How I went from scattered to consuming more than 350 books.

Over the past few years I have seen a significant increase in the amount of books and content I have been able to get through. The excitement of having a list of titles that we want to read is not uncommon to me for sure, I know many who repeated respond when talking about books by saying, “it is on my list.” This brings that excitement of what you look forward to reading but it also is accompanied by a burden of a long list of titles that seems to grow but never get shorter.

I have made a transition in the last few years of how I moved from a spot of having a ever-growing, never-ceasing list to consuming more books than I thought I was capable of and at the same time reading better books with significant consistency. This has led me to go through more than 350 books since 2017 which averages out to more than a book a week!

Over the next few weeks I would like to share what I have been doing and the pieces of the process. Here are a few things to keep in mind as we begin.

• It’s Personal – What I mean is that, this is how I am doing it. I have no expectation that anyone else will like it or duplicate it. I am sharing it as I think it might be helpful to some. If you are included in that than take what you want.
• It’s Fluid – I am consistently making changes and working within this system to adapt what I am doing to work for me. I know that they are ways to improve it and as I identify them I will continue to do so.
• It’s Practical – I have found a few simple ways to track and systematize what I am doing. The reading has not really changed much but the process and the tracking systems have given me a great way to grow in this area.

Over the next few weeks we will take a look at each of the following areas and maybe even a few more.

• What makes it on your list?
• Sifting for the greatest ROI
• Methods of reading
• Deciding what to read next
• Reading multiple books at once
• Curating a “Top Shelf”
• Tracking your list
• Retrievability of what you’ve read

As we go I would love to have you interact with me, so let me know any ideas you may have or ways that you have done some things different, I would love to learn ways to improve what I am doing.