Making Reading Books a Habit
Time to make reading a habit, start being more creative, and start shipping creative work.
I have a queue of books to read as long as my arm, and it is not getting shorter. In combination with my goal to blog more, the beginning of November is also to read more. Actually, I set this as one of my 2020 goals but kind of fell flat over the summer.
Now, I set up a reading time every evening. I don't watch much TV, but my screentime after work was relatively high and unproductive. Reading the news (depressing), checking the socials (time sink), and reading interesting material (OK, this was useful but less than the first 2).
I made a plan for myself an hour before I go to bed to start reading. By setting time aside to read has motivated me to get things accomplished before this time. I've read numerous studies indicating it takes between 21 days to 66 days to form a new habit(Depends on which research to believe). I have proven this during my experiment with Intermittent Fasting that after one month, it became automatic.
A full schedule at work and an active family makes it challenging to carve out this time. The time is now to set the habit and keep at it.
This week I completed the book from Peter Gruber, Tell to Win (Non-affiliate link). CEO of Mandalay Entertainment and former CEO of Sony Pictures. My Sales coach recommends this book to help with telling your story versus pitching or trying to convince someone to do something. Tell to Win highlights a lot of situations with A-listers and World Leaders where the story prevailed. I would recommend reading this if you want to sharpen your messaging when speaking.
Currently, I am reading the new book The Practice (non-affiliate link) just launched this week by Seth Godin. If you don't know Seth Godin, he runs one of the most successful blogs on the internet, published 20 top-selling books, had run dot coms before they were cool, and is an interesting speaker.
I'm just getting into the book, but it is a 200+ page book with about 200+ chapters. Interesting concept. It is a collection of short creativity stories based on The Creative Workshop. Just 20% into the book, I have by far the most highlights in this book in a long time. Stay tuned for the full review.
Now that I am reading the practice, it highlights my goal of getting into a habit of reading, blogging, and doing things better. I am definitely motivated and inspired.
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