Let’s take a Shortform Tour because as business owners, there’s a real pressure to stay in the loop with all of the latest business or personal development books. And as business owners who the hell has time to consume that much content?

I’ve gotten to the point where if I’m gonna read, it’s gonna be fiction, but that leaves us feeling out of the loop and behind the times when it comes to new concepts.

So I stumbled across a solution, and now I can read and retain up to a book a day and it doesn’t take me hours.

So how do I do this?

It’s a nifty little app called Shortform. Now, I’ve been using Shortform for about six months, and I am in love with it.

I wanna walk you through what it is, the pros and cons, and give you a full tour. As well as a discount code so that you can try this out for yourself, for free, and fall in love with it like I did (if you want to try Shortform click here for a free trial or to get 20% off your annual membership*).

What is Shortform?

To call it a book summary app would be a disservice.

It’s often referred to as book summaries on steroids, but it is so much more than that. Shortform consumes all of the books, mostly nonfiction, that you want to read but don’t have time for.

And then they basically reteach you the concepts in either a one-page summary or a chapter by chapter summary, depending on what you have time for.

This cuts out all of the repetitive fluff that most books contain. And it gets right down to the meat of the topic.

A lot of times they’ll actually reorganize the information too so that it’s even clearer than the book.

Which means that you will burn fewer of your precious brain calories, to wrap your head around everything.

But then they go even further than the book. They do what’s called a smart analysis of the concepts.

So they tie it into other books, into stats and articles that are either gonna corroborate or conflict with the information.

Now, I personally love this because most information out there isn’t well-rounded; they don’t show you all sides.

But Shortform really tries to show you every side so that you can decide for yourself what makes the most sense.

In the chapter by chapter summaries, they give you exercises to do so that you can actually implement and retain the information that you just consumed.

They also have community conversations that you can take part in.

You can take notes, highlight passages that you wanna reference later, and even download PDFs.

And a lot of their books come with an audio option too.

So you can listen while you’re exercising, driving, or doing the dishes, which may be the only time we have to learn.

What are the Pros and Cons of Shortform?

Let’s start with the pros!

Pro #1:

So first of all, I love that Shortform helps me stay up to date with clients, customers, friends, colleagues, and what they’re reading or recommending without having to spend hours and hours and hours consuming every single book out there.

Pro #2:

It also helps you to stay up to date with things like marketing concepts, sales strategies (that sort of thing), without needing to read repetitious stories.

We’ve all read those books that could have been a great blog post, but somehow got turned into a 15-chapter book, right?

Pro #3:

Shortform can also help you determine which full books would be worth your time so that you’re not buying them until you know that you need more.

Pro #4:

It’s also a great way to review books you’ve read in the past by consuming them again but in 20 minutes or less.

Especially if that’s all you have time for, or just need a brush up on the content.

Pro #5:

Or if you have 60 to 90 minutes, you can go more in-depth with the chapter-to-chapter versions.

For instance, if you have a lazy Saturday morning laying in bed, doing absolutely nothing (which is usually how I spend my Sunday mornings), pull out the Shortform app.

Pro #6:

And you have unlimited books to choose from.

No limits on how many you can consume (if you have the time), all for less than the cost of one book per month.

And if you use my discount link, shortform.com/tara* you’ll get 20% off the annual membership.

Now on to the cons. As with anything, there are some drawbacks to Shortform.

Con #1:

You’re going to go through a Shortform honeymoon where you’re gonna speed through tons of amazing books that you’ve been wanting to read, but had no time to do it. But you’re not gonna retain them because you’re going too fast.

I want you to think about it.

Do you remember all of the details of the most recent blog post you just read?

High density of content can equal low retention if you’re not careful. You’ll have tons of takeaways, but you won’t necessarily recall them or where they came from a week later.

So pace yourself.

You can go hog wild, but be sure to at least highlight or star your favorite Shortforms to come back and reread later. Make sure you’re actually doing the exercises.

Really allow yourself to chew on it. Right? Really let it sink in.

I actually recommend that you only consume one to two Shortforms a week.

If you’re like me, you’ve got a lot happening already.

Information overload it isn’t gonna help you create a better life in business.

So just chillax, learn to take your time with it.

Con #2:

Another drawback is that a book summary, while it has all the meat, doesn’t have the nuance of the book.

There might be stories in the book that really help it to click.

Or as much as repetitive books are kind of a pain in the butt; repetition does help us learn.

Which, again, is why it is so important to slow down, to highlight, do the exercises and reread the short forms.

Really take your time with the content. And sometimes yes, get the book to go further.

It’s not a complete replacement. It’s just a great compliment when you don’t have the time.

Con #3:

Another con of Shortform is more technical.

The layout of the app is sort of confusing.

It looks like you’re starring the book below based on the lines, but the star relates to the book above.

So just be careful or you might star a book like Sex at Dawn about non-monogamy and really freak your spouse out.

What is my take overall?

Like I said, the cost of Shortform is less than the cost of one book per month, but you get unlimited books for that.

And if you use my affiliate link, shortform.com/tara*, you can get a free five-day trial to test it out for yourself plus 20% off the annual membership, which brings it down to almost half the regular price.

Are you ready to soak up even more biz knowledge?

If you’re finding yourself reading books about marketing and strategy to move your business forward without burning yourself out, or trying to reach crazy deadlines, be sure to check out my Healthy Hustle Approach.

This free class, How To Use a Holistic Approach to Create a Profitable Business Without Burning Yourself Out will teach you the three mistakes small business owners are making and introduce you to the tools and strategies that will help you create reliable profits working less than 40 hours a week.

You can grab a free seat for that class by clicking below.

What about you, Boss?

Name a book that you would love to read, but haven’t had the time to.

Scroll down to share in the comments.

*This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclaimer here.