Reinvent Yourself In 90-Days
READ A ‘BOOK A WEEK’ WITH ME
My goals and shortcomings are something that I don’t share publicly.
The goals I write down are personal and most of them won’t be applicable to others. For the past few years, I’ve stacked books on top of books based on recommendations I’ve received from friends, podcast guests, and my personal discoveries.
The problem was: I’ve never made the time (and priority) to actually start reading them.
Now, I’m laying out a public challenge to you and myself called “Sid’s ‘Book A Week’ 90-Day Challenge”. The goal is simple: read 12 books in 12 weeks (once a week; four a month).
If you just want the list of books that I’ll be reading, you can scroll down. I’ve picked some of the best of the best books that are always on people’s “10 books that changed my life” lists.
If you’re interested in participating with me - read ahead for more details!
Why Am I Doing This?
All the greatest minds in the world, history-makers, icons, business tycoons, artists, etc. all have one thing in common - they read a lot! And I can see why.
And I know if I am to be successful in life, I have to start doing the same as well.
Every time I read just one good book, it changes my worldview, improves my personal development, and even gives me more knowledge when talking with others or understanding life itself.
Think about how much you can learn when someone distills 15 years of life experience in a book? Or when an expert gives you all their advice on a certain topic? There is also so much value from reading great classics that have inspired others for generations! I don’t even have to try to convince you, you yourself have probably made a New Years Resolution every year to read more.
So no more excuses (at least from me to myself), today is the day I dust off my collection of books I’ve been hoarding and start converting knowledge to action.
How I’m Approaching The Reading Process:
1. PICKING 2-4 AREAS OF MY LIFE THAT I WANT TO MOST IMPROVE OR OPTIMIZE.
This year, with the goal to find more balance, I’ve decided to pick diversified topics most important in my life:
Self-Help (Personal Development)
Mindset (Motivation, Inspiration, etc.)
Classics (Fiction & Literature)
General Knowledge
Instead of deciding to go deep in one topic, and just read books on business, or just on health - personally, I would get super bored and drive myself nuts. Picking 1 book from each category a month, will help me stay interested, excited, and motivated!
2. ADVICE FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE DONE THIS CHALLENGE:
I found this great list from The ‘Book A Week’ Challenge: How I Managed To Read 52 Books In 52 Weeks:
Take the time to study the process of reading faster. If you’re going to be reading 100,000’s of words, taking a few minutes to increase your reading speed can save you a massive amount of time.
Measure how fast you currently read using this free test.
Check out these free resources (or research on your own) on how to read faster:
Blog post on Tim Ferriss, Blog post on Rype, Blog post on Mark Manson
Try repeating the test again, and practice until you see some improvements
Audiobooks can speed up your ‘reading’ MUCH faster. If you can retain non-fiction books in audio format, then this option is highly recommended. Although for certain books that involve more visual representation (such as bodybuilding or nutrition books), I prefer reading them.
Check out Audible or Audiobooks.com
Even though I’ve resisted Kindle for a while (I’ve always liked the tangible feeling of books), adopting it into my life has been huge. I no longer have to carry around books when I travel, and I can bring one tablet that contains all of my books.
3. IF YOU SLIP UP AND FORGET TO READ A BOOK (WHICH WILL HAPPEN), KEEP GOING.
The real purpose of the challenge is not to read 12 books in 12 weeks, it’s to develop the habits, time management, and reading skills to read more books. As long as you end up reading more books than you normally would, you’ve already won.
To Wrap Up
This challenge starts on October 3rd! So this gives you ample time to buy the books, or borrow from a friend, or rent from a library.
In order to hold myself accountable, I will be documenting this challenge on my social media! Every Sunday, I’ll discuss my top 3 key takeaways from the book I read that week.
If you’ve been procrastinating your personal development, slacking on investing yourself during this quarantine, or just have an itch to start reading and learn more about what knowledge the world has to offer - I invite you to join this challenge with me!
Who knows - this might be the best decision you’ve made this year. :)
Follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram to stay up-to-date with other life-hacks that I only share on those platforms. While you’re at it, check out my Amazon bestseller Spark Your Inner Genius!
