Bestseller-Fueled Self-Education
Buy the top 10 books in a field, then implement relentlessly.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 80%
When Shukla quit Deloitte with no idea how to make money, he leaned on the two things he had: work ethic from his British-Indian upbringing and the ability to out-read almost anyone as a literature major. He went to Amazon and Google, pulled the bestseller lists, and bought the first 10 books — The 4-Hour Workweek, Rich Dad Poor Dad, The $100 Startup, and others. That reading became the foundation of his self-education, which he then began implementing across a series of businesses. The method is deliberately simple: read the canon, then act on it.
Origin
Leaving Deloitte broke and clueless about money, Shukla realized his only edge was reading, so he bought the top 10 business bestsellers and turned them into an implementable curriculum.
Core principles
- 01You can educate yourself into any field by reading the canonical bestsellers.
- 02Reading is only useful if you implement what you read.
- 03A short, intense study sprint puts you ahead of most people.
- 04Work ethic plus reading ability is enough to start.
How to run it
- 1
Find the bestseller list
Go to Amazon or Google and pull the bestseller list for the field you want to enter.
- 2
Buy the top 10
Purchase the first ten books on the list without overthinking which ones — the canon self-selects the essentials.
Pro tip Shukla's set included The 4-Hour Workweek, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and The $100 Startup.
- 3
Read fast for actions
Read quickly, hunting for specific tactics you can put into practice rather than passively absorbing.
- 4
Implement immediately
Turn what you read into a real venture. The education only counts once you act on it.
Watch out Reading without implementing produces knowledge you never convert into results.
In the wild
With no money knowledge after Deloitte, Shukla bought the first 10 business bestsellers on Amazon and began implementing their ideas, starting with a recording studio built in his mother's spare room from carpenter's wood and loft insulation.
→ The self-taught foundation launched a series of ventures — recording studio, tutoring agency, startups — that eventually led to his SEO agency Pearl Lemon.
Common mistakes
Reading without implementing
Consuming the books but never acting on them turns self-education into entertainment; the results come only from implementation.
Overanalyzing which books to pick
Debating the 'perfect' reading list wastes time — the top-10 bestseller shortcut already captures the field's essentials.
Is it for you?
Best for
Career-changers and self-starters entering an unfamiliar domain with no formal training.
Not ideal for
Fields requiring credentialed, hands-on, or regulated training that books can't substitute for.
From the transcript
“I took to Amazon, I went to Google, I went to the best sellers and I bought the first 10 books on the list... that…”
From the episode
Deepak Shukla: Ranking No.1 In Life & On Google
Deepak Shukla