A part of my plot to get rid of 100 things a day has been not only things that are physical but things that sit on my seemingly infinite to-do lists. For me, books are a massive to do list that could just as well be a very long list of all the books or a single item that says “Read ALL the books”. I have stacks of books and wishlists of books based on reviews I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to, probably wonderful books that other people recommend, and books that drew my eye in book stores. There are easily hundreds of books I want to read, and those are just the ones I already know I want to read. And also no way I’m going to read them all when new ones get added to both the world and my lists all the time.
So a little while back I realized somthing really big – I don’t have to finish a book if I don’t love it. That might sound really simple and obvious to some of you, but as someone with a very distinct “finish what you start” work ethos embedded in me seemingly since birth, this was/is big news to me.
I (and you) have too many options on how to spend time to get wrapped up in someone else’s *should* list. What I mean by that is when I read a review, I take that in as “someone said I should read it”. If I listened to a podcast with an author – that conversation definitely implied (to me) I should read the book the person wrote. If a friend recommended it clearly they think I should read it. Those are all other people’s *shoulds*. And before you say it – I hate 5 minute versions of books, cliff notes, and all that jazz – that’s a different issue for me for a different discussion.
So anyway, the big news to me is that it is then up to me (or you) to take in all of these suggestions/should reads and then provide some critical evaluation to see if this book (or insert your item of choice here) matches me and my shoulds – what I want to do or what I feel I need to do with my precious time?
With that in mind, I set up an evaluation process of sorts. First I had to tackle the huge lists of books so I spent a minutes or two reading the description again to see if I’m still interested or if there was some other influence that is no longer active for me that moved it to the list. That got rid of a lot of books, especially items that were added to the list a while ago as I forgot why most of the books were even on my list so I got to give them a very fresh eye sans other peoples opinions. If after that review the book was still a solid enough yes, it stayed on a wishlist and now I have taken to listening to whichever one is next on the list for about 30 minutes (or I read it for about 15 because reading is much faster for the same content). If it doesn’t capture my full attention I stop, remove it from the list, and let it (and me) go free.
This morning it took 3 of the vetted audio books to get to one that made the cut and now I’m really excited because I have a great book to listen to that has already made me laugh out loud a dozen times. It feels magical to have found it.
Now I know, two items off a list might not seem very rewarding for an hour (ish) of time especially when I’m hoping to get rid of 100 things every day and that leaves 98 to go. However audiobooks and podcasts are the low hanging fruit because I listen while I drive to and fom the classes I teach. Paper books I read before bed, and 15 minutes works perfectly in this spot. So it works really well for me.
AND. This might not be a method that works for you, and books might not even be the thing (maybe it’s podcasts or recipes or eyeshadows) so whatever your thing is that you love but also get overwhelmed by, consider creating your own filter for just that categorty of things and find a way to let a few of those things go free just a little at a time.
P.S. Today I announced the next book for Book to Body – and so if you are overthinking this post, consider joining me on this months adventure through ‘Stop Overthinking’ by Nick Trenton. Remember that even for the in person meet up (9/27/23 @7:30pm) I don’t ever require you to read the book, but feel free to follow some quotes from the book (that I will probably overthink) over on instagram on my book quotes only page @booktobody