Thank God It’s Monday!

Today I’d like to share my latest format that I’ve integrated into my life: Intentional reading.

I just realized that I haven’t written about my reading methods yet either, and so I will go to work on drafting that up soon. But in the meantime, I’d like to talk briefly about implementing structure to my reading routine.

If it isn’t already obvious, I love organization and structure. I like a detailed plan that will help eliminate variables that could trip me up as I progress forward. And while I have made tremendous progress is my personal education (I’ve read 153 books and currently am reading 2x books per week), I realized that I have no structure to what I read. Sure I know what themes are important to me; I focus on nonfictional topics of business, psychology, sociology, and spirituality, but how do I make sure I’m receiving the appropriate doses of these subjects?

I realized that I had no structure; I would just pick up what would currently seem appealing (and what was currently available at the library). When I looked at my pending to read list, I realized that some books were constantly being pushed back and other subjects like spirituality were not getting their appropriate attention.

This had always been sitting in the back of my mind, but it didn’t really come to my conscious attention until I started planning to adding a category that I previously avoided like the plague: fiction. I finally let go of my pride and after discussions with my dear friend, Rachel, that especially the classic literature were methods of exposing social issues and capturing historical cultures in narrative form that nonfiction couldn’t capture. This finally brought me to the decision to add fiction into my reading list, as long as it was done with the intention to learn something and not simply to be entertained.

The problem was that I just didn’t ever seem to have time to fit that genre into my list. They always just sat in the back and never given a chance. I needed to do something about this and that was when I discovered that I simply didn’t have any method to structure what I was reading.

This brought me to write out all the subjects I would like to expand my knowledge in, and to then lump them all together into a set of genres. Once I did that, I was left with the following list of six genres:
1. Behavioral Psychology
2. Business
3. U.S. President Biography
4. General Biography
5. Spirituality
6. Fiction

I then created a schedule in what order I would cover these genres that gave more emphasis to the subjects I valued more, but allowed subjects that were harder for me to include-but still valued-to not be neglected.

So now here is my rotation:
1. Behavioral Psychology
2. Business
3. U.S. President Biography
4. Biography
5. Spirituality
6. Behavioral Psychology
7. Classic Fiction
8. Behavioral Psychology
9. Business
10 U.S. President Biography
11. Biography
12. Spirituality

For the most part, each genre is covered twice in the rotation, but with the trade-off of one fiction for an additional psychology.

I’m already past half way through my first time through this rotation and I love it! It really has helped me to not stress out as much on which book to start next, and as well as helps keep changing the pace of my reading style.

I just finished my first classic fictional book: The Great Gatsby, and it was a very beautifully written book as suspected, but I didn’t feel any shame while reading it like I know I previously would have since it was just part of the ordered routine and not that I was neglecting more explicit source of knowledge.

So there you go! If you seek to diversify your reading, simply just lay out the different themes you would like to cover and at what intensity, and then just put them on a ordered list and just follow that. It will do you wonders!

Xavier Project Update:
My last post talked about my secret project to help boost my effectiveness through the development of daily habits. I just recently restarted the project and so I just finished locking my first habit of waking up on time. Now I’m onto the next habit which is to do a daily mental exercise by doing 5 practice sets of learning German through Duolingo, and boosting cognitive function through 3 practice sets of Lumosity.

Check them both out! They both have free versions that you can download onto your smartphone and only take a few minutes to complete.

You can follow my progress live by going to TheXavierProject.com (accessible only desktop computers currently).

Life Mission Statement: To be intentionally focused on providing opportunity and adding value to others.