You now know that you can only gauge whether communication is effective or not by what happens AFTER it.

But, AFTERs are also relevant to business books. Because a business book is only effective if the reader's skills develop AFTER reading it.

So will this book help your skills develop? Will it help you communicate better? Will you have more productive meetings? Better sales appointments? Give better presentations?

Or might you end up in 'the green corridor of doom' ...

I remember when my first child, Megan, was born. I thought I was the best Dad ever. Because she was just so happy. She loved everyone, she was perfectly behaved, anyone could ask her to do anything and she'd do it.

I was the first of my friends to have a child and they'd often say, 'Boundsy, you're brilliant at being a Dad'.

Iknew I'd found my vocation in life. After all, it was just so easy being a Dad.

And.

Then.

Came.

Jack.

Is it just me, or do little boys just not do what they're told?

He was always messing about, up to mischief. Never remotely coming close to doing what I asked him to.

And then it suddenly dawned on me ... I was not the best Dad ever. It was just that Megan had been the best baby ever!

But, as I got to know Jack, I realised he wasn't naughty. He wasn't seeking to disobey me. It's just that he would literally forget what I had just told him, because he'd found something more interesting to focus on instead. This became really apparent to me when, one evening, I asked him to get his tractor book.

This book was Jack's favourite book as a toddler. I must have read it to him over ten thousand times. Every time I suggested I read it he'd get really excited. This time was no different ...

He and I were in the lounge at the time, which was located at the end of a long corridor. In fact, the flat where we lived then was basically one very long corridor with all the rooms leading off it. The corridor had green carpet, and green walls. We called it 'the green corridor'. And the lounge was at one end, Jack's bedroom at the other.

I clearly remember Jack setting off down the corridor singing to himself, 'Tractor book, tractor book ... I'm getting my tractor book.' I can still picture watching his back as he walked down the corridor, thinking how much I loved my son, and how sweet he was.

But then, half way down the corridor, he stopped suddenly, looked at the doorway he was standing next to, shouted the word 'bathroom', and ran through it.

Unbelievable. Distracted again. He was about to read his favourite book. He only had to get to the end of the corridor. But something more interesting had come up.

I raced down the green corridor, went into the bathroom, and found Jack sitting on the floor. I said to him, 'Jack, what are you doing?'

'Playing, Dad.'

'But what about your tractor book?'

'What tractor book?'

He had totally forgotten. Couldn't remember at all. Even though sitting on his Dad's knee to hear his tractor book was his favourite thing, it had gone completely from his mind.

And, as I think of Jack and his tractor book, it makes me think of how most people are when reading business books. They read something they like, something that will help their business grow. Something they want to implement – say, the AFTERs. And then they start off down the green corridor of doom ...

Instead of singing 'tractor book, tractor book', they think AFTERs, AFTERs'.

But – just like Jack and the bathroom – halfway down the green corridor of doom, something distracts them. It could be anything, from an urgent deadline, to reading emails. And if I were to come running down the green corridor after them and say, 'What are you doing?', they would reply, 'Reading emails'.

'But what about the AFTERs?'

And, just like Jack, they would respond: 'What AFTERs? Oh them ... I'll get round to them in a minute... just after I do this...'

So, how can you make sure you don't disappear down the green corridor of doom ...?

It would be hugely hypocritical of me to write a book extolling the virtues of AFTERs if my book wasn't geared to helping your business AFTER reading it. So, here are four simple steps to ensure you make the most of everything you've read: