Reading List for the Year.

I recently joined the EntreLeadership All Access program.  This is a division of the Dave Ramsey products for those who want to know.  My goal is to take our businesses to another level, what ever that may be for each of the businesses.  Part of my All Access membership involves them throwing out a book each month for us to read and discuss once a month in the "book club" 

So far, I have had a great deal of fun.  This isn't a teaching exercise from the staff, they are reading the book along with us and we just get together and discuss what we learned or what struck us or what we enjoyed in it for a month.  

So far I have read the first two books along with them since I joined.  The first was
Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith.  The second is Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.

My third book is on the way so before I start it I am trying to finish The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. by Marie Kondo. 

One of the things that has challenged me for the remainder of this year and a long time to come I hope is to read as much as I can.  Two reasons have presented themselves to me to cause this.  Well one really but put in two parts.  Dave Ramsey organization over and over says.. "Leaders are Readers"  and I have also heard quoted in various places.  "if you want to be an authority on a subject, it takes 10,000 hours of research and practice on that subject."  That means that at my point in life, I really don't have the time it would take to go to college and get a masters in HR and a masters in Business Development and a degree in what ever they call the degree in dispatching.  But I CAN figure out area by area what I need to know and I can read, listen to videos, research, and find those who already know what I need to know and are willing to share it with the rest of the world and I can spend that 10,000 hours of "my own time" learning and growing and being the best at this business that I can be.

The goal that I have set for myself at this point is two books a month.  It doesn't matter what the page count in the book is but two books a month, minimum.  I also plan to actually READ the books so that I can take notes.  Audio books are great for some people but I tend to not focus well and space in and out.  Any of the things I listen to I end up listening to three or four times so its just easier to take the time to read. 

I will over time update the books that I am reading at the time either on this blog or one of my other blog spaces titled My Own Front Door. 

If you have read any of the books and would like to discuss them, I would love to have people jump in and share with me. 

What business books have YOU read that mattered to you? 

I NEED HELP!!!

I have so many books in my house and so many rooms that I need an organizational system to know what I have in my house. 

Does anyone out there know what I should do? 

Does anyone want to show up and organize my books for me in my house? hahahaha 

I will post pics soon

Why I am against E Books

I am not really AGAINST E books but I am FOR printed books, if I am totally honest.   I personally don't like reading on an E Reader but as well I don't trust "the system" to preserve books as written. 
With the advent of easily transmittable information via the World Wide Web and such, I understand that it makes getting great literature to people at the push of a button who would not have had that choice or opportunity even a few years ago, but it still bothers me.  I also know that with just more than a push of a button those same pieces of literature can be changed to reflect what someone else thinks history should be.  With printed books that is not a possibility.  There would be no way someone could find every copy of a printed book to "reclaim it" and replace it with a changed version.  Call me a conspiracy theorist, but this is one place I see trouble possible.  Too much possibility. 

That all being said, I watched a TED Talk the other day that I need to go back and find again because she is what sparked this blog for me.  Her position was to find and read English translations of recommended books from around the world.  She elicited help from blog readers to recommend books from other countries so that she could round out her world view more by reading and understanding literature from other cultures, other countries, and others views of what would be "a good read"  She acquired recommended books in print form, as E books and collections of short stories that others helped her translate. 

This sparked a thought in my head.  I have a house FULL of books.  Many of them are quite old as back in the 80s, my grandfather, quite literally bought an entire library that was being closed out at an auction one day. 

But, now I wonder what I am missing by not exposing myself to literature from around the world. 
This is what I am asking from anyone who might stumble upon this blog, I want to make this the year I become a consistant reader again. ( I used to read voraciously but then life got in the way)  I plan to spend MUCH less time this year, and hopefully for the rest of my life, in front of a book instead of a tv screen.  I would love to see what people from around the world might recommend to me as "Great Literature from other countries"  I'm not necessarily requesting what is considered "classic literature" but just things that you pleasure to read.
I am anxious to see what comes from this if anything.