If you read my January newsletter, you know that I have set a goal to read a book a week in 2011. Four weeks in and so far I’m meeting the goal! This is such an energizing goal for me as I really love to read and learn. Last year was very filled with writing and publishing my book and speaking opportunities centered around promoting it, that I didn’t make time to read as I typically do. I realized during my end-of-year reflection that I really missed regular reading and the inspiration it brings.
I sort of feel like “Julie” of Julie and Julia, who set a goal to cook all of Julia Child’s recipes in a year. I’m excited about the challenge and what I’ll learn in the process, eager to share what I will learn, and a little nervous about the pressure I’m putting on myself to reach this goal. Thanks to Bob Beaudine, author of The Power of Who – the first book I read this year – for giving me the idea to read a book a week.
If you’re wondering how I’m having the time to do this, it’s not as hard as it sounds. I’ve often shared with my clients and speaking audiences that reading ten minutes a day will result in reading a book a month. That insight came to me from a book – no surprise! – by David Cottrell called Monday Morning Leadership. If you don’t believe me, think about it. Most books have about 200 pages. If you read ten minutes a day, you are reading about 8-10 pages, and if you read every day, even just week days, you will read about 200 pages a month. So if you read about 40 minutes a day, you can read a book a week.
Here’s how I’m doing it: My morning exercise routine includes twenty minutes on the recumbent bike, which leaves my hands free to read. Over lunch, which, since I work out of my house, is usually at the kitchen table between client calls, I read another ten minutes. In the evening I read another ten, and there’s my forty.
Titles I’ve completed so far, four weeks into the new year, include:
- The Power of Who by Bob Beaudine
- The Gift in You by Caroline Leaf
- Turbo Growth by Travis Chaney
- Now Discover Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Marcus Buckingham (a book I’d read in pieces before but thoroughly enjoyed re-reading cover to cover, especially given my Reason Why YOU ROCK! passion which ties directly to my mission of Inspiring Leaders to Realize Their Greatness).
Additionally, I’ve finished a couple of books I started reading last year:
- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (a terrific novel written in the voice of a dog, which was great especially given our new status as dog-owners)
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, which is one of the most impactful spiritual guides I have ever read, and which I will start reading again next week. I find it to be very helpful to read a few pages of this every day.
I’ll be writing short blogs about all of the books, to help me capture what I learned, and, I hope, to spark interest in my readers in a book that may inspire them as it has inspired me.
Here’s to joyful reading!