I Wish More Reading Was the ANSWER

But no

Reading more won’t make you successful.

Derek Sivers in a podcast with Tim Ferris says — “If [more] information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.” And it hit me hard. Because in the last few months, I was focusing on upgrading my knowledge. And then I found I was chasing the wrong waters.

Here’s what I was doing wrong:

In the first quarter of this year, I planned to dedicate a massive chunk of my time to reading and note-taking. As a writer, I need to do that. Each day, I set one hour for reading, and every weekend I took smart notes. Initially, I was excited. But soon things went awry. Here’s why:

I am not a full-time writer. Partly, I work with a startup. So, I have to divide my time neatly. Plus, I go to the gym thrice a week. And on weekends, I need to find some time for content creation and socializing — I have a life beyond work. All these tasks, when combined, created a mess in my life. I had targets to achieve, find clients for my ghostwriting service, startup, read, and take notes — man, I felt overwhelmed.

And that’s not the entire story — I also have my long-term goals to accomplish. Those goals hover in the back of my mind!

With so much to do, my mind went to thinking of quitting — so I gave myself a break. I stopped creating content. I stopped writing. It was a much-needed quietude.

Later, while journaling; I realized what I was getting wrong.

We have a limited amount of willpower and energy. When a lot of things gather on a to-do list, they create havoc. It is already being suggested to limit the daily platter to three things. And I believe that. Planning beyond three mostly burdens me. I have been there and done things beyond three, making my brain yell at me.

I started cleansing my burden. Here is what I do now:

1. Work on three projects — Plan to accomplish three tasks per day.

2. Prioritize work life in the order

• Health
• Wealth
• Building a brand
• Startup

3. Building and maintaining relations on weekends

4. Learn and read daily. But read and take notes only for the projects that align with the current goals. For example, my current goal is to increase…