Book Challenge
If you saw my personal instagram last month, you saw that I was challenging myself to read 1 hour a day with the goal of trying to read five books. It went super well in the first week or so. I read the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It was a super quick read and I ended up finishing it in 5 days. I was so proud of myself. That was the fastest I had ever read a book and I felt super motivated that I could really do this. Then I started the book Children of Men by P.D. James. I had seen the film multiple times and ended up buying the book. Like most of my books, it just set there collecting dust. As I began to read I started to get discouraged. This book was super dense. I needed to read 40 pages per hour to keep with the pace of finishing the 5 books in a month. The first hour I read Children of Men, I think I got through only 15. The next day I began to read for my hour and found it to be increasingly difficult to get through it. So, after about a week I began to not read the full hour. Which then turned into not reading at all. So here we are in August. I only ended up reading about 100 pages of the book and didn’t even get to the other 3 books I had planned to read. I failed miserably. Honestly, I was pretty stressed out because I didn’t reach my goal. In fact, I didn’t even get close. It’s frustrating when you set a goal like that and fail.
Here is what I learned. I learned that goals are not always meant to be met. I feel good to have even finished a book. I hadn’t done that for a long time. It felt good to exercise my mind. I also learned that habits can only be formed if you try. I used to love reading, but got away from it for some time. I have so many books that I want to read. And I know now that I will read them eventually. So for the month of August, I am just going to challenge myself to read every day even if it is one chapter. That way I am always seeking new knowledge or new experiences through text.
I was recently watching a video by Matt D’Avella on youtube and he talked about how he has a 2 day rule. It means that he can’t go 2 days in a row without doing the things he has said he will. That is my new mantra. I will never go 2 days without reading, without exercising, without whatever I have told myself I will do. So I ask you to join with me. Can you set a goal for yourself this month and use the 2 day rule as your guide? I’m going to try. I hope this has encouraged you to start reading or start doing something to improve yourself. I am at a stage in my life where I want to always be improving myself in one way. Now it’s reading, next month maybe something else.
As I build these habits and they continue to stick, I hope to be a better person, husband, father, and friend. I want to be the best I can be. And, I hope you want that for yourself too.
