Mini Reading Challenge

I’m an absolute sucker for a good personal challenge. Here are exhibits A, B, and C. They make life fun, excite me, and give me something to look forward to.

I’m going on vacation for the Fourth of July and decided to create a mini reading challenge to stimulate my mind.

Most people view vacations as a way to forget about all obligations in life. It’s a time to relax, avoid anything mentally challenging, and, hopefully, enjoy some warm weather. But for me, vacations are a time to focus relentlessly on my intellectual hobbies and interests.

While others would let, drink a lot, and wake up to a nasty hangover, I plan to read and write most of the time (on the beach).

I bought three books last weekend and plan to finish all of them by July 13th, the last day of my vacation. Although my vacation begins in two days, I have already started reading one of the books because I couldn’t help myself.

The three books are:

1. Read Write Own by Chris Dixon
2. Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3. Superagency by Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato

I am notorious for letting distractions interrupt my reading. So, when I go through periods of voracious reading, I may say that I finished a book, but I retain next to none of the information I've consumed.

That won’t happen this time.

As I read, I will take notes, annotate interesting passages, and jot down ideas that pop into my mind during the process. Hopefully, this helps me remember more ideas than usual.

I don’t expect to remember everything. I’m not one of those (cool) freaks with a photogenic memory. So, after finishing each book, I’ll take an hour or two to review my notes and fill in the blank spaces of my memory. If I’m lucky, the note reviewing process will spark more ideas for topics to write about or discuss with others.

Without this reading challenge, I likely wouldn’t have read much. Writing this down and verbalizing the challenge gives me a sense of accountability. I’d feel guilty if I didn’t follow through.

Should be fun.