I read 84 books this year by following this rule. “You may skip a meal, but don’t skip reading a book” Jim Rohn
Started 2016 with a goal to read 50 books by 31st December — one of the many “hairy and scary” goals. Going by my background of not being an avid reader in the past, it looked like a challenge, a really tough one to accomplish.
My reading of books would have been till 2014, maybe 2 or 3 a year.
Love when a challenge stares at me and I am trying to find the smallest crack to put my feet inside it. To learn about How I read 84 books this year, go through this.
- True Commitment: I was not going to give up, regardless of whatever may come up during the course. I started with Freakonomics and finished it in a couple of days. It was do-able and I was going to do it. Commitment is not holding anything back and giving everything to the goal.
- How badly you want it? By the time it was May 2016, my list showed only 6 books to my credit. Panic set in. These are moments when we feel like quitting. But I was holding myself accountable for the goal and the results that would come along with it. If I couldn’t stay true to one goal, what are the odds that I could chase other big meaningful ones and not give up? “When you want something badly enough and you don’t have the answers or the resources, go find it.” says Tony Robbins.
- Resourceful: Moving from Bangalore to Mumbai was a blessing as I didn’t have to drive my car to work. I took the Mumbai local like millions do to commute to work each day. I chose the timing and the type of trains where I could read at ease and not spend my time jostling for space. My gratitude goes to Indian railways for this amazing service they provide. I had time, space and the luxury of reading. I carried physical books for sometime and then switched to Kindle. This was the game changer.
- It should suck: The path to becoming successful is actually boring and it sucks. T.Harv Eker mentioned that if something makes us uncomfortable, we should definitely do it because this is where growth lies — moving out of comfort zones. I read with passion and a mission. Then reading became a natural habit that I lost track of the numbers. It came so easily; it just was happening to me. And sometime last week when I checked my Evernote where I keep a list of my books read, I had crossed 84 books!
It’s a feeling of high, a feeling of satisfaction where self-respect and esteem just climbs. Also, one secret that I discovered was from one of Sadhguru’s Youtube talks is that for success, all we have to do it “pay attention”, and with that our focus increases and energy starts flowing towards it. In the making of habit of reading 84 books you must read [Top Skills] Be the “Muhammad Ali” in your solopreneur journey.
I still have 3 weeks to go to crush some more numbers and 2017 to look forward to some more weird and daunting goal setting.