So I have been abandoning books.
Like, MANY books. Apparently assigning myself 10% daily is an excellent test to determine whether I actually want to read something. Maybe TOO good of a test?
I am currently immersed in these two, which seem to be meeting my now-rigorous standards:
Listening:
Enjoyed recently: Girl Next Door Holiday Series, business-related content from Jenny Blake, and of course alllll the 2023 planner discussions on Planners & Wine and The Stationery Cafe.
And! Self-promotional plug: I feel like BOBW is having a great season. And I’m especially excited about our plans for 2023 after our retreat! If you haven’t listened in a while, I think the following recent episodes came out nicely: LUNCH, Bedtime Math, Holiday Joy & Peace, and our two recent Q&A Eps – Career and Family. We also have our annual recap & 2023 goals eps coming up. (I look forward to hearing these kinds of episodes on every podcast I listen to!)
Topic recs for BOBW or BLP are always welcome.
9 Comments
great season, indeed, You and Laura have a natural rapport. My kids are basically grown, so some of the content isn’t relevant to me. But I still love listening.
I think being ruthless about abandoning books is the right choice. 10% should give you a pretty good feel for whether the book is a fit. I can think of so few occasions where a book wasn’t working but I stuck with it and was glad I did at the end. I will give lit fiction a bit longer before abandoning because it can take some time for things to come together. But you can always go back if you feel pulled to give a book another chance! I abandoned a book this week – “You Have a Friend in 10A.” It’s a short story collection by Maggie Shipstead. I read 1.5 stories and then abandoned it because I wasn’t looking forward to continuing. I want to like short story collections but they generally don’t work for me unless they are linked short stories.
I thought Cal’s interview with Yael Schonbrun was the best one he’s done so far on his podcast. It turns out that women have interesting things to say about deep work and life! (I kid, but only kind of). This has been a good year for me as far as my favorite authors all coming out with new books. I just listened to the most recent Anthony Horowitz book in 2 days!
I love Jenny Blake’s podcast too! Have you read her book Free Time? It was one of my favorite business reads this year – she gives tons of advice that I think would be helpful to you as you grow your creative empire!
Embrace the fact that you abandon books, especially those borrowed from the library. My attitude about library books is like shopping for clothes online; you don’t try it on until you get home. Shopping in store (or buying book in store) is trying it on and deciding if you like it before buying it. Shopping online is ordering based on image only, trying on when it arrives at your house, and then deciding yay/nay. That’s what borrowing a library book is like to me. And so if I don’t like it after I “try it on” (whether right away or 5% in), I put it in the pile to go back. I hope my analogy makes sense and helps to explain why you feel like you’re abandoning a lot of books — it’s because you’re trying them on, which is a good thing. 🙂
I SO RARELY abandon books because I can’t stand the thought that I have now spent X amount of time reading this book but yet will never get “credit” for that book on my list of “books read” for the year. And that’s basically the dumbest thing ever, but I can’t help it. lol.
Oh, and question about that book. I liked the ep a lot too. Do you feel like it’s more geared toward people with younger kids that are more in the thick of baths and bedtimes and daycare and all of that? Or more general purpose?
so far, general purpose!! more about mindset and attitude than the practical side. (so far!)
i still feel bad abandoning books… what do you think made you finally feel comfortable doing it?