How reading 12 books in 12 weeks changed my life & why you should try it too!
“Everything you’ve dreamed of achieving is waiting for you on the other side of consistency.”
I came across this quote on Instagram one day and realized how over the years I’ve lost my ability to stay consistent. It was with this in mind and the burning urge to challenge myself that I decided to take on the much-acclaimed “CEO book challenge” something I made up after coming to know that the average CEO reads a book every week. I was determined to do the same for 12 weeks(5 seemed too less, and 15 seemed infinite).
Here’s my summary of how it went, how it changed my life and why you should do it too!
Life-changing,really?
I think, I should start with the good stuff first as bait to keep you interested.
Towards the end of the challenge, many friends wanted to know if I’d found any life changes after doing this.Here’s my answer:
- Yoga with a book : I didn’t realise this at first but towards the end of the 12 weeks I significantly felt much calmer and composed throughout the day. In a way I think it was because I was away from the constant stress of checking social media but also because while reading I could dictate my own pace which was in a weird way like the deep breaths you take in yoga. Any other sort of entertainment (movies for example) meant, you keep up with it’s pace or be left behind. Dictating the pace for a change did feel good!
2. Coping mechanism: Before the challenge every time I’d feel low or moody I’d end up either texting or calling a friend which is fine sometimes but not always. During this challenge anytime my mood would drop I’d dive into the book. It felt good and powerful to have a way to cope independently! A book IS mans’ best friend after all!
3. Virtual conversations with the best minds: Well this was definitely the best part. Imagine if you got the chance to talk to the greatest minds on Earth every day- Well this challenge was literally that! Consistently feeding myself with ideologies, experiences, and thoughts from diverse perspectives really opened my mind! And all this stimulation motivated me to start my “interviewing strangers series- Inhershoes” something I’d been pushing off for far too long!
4. Triggered informed conversation: The amusing part was that through this process every time I spoke to a friend more often than once, I was able to make informed replies based on relations I’d made with the books I’d read.
I found myself more receptive to ideas even if I didn’t always agree with them, I was able to make meaningful conversation with friends on what I’d read, and I was able to be more excited of the vast unknown!
5. Confidence boost! : Slowly as I completed each week I could feel my confidence levels drastically improve. Now every time I had an identity crisis I could remind myself that I could get through any task if I break it down and consistently hustle as I’d done throughout this challenge!
Challenges:
- Procrastination: Like every common man I’m an expert procrastinator so the first few weeks saw me pushing the challenge off the entire week. Which meant my only option was to push through by reading ALL THROUGH THE weekends. I must say this problem helped cos in the next weeks it was either read a bit every day or sacrifice any sort of a social life!
2. The distraction of social media: To get through a book a week meant reading an average of 50pgs/day which meant less time for much more entertaining social media. After long days of consistent social media breaks, I realized the only cure was to read a great book! Something that distracts you from the distraction if you will.
Tips that definitely work (trust me?):
- Keep it exciting: This is probably true for any task you start, how do you keep yourself interested! I achieved this by doing two simple things- One: not limiting my genre to anything specific.I’d usually just skim through Goodreads now and then and bookmark anything that’d peak my curiosity. The result being reading books from Nazi wars to medicine to life in Delhi’s red-light district; Two: Building the momentum by pre-ordering the next book to arrive every Monday. This way I would speed up finishing one because I’d be excited to start the next one. Trust me for some weird reason this works better than buying all of them at once.
- Celebrate your success: This is not only at the end of the 12 weeks but at the end of every week! One of the ways I did this was to upload a picture on Instagram every week — knowing that your decision is now public is a good way to push through and celebrate your small successes.
3. Keep it real: While the challenge is to get through 12 books it’s important and be realistic and plan ahead on how much you can get done around your schedule. For instance, if you foresee a big assignment coming up choose a smaller read you’d ger through easily and still keep you motivated.
Wrapping it up:
All in all, I’m glad I challenged myself and stuck to it, and I hope this write-up helps (if even in the smallest way) you to take up a challenge you’ve been pushing away for far too long!
For reviews and recommendations click below:
Cheers!
