My plan to read more books in 2022

One of my goals for 2022 is to read more books. It’s not like I haven’t been reading in recent years, but I’ve been missing a more consistent effort to complete the books I start and the approach I have for finding interesting new books to read.

It’s been a few years since I last seriously wrote a book myself. Recalling my thoughts, I feel there are still a few books inside of me, but not for this year. One of my ambitions then is to read much more and expose myself to more new ideas – and perhaps another book idea might pop up this way.

I met with a good friend in late 2021. He had a book on his kitchen table, and I remember asking – perhaps with a hint of surprise in my voice – why is he reading a paper-based book. Isn’t everything digital by now?

He had great insight on this. For business books, he buys and reads everything as physical books. For everything else, it can be digital. For him, it makes it feel more tangible and easier to “pick up and just read” without the strain of staring at a screen after a long day at the office.

Right now, I’m reading Simon Sinek’s book, The Infinite Game. I still have about 50 pages to go (out of 251). There are plenty of great insights and bits to take away from, but then there are quite a bit of content and topics that I can more or less read but forget right after. This is not to say it isn’t a great book, just that parts are not intended for my current needs and aspirations.

I usually read 3-5 evenings each week. Sometimes it’s 20 pages, other times its 100 pages.

Once I’m done with the current book, next on my list are:

• Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact by Liz Wiseman
• The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark
• High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss

And as an additional personal commitment, I’ve had Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (by Jocko Willink et al.) in my bookshelf for a few years now. I started with it once, didn’t like it much, and gave up after 80 pages. I’ve now committed to completing the book, which means I have to restart reading it from the first page again.

Hopefully, by the end of 2022, I’ve finished with all these books – and a few more! I don’t want to set an arbitrary target such as “12 books during the year”, as each book reads a bit differently. Some are quick reads, and others force you to think through the content after each chapter.

Happy reading!