The Juggle of the Struggle and How I Use Three Lists to Help [2020 Discussion Challenge - #3]
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| School photo created by jcomp |
I have a lot going on: a career path that is currently not aligning with MY goals, a growing 11-year old son, a loving husband, and my hobbies - piano, reading & reviewing, and exercise.
AH!!! The juggle of the struggle!
via GIPHY
Each of these are extremely important to me and are more intricate that the simply sentence above.
How do I manage? LISTS!!!
Right now, in an effort to take both my reviewing and blogging to the next level, I have joined several challenges.
About these challenges and the reason why I accepted them.
- Book Bingo: This seemed like fun and would take me out of my literary comfort zone. So, far this isn't quite working. See, I am pretty good at finding ways to make something work. That being said, I have managed to skillfully make my reading choices fit.
- Book Riot Read Harder: I want to read outside of my go-to genres and what is popular. This is the perfect challenge for me. In all honesty, I will use the suggestions from Book Riot as a launchpad to finding titles that interest me.
- Audiobook Challenge: I want to go back to audios! Plain and simple.
- Unread Shelf: Thought this would interesting, but so far it is too restrictive. I will be tweaking this one.
My Triple Aim-List Strategy for Prioritizing and Planning.
I know the average number books I want to read for the year. (This is my Goodreads Challenge.) I also know how many hours I need to set aside to reach my desired book number, which is obviously much higher than what I shared on Goodreads.
Next, I plan my reading in 90-day increments.
**NOTE: This allows for tweaking if I come across a book on NetGalley or Edelweiss. I no longer jump on things at the Library or Amazon, since I can either save the library book to my to-read list or purchase the book on Amazon and move to the to-read collection.**
Step 1: List the 24 books I would like to read in the next 90 days.
**NOTE: 2 books a week * 12 weeks = 24, where 2 books is the minimum.**
- I take my time in doing this because I am striving to read and review books ON the publication date this year.
- If I have more than 24 books, my other rule comes in - read and review within 7 days of publication.
- If the 7-day period falls outside of the 90-days, I move the book the next 90-day period.
Step 2: Pencil in the goal end date for each book
Step 3: Get the page count for each book and pencil in the allotted reading amount for each day, based on the goal end date.
Step 4: Create three lists for each month in the 90-day period
- List the 8 books planned for each month
- Print out a copy and clip it to my Kindle cover.
Step 5: Start reading
Why this works for me?
- Each monthly list keeps me focused and less likely to poison my own success.
- It prevents me from spreading myself too thin.
- Keeps my attention focused, but allows me to read what I want when I want within my preset boundaries.
Prioritization and focus are necessary for me to meet my goals success.
Hmm...maybe next week I will share how I have plan my weekly discussion posts. Hey...it seems to be working for me and it may just inspire you! (Jetting off to record this idea!!!)
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