How My 50 Book Challenge Has Changed My Life So Far

Stephanie Huston
The Startup
Published in
4 min readFeb 27, 2018

It’s been eight weeks since I began my “50 books in 2018” challenge with my friend Tom Kuegler.

I was pretty terrified to take on this goal of reading at least one book a week, considering I barely kept up with reading one book a month last year.

My excuse was always that I didn’t have enough time. After all, I have a full time job, work on my side hustle full time outside of work, and travel frequently.

But deep down I knew that was bullshit, and that I could make time if I truly wanted to.

This goal has truly transformed my life in the past eight weeks — really challenging me to take a look at how I’m spending my minutes during the day.

I’m excited to share that I’m currently finishing book #9 for the year, and loving every book reading moment.

Not having enough time was a complete bullshit excuse all along.

My endless minutes of mindless phone time has transformed into meaningful minutes of mindful reading time.

I read when I wake up in the morning, on the subway, on my lunch break, at the deli after work when I’m waiting for my usual sandwich, and before I go to bed every night.

All time I had previously spent mindlessly scrolling on my phone.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my social media and phone time, but I was wasting a fuck ton of time scrolling without purpose. Now, I’m more productive and engaged when I am on the phone.

Two months into this challenge that I was so scared to take on, and I feel more at peace, less addicted to my phone, more satisfied with my days… I find it easier to fall asleep at night, I’m enjoying my subway commute more, and I’m learning so much more than I had imagined.

So you can continue to hold me accountable, and see what I’m actively reading, I’ve decided to share the #50Books2018 tracking doc I created:

On the first tab, you can check out the books that I’ve read so far / what I’m currently reading. The second tab is a template for you to use as well if you’d like! If you’re joining the challenge and want access to track yours on this google doc, LMK, I’d love to add you!

Has a goal ever transformed your life? How so? I’d love to hear, please comment below :)

Are you ready to finally turn your travel dreams into reality? Sign up for my newsletter today, and I’ll send you the first three steps you need to take to start traveling the world and living the life you’ve always imagined!

If you enjoyed this article, please do 👏 and share it with your friends. Remember, you can clap up to 50 times — it really makes a big difference for me.

I’d love to connect with you on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn! ❤

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 301,336+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.

--

--

Stephanie Huston
The Startup

🌍 Entrepreneur | PR Maven | Disruptive | Thought Leader | Coach | INFJ | Explorer 🌏 7Continents+46Countries+46States 🌎 bit.ly/SHlinkslinkslinks 👯‍♀️🧿