Stop Having a Reading Goal...Do This Instead
In our lifetime there are limits to what we can do, consume and experience. We have a set amount of time on this planet. In this life. And with that, there are a limited number of books we can read. You may have a reading goal; one book per month or fifteen pages per day, as part of some challenge or personal declaration.
Those goals are good ones to have. It enforces the behavior and habit of reading each day and to finish that book by the end of the month. Loving to read is great. Learning and applying what you’ve read is greater. Whether you’re stuck in a bad marriage, place of work, or a tough spot in your business, books can teach you something. Conversely, your marriage might be fine, you may love your job or your business might be thriving. Reading, learning and applying allows your success to be stable and grow. You become more innovative, creative and invested in your pursuits.
Regardless of what the motivator is for you to read, the goal is to be better people. First to yourself, then to others around you.
Instead of reading one book per month or as I’ve seen in some of you, one book per week, try simply rereading the books that have had an impact on you. The books that make you think and reflect. The books that have inspired you. The books that uplift you and get you out of an anxious or depressed mindset. The books that remind you about what your goals are with your money, your partner and your life. The books that you return to, over and over again. The Bible has earned this reputation as a book you return to. But, that is not the only one. There are plenty of books that have a profound impact on humanity and who you are.
Economist Tyler Cowen has a name for those books that change us at a deep level. He calls them Quake books, because they shake our view of the world.
Those are the books you want to read and reread. As you go back in you are a different person. The book has stayed the same but what you read from that book changes. The ancient Stoics would say you don’t walk in the same river twice. Because you have changed and so has the river.
When you reread you do not read the same book. Because you’re different and what you grab from the book the next time you read it will hit you differently. Like the time you re-watched a movie or series. You catch things you’ve missed. The plot and subplots of the content has different meaning to you the next time you watch it. Because you’re different and so is how you interpret what you watch.
“If you want new ideas, read old books. If you want old ideas, read new books.” — Ivan Pavlov
What are your thoughts on this blog? Comment below…
Thought Provoking Questions : What book has changed you in some way? What did it change in you ? When was the last time you reread that book?
Daily I write and release a daily meditation. A quick read. Sharing wisdom and asking thought-provoking questions. Influenced by the obstacles, success and failures in my life and of others. Using history, books, current events, philosophy, and ancient wisdom. These writings are actionable, thought-provoking, designed to make your life better.
These writings are not to push a way of thinking on the reader or to force you into a certain philosophy or methodology. Rather to give you practical and real ways to handle life. This is an added tool. My writing is simply a discussion, a discourse, with all the material I read, watch, hear and consume.