I wrote about January’s goal of not consuming any books for a whole month and attempting to write more and share what I already know.

How has this been going 23 days in?

• I did not 100% commit to it in terms of articles because I kept reading those albeit not more than one a day. I also tried to avoid “saving for later” habit which I think is another way I clutter the information sources in my life and never really return to those resources. I click and read or I close. If I don’t manage to read it once I opened it, I may google it later if it was interesting enough or it will find me somehow later (trust algorthims and reposting habits of authors).
• I did not commit to it 100% in terms of podcasts beacuse I listened to a few. One of them was about parenting a 4-year-old by the awesome Janet Lansbury and the other was an interview between 2 of my top authors and habits influencers Tim Ferriss and Gretchen Rubin. I enjoyed them and learned a lot.
• I did not buy any kindle or audiobook, a habit I really enjoy; especially the searching part before purchase, looking up new titles, then related titles, then amazon reviews and goodreads reviews, and of course the daily book deals. One thing that really helped curb this habit was unsubscribing to the emails about daily book deals, as much as I loved those emails!
• On the other hand, I listed some of the books I am interested to read or get this year. I am thinking about dividing them into categories like spiritual, financial, start-up business, coaching, career related books. I will let you know how this goes. There will be a room for just for fun reading trust me. However, I love the idea of being more purposeful about the topics I select and not jut follow the hot books of the year.
• I am creating a list of songs that pump me up. It’s been a while since I listened to this many songs and discovered some “new” ones. My favorite these days is Thunder by Imagine Dragons
• I disocvered the uneasiness of just listening to random playlists or radio shows. Audiobooks while driving were a relief from this uneasiness and from looking for THE right song. They were like an addiction in their own right and I had withdrawal symptoms. An addiction I miss. This tendency to change the radio station or skip the song on my app is indeed some indication of habitual resistance of reality as it happens, that I am dicovering and noticing. I refuse to accept what is served so I attempt to escape it. Without this January goal I would not have caught it. Do you do that too? We all change songs I know but how often do you do that to ensure you have the prefect ride instead of just being present and open to what’s next?

These are my updates about the challenge. I’m most grateful that I revived this blog by writing more.

Would I go back to reading in February? Still have not decided as I also started studying for a certification in March and putting reading on hold came along as a temporary advantage.

Have a great day everyone.