piper’s 221-message series on Romans. What are you listening to?
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to blog updates via email or via RSS
Related posts:
- Fighting busyness that sabotages the quiet time
- Taste and See: Part 3 – Entertainment
- Weekend Resource: 7 Minutes with God
You dog-ear your pages!? lol
I’ve thought about getting an audio book. Actually, I downloaded a free one, but ended up deleting it because I never listened to it, and I knew I never would. I do listen to a lot of podcasts, though. But I’ve really wanted to try an audio book. I should just go for it.
Good stuff. I listen to a lot of books in the car. Listening to Hanna Coulter, by Wendell Berry at the moment.
Once I got over the fear of marking a crisp page, I promptly moved to turning my books into personalized art.
What’s your favorite podcast?
Cory, thanks for stopping by.
Personalized art… ha! That’s funny.
Wow, my favorite podcast… shew, that’s a hard one. Let me try to narrow one I couldn’t do without.
My top favs are:
Matt Chandler
R.C. Sproul
Ravi Zacharias
Mark Driscoll
John Piper.
Sorry, can’t choose a favorite.
Hey, Daniel. Thanks for the ideas. I’m not much of a audio learner either…it’s hard for me to stay focused when I’m listening more than reading, and I’m like you… I write all over my books! I guess it started in college, but I still do it to mark special or insightful spots, to make note of my questions, or just to make a comment to myself. It’s an interesting experience to go back and read those later and see what God has done in my life – what lessons He’s taught me or what questions He’s answered – since I wrote the original comments.
Still, audio books is something to think about… and finding ways to “redeem time” is a good challenge for me. Driving the long road from country to town during the week is a wonderful time to worship and pray, but I know I still often misspend a lot of time with mindless wandering…
Yeah, audiobooks are not the only thing to do in the car while driving. But there are a good thing, and sometimes the variety helps.