Leadership to Freedom

I’m in the middle of reading “Turn the Page: How to Read Like a Top Leader” and have come to some realizations; one is that I’m certainly not reading enough, and for everything that I have read, I could have gotten more out of the books.

I’ve learned that reading is so important to our future, because when we read the right books, we are getting the life experiences of the author in the amount of time it takes to read a book. Success then becomes less trial and error, and more about leveraging the success of those who went through struggles before; about being mentored on what we should  and shouldn’t do.

You are where you are because of who you are; if you want to be somewhere else, you have to become someone else. This thought has come to me often throughout my leadership journey, as it has been said and taught in many different ways. I’ve learned that when we aren’t reading or listening to someone, we are talking to ourselves; this means we are talking to ourselves with the mind that got us to where we are. When we are reading, we are shutting ourselves up and listening to someone else with good information. This works for listening to great talks on CDs too, but I think reading takes it even a step further, and you get more out of what is written because you have time to think about what is written and reflect on it.

When I got the book Turn the Page in the Life Leadership ‘LIFE’ subscription for the month of January 2014, I wanted to start reading it right away; I knew that I wasn’t reading enough and thought this book can give me the boost I needed to read more. It has, and it is the reason for writing this piece; it is probably more for my benefit than for anyone else reading it (unless you don’t read yet, and this get’s you to start!).

Although the book goes into many great concepts, including when and where to read and how to find the small cracks of time that no one thinks about, it also talked about making lists and being kept accountable. This post is an introduction to my reading list.

I’m making a list (see it here) of all the books I can remember reading on leadership and personal development, and I’m listing everything I still want to read on it as well. I’m going to put the date of when I started the books I’m currently reading, and when I finish them. This will keep me accountable to how much I’m actually reading since you will all see it!

I’ve also decided to start getting back into some of the books I read for fun, as this book even suggests to do that – as long as you’re not messing your mind in the process, and as long as you are not putting off the other reading we should be doing.

I hope you are reading some great books yourself, as I believe it is one of the only ways to truly learn how to be successful, and the only way we can truly educate ourselves. If you’re looking for some ideas of good books to read, take a look at my list. If you noticed that I haven’t been putting any end dates recently, feel free to give me a nudge and ask me what’s wrong! 🙂

Click to view my reading list!