Last year I failed my reading challenge. I couldn't finish reading 12 books in a year. At the beginning of 2016, I got competitive and wanted to prove that I can read 24 books a year. Now, I want to take up the 52 book challenge and read one book per week.
I've got an enormous amount of value from these 24 books I read this year. I started sharing notes from these books and created a reading list where I rate and summarize my favorite books.
The Benefits of the 52 Book Challenge
You must be grateful for being able to read. You must use that gift. I love how Mark Twain summed the power you have. The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
The benefits you could reap by joining the reading challenge.
- Enhance focus.
- Learn new things every week.
- Become more knowledgeable.
- Get ideas to improve in business, life, relationships, health and more.
- Be mentored by the best minds in the world.
- See things that are not easy to see.
- Train creativity and comprehension muscles.
- Become the idea machine.
- Learn to prioritize time.
Books are the best mentors in life. Iβm still fascinated by how much you can change by reading a single book. People who might have been the best guides in the world are not among us anymore. Make reading every day a habit. Books carry decades and centuries of knowledge and wisdom. Itβs foolish not to read.
How to Read More
The problem is not that you don't have time to read. You make reading inaccessible when you have time. Your reading time has to compete with mindless consumption of news, social media, television, and games.
To read more, you must consciously design your reading habits and organize your environment you help you with it. Below are strategies that worked for me.
- Read the first thing in the morning.
- Always have a book, whether it's a physical one, Kindle or your phone.
- Read when you commute, take a break, wait for the doctor.
- Go on the blog reading diet.
- Go on the news reading diet.
- Go on the social media diet.
- Read books that are interesting (not necessarily useful).
- Don't worry about reading slow (take your time to think, highlight ideas and translate words if you're reading in a foreign language).
- Don't force yourself to finish a boring book. Don't steal the reading time from a book you'll love.
- If you miss a day of reading, don't beat yourself up, catch up the next day.
- Try audiobooks and listen when doing tedious tasks, walking and exercising.
- Discuss books with people who also read.
My Reading List for 52 Book Challenge
I have over 1,000 books on my to-read list on Goodreads, and it was not an easy job to decide which books I will read for my 52 book challenge.
In the list below you will find books about habits, money, psychology, lifestyle, design, writing, science, history, business, spirituality and more.
- β Habits of a Happy Brain by Loretta Graziano Breuning
- β The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero
- β Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker
- β Deep Work by Cal Newport
- β On Writing by Stephen King
- β Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- β Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- β I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
- β Launch by Jeff Walker
- β DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson
- β Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
- β The Dip by Seth Godin
- β The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- β Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
- β Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- β The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna
- β Simplify by Joshua Becker
- β Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
- β As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
- β The Art of Fully Living by Tal Gur
- β Two Minutes from the Abyss by Vijay Eswaran
- β Principles by Ray Dalio
- β Internet MBA by Tom Hunt
- β The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
- β Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
- β The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
- β Virtual Freedom by Chris C. Ducker
- β The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie KondΕ
- β 10% Happier by Dan Harris
- β Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It by Kamal Ravikant
- β Start The Keto Diet by Vytautas Alech
- β The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
- β Invest Like a Pro by Jesse Mecham
- β Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- β Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
- β The Experience of a Fool Who Had a Epiphany About How to Get Rid of His Glasses by Mirzakarim Norbekov
- β Remote by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried
- β The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- β Be Awesome at Online Business by Paul Jarvis
- β The Good Creative by Paul Jarvis
- β Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley
- β The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
- β You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) by Jeff Goins
- β The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
- β The One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand
- β Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
- β The New One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
- β Free Will by Sam Harris
- β Launch Your Dream by Dale Partridge
- β Tribes by Seth Godin
- β The Allegory of the Cave by Plato
- β Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
I Challenge You to Read More
For every book I fail to read by the end of 2017, I will donate $100 to charity (I support ShareTheMeal at the moment).
I challenge you to read more next year.
Connect with me on Goodreads and create your reading challenge where you can share progress and stay accountable. Join the 52 book challenge by sharing the book list on your blog or social media.
It doesn't have to be 52 books. If you haven't read a book in years, start with one and see what happens.
If you're looking for inspiration, here's a list of books that can change your life.
Challenge your friends to read more. Keep yourself responsible by setting high-stakes. Donating $100 if you fail to read a book is more accountable than $10. However, it can be anything: a day without internet, a week without TV, a week without social media for every failed book.
Are you ready to read more to make your life better?
