January 19, 2020
If your 30 Day Challenger is the goal of reading for a set amount of time, then ask yourself, what do I hope to gain from reading this book? Because it is not just about the reading in and of itself. It is about what you will be accomplishing by reading for your predetermined set amount of time. Is it that you want learn a new topic? Is it that you want to increase your imagination? Is it that you want to reclaim your personal time? Or is it that you want to establish reading within your daily routine and habit? Whatever your personal why is, make sure you are learning and growing from the goal. The 30 Day Challenger is aimed at improving your overall life and your reading goal should reflect that desire in order to make upward, positive changes in your life.
The benefits of reading are numerous. For me, a reading goal is typically reading a work of fiction. I read books on finance, self help, and autobiographies for fun, so reading something that has the potential to unlock creativity and my imagination (fiction) is a goal because it doesn’t come natural. (quick note, while in my teens/20s I only read fiction which was mostly Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery, Stephen King novels, and the Harry Potter series). Reading a fiction book has helped me really think with my imagination. For me, somewhere between getting my first “real” job, getting a house, husband, and kids I noticed that my ability to imagine the impossible fades. Perhaps it is related what Einstein has touched on about his discoveries, he didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to think about gravity in that way. That as we get more life experience, we begin to ‘know’ certain things and don’t approach things with a complete open mind and ready to learn attitude. Reading fiction is a way that allows the imagination to soar. You read a sci-fi fiction and think ‘we can colonize Mars’.
Reading nonfiction, on the other hand, allows you to see what other people have accomplished and gives you a blueprint for how to do the same. I truly believe that those that are the most successful honestly and desperately want you to succeed also. They put out their methods and trials and habits and routines and thoughts so that you have access to them and benefit and use them. They are sharing with the world because they know that you have something special to offer. That you might read something they do and change it and increase its benefits for others.
Either way, reading is a goal that will benefit you and your life. If that’s your 30 Day Challenger goal then know that you are in a great experience, no matter what book(s) you pick.
Until next time,
Heather