Three Book Diet

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I find it to be a really satisfying addition to my knitting. It provides my verbal brain with a lot of interesting ideas to ponder and explore. In fact, I am always on the lookout for a new podcast, so if you have any favorites send them my way. 

One of my favorite podcasts, Beyond the To Do List, examines the personal productivity of a variety of individuals through an interview style. Now, to be completely honest, I differ with the host on some of my ideas of what pathway of conversation is most interesting (he works in social media, whereas I have my settings on Facebook completely private) but overall I enjoy listening. And re-listening. And I have jotted down so many notes while listening that I do not know where half of them are (I'm changing that with almost an entire tab in my planner dedicated to this sort of thing). 

During episode #12 with Chris Brogan (I still do not know who many of the interviewees are, but I love hearing from so many different voices) the idea of a "3 book diet" was brought up. The idea being that one can read and read and read books (sounds like me) but not truly engage with the material in a meaningful way. So to attempt at countering that trend, the project encourages choosing only three books to read and implement into your life throughout a full year. This would reduce the urge to buy that new book that came out with the magic cure for whatever ails ones, and in theory discourage re-reading favorite novels. 

Now with our family growing in March, I thought that three would be a little ambitious, and could also reduce the amount of really helpful reading I could be doing in that arena. I decided to pick only two books to work through this year (in addition to other books that I feel could help with our growing family, and re-reading some of my favorite novels). 

The first of these books is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. I read this book about a year ago, and then six months ago found a used copy and bought it for Paul. I appreciate the practicality of the approach mixed with a sound psychological basis for improving workflow, productivity, and allowing for greater creativity. Paul is slowly finishing up with his reading of it, and then I will have our paper copy all to myself to explore and experiment with. 

The second book that I will be implementing this year is The Artists Way. This was required reading in my freshman seminar class during my first semester of university. I then promptly sold it for a meager amount of money that I probably spent on more books that continued in this cycle familiar to so many college students. The premise of this book is unlocking your creativity through some intentional practices geared toward using that creativity to allow for it to flow even more. The only component of it that I can recall from ten years ago was writing "morning pages" which was three pages of whatever came to your mind first thing in the morning. Now I did find this to be a refreshing practice, but never used it consistently. I would use it when I was feeling ruffled, confused, annoyed, or any other negative feeling; and typically it would help to relieve those feelings. I can only wait to see how implementing this book will go this spring. 

What books would make your list for the year?