How To Choose Your Reading List This Year (and every other one)

Gearing up for the next year, I was contemplating about what are the books (non-fiction) I want to read. Judging by my last read, it took me about 2 months to get through. Which seemed like a realistic pace when taking into account life and other priorities.  That means at a satisfying rate, I can read approximately 6 books in 2016.

When I read The Tail End article, I realized that though in my mind I have an infinite time to go through the reading list that I have, I only have around 350 books to read in my lifetime. It makes me realize I want to stop wasting time reading books that add no value to my life. What a waste of perfectly good reading and learning time!

Then from a perspective of what would be the most important books that I can read in my late 20s that will have a long term and large impact on my life, there is a greater epiphany of the importance of prioritization on my reading list.

When choosing your books, try and ask yourself these yes/no questions:

1. Will it greatly improve my life?
2. Will the book impact a large part of my life?
3. Does it focus on a glaring weakness that I practice everyday?
4. Does my learning and sharing with those around me impact many other’s lives?

We all have the habit of adding books to our reading list, almost taking a matter of pride in the size of the pile. However, maybe it is a weak indicator.  Maybe it just shows little control of oneself or a lack of focus on priorities.  When you boil down your reading list to “I have a limited amount of books I’ll ever read, is this worth it?”, books can begin to be easily tossed aside.

I can realistically only choose 6, maybe 8 if I’m lucky this coming year. Here is what I am preparing to read in 2016 in no particular order:

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy – William Irvine
The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl
7 Principles of Making Marriage Work – Dr. John Gottman
Show Your Work – Austin Kleon
Remote: Office Not Required – Jason Fried and DHH
Rework – Jason Fried and DHH (re-reading and taking notes)
The Diamond Age – Neil Stephenson

I know there is 8 here, but 3 of them are actually really short books that can be consumed casually without really needing to set aside time, so I know when I’m lying in bed or at a boring party, I’ll probably flip through a few pages of them per week.  Also the last one is my first venture in fiction in a really long time, so it’s a bit of a substitute for less TV this year.

Look out for my book notes soon!  In my next post, I’ll cover how to “read” the books that you have some interest in, but don’t make it into this more important reading list.

Leave a comment on what you think?  Am I on point?