I’m Reading in 2019
So far in 2019, I’ve completed 52 books — the goal for the year is 84.
Each quarter of the year I’ve averaged 17 books to this point yet in the final quarter of 2019, I need 32 to reach my goal.
At this time in 2016, I had completed 0 books.
At this time in 2017, I had completed 11 books.
At this time in 2018, I had completed 91 books.
The goals are different this year than they have been in years past.
Last year the goal was to double the CEO average of 60 books a year — I aimed for 120 and finished 118.
The previous year, in 2017, the goal was 30 books in the final 6 months of the year — on pace with the reported average for CEOs.
In 2016 I had no reading goal.
Growing up, I used to read often.
We had reading competitions in class and me and Izzy Mraz would usually be first and second in those competitions. She loved reading and I love winning.
My mom was and still is an avid reader and we would read together nightly growing up.
That got a lot more difficult once I reached high school and then college.
That habit and practice kind of fell off and I was not used to reading books for a couple of years.
Then it hit me… if I wanted to be a CEO someday I needed to start doing what CEOs do so that I am ready when I get there.
One thing that they did was read books.
Warren Buffett says he sits in his office all day and reads. That sounds great.
I have read a variety of books and now in the past 24 months, have completed nearly 200 books.
The goals are different this year.
I decided that I would complete fewer books but wanted to share them with people, I wanted to share what I am learning.
So that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I have a lower book count but I have written reviews and reflections on almost every book I have completed thus far (linked here).
Now I have a system.
I can write pretty quickly and compile all that I took away from each book without spending too much time or energy.
The next plan will be to pull from each of those reviews and reflections for use in other areas like social media posts also.
I love Gary Vaynerchuk’s model of one large macro piece that can be split into many micro pieces.
The articles and book reflections I share are often the sources of my long-form Instagram captions and will next be used for Twitter as well.
I’m reading books in 2019. This year does not look like 2018 or 2017, and definitely not 2016, but I am doing what I wanted to do and that’s what matters.
All our goals will be different, especially our reading ones, but what matters is that we understand the reason that the goals exist and that we also pursue them relentlessly.
My goal is to become the best version of myself and to uplift and empower others along the way. I think I’m doing a great job of that so far and will be prepared to do even better tomorrow.
See all the books I’ve read here
32 books to go, time to go read.