Always Have a Book

I always like to have a non-fiction book to read to improve myself, from new business tactics to non-fiction of my favorite interests, to self-improvement.  It's a tactic that may help you, especially if you're in a rapidly changing industry and profession, or have a rapidly changing life.

These days, that's probably all of us. So, always have a book. Here's what I do:

1) I buy books in batches, covering subjects that I'm interested in, and going through them one at a time, reading a bit each day (on average 20 minutes to an hour).  This way I always have a backlog of several books to read that, if nothing else, lets me set an agenda and outright reminds me to keep reading. That pile of books is awful compelling.

2) I mix up subjects so I never read two similar books in a row - that way I can get burnt out on something, get tired of it, or conflate two different sources of information.  I don't mix fiction into this mix, but I do mix "recreational non-fiction" focused on my other hobbies

3) I mix in re-readings of previous works that are important to me. Every few books, I reread a classic, I reread one that influenced me, I reread one that I'm still mining for knowledge.

4) I purge books and resell or donate them. As I review them for rereading, as I sort them to introduce new ones, I find ones I no longer need. This helps clear out "mental clutter" and worrying over books that I don't have any reason to hold on to.

So go ahead start planning your reading list - and always have a book!