My ‘to read’ stack of books is getting out of hand. Being a bit ADD I have to admit that I experience ‘Ooh, shiny!’ much too often. New books get added, existing books go unfinished, and the stack gets more and more disorganized.
No more.
I cleared off a shelf in a book case next to my desk and relocated a portion of the stack there:
I’m going to incorporate reading my stack of books into the Auto Focus System. Here’s how it’ll work:
First, notice the envelope sticking out. That separates the ‘In Progress’ books from the ‘Next’ books. When I get to ‘read a chapter’ in my To Do list, I’ll pick up the first book, in this case Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! When I’m done with a chapter it goes back on the shelf just to the left of the envelope. This promotes what was the second book into the first slot. The next time I get to a ‘read a chapter’ on my To Do list, I pick up the first book and read a chapter. Rinse, repeat. When I’m done with a book I’ll either pass it on to someone else to read or add it to our home library.
I’m giving myself permission to be flexible. I can read more than one chapter if I want. I can temporarily displace a book. I received a review copy of You Are What You Choose by Scott de March and James T. Hamilton, so I kicked Magazine Article Writing out of the loop until I finish Choose and do a review. (It’s been a fun & interesting read so far.) I’d been looking forward to Crush It! since I ordered it in August, so I bumped it to the front. I’ll obviously dump a book if I just don’t like it. It’s been a long time since that’s happened though.
I’m not including the tiny stack of books, mostly fluff, on my nightstand. For those, I’ll just go with whatever I’m in the mood for.
I can’t look at a process – driving, cooking, mowing the lawn, you name it – without thinking of ways to do it better. I’ve been this way all my life, and it’s way past time to apply it to my reading habit. I’ll let you know how it goes.
