There were a couple of interesting takeaways for me from that coaching session that I thought I would pass along to you. First, my coach asked me what my motivations were for reading. An obvious one for me is my love of learning. But, what else came out of that interchange was very interesting to me. Here are some of my other motivations, ones I hadn’t thought of before:

FOUR MOTIVATIONS FOR INTENTIONAL READING

1. Better Resource for Clients.

The more I read, the better resource I will be for my clients. Reading stimulates my thinking, especially my creativity. It also continues to feed me with fresh perspectives on leadership, management, employee development, productivity and other related topics that are relevant to those with whom I work. Reading is a powerful generator for leaders of all kinds.

2. More Informed for Dinner Conversation

If I am consistently reading I will be more informed of current events and have a more consistent flow of new ideas and insights. This will help me come to the dinner table with some interesting things to talk about. I have been looking for ways to get better at initiating meaningful conversation around the table.

3. More Informed for Personal Relationships

My wife loves to read and reads about ten times faster than I do. She is also great at staying abreast of world events and things going on in the culture. We both really enjoy talking with one another. The more I read the better prepared I will be to have interesting things for us to talk about together. We never lack things to talk about, but the more well-read I am the better partner I will be in those interactions.

4. Inventory for speaking engagements

I love to do public speaking. One of my weaknesses in this area is story-telling and the use of analogies. I have a hard time coming up with them. The more I read, the more stories and analogies I will be exposed to, so I will have a larger inventory to draw from. As I have kept these in view, I have been much more motivated to follow through on my plan over the years because I was more aware of all the benefits I stood to gain.

ONE OTHER INSIGHT

The second insight that came from my coaching appointment was to break up my reading material into categories. I am a slow reader by nature. However, because I read slow and have a good memory, I tend to remember most of what I read. As we discussed this concept further I became aware that there are certain books/articles that I read just for fun, and am not interested in the full content. So, I created two different categories:

Category 1: Stuff I want to consume, learn & apply

Category 2: Stuff I want to skim and glean from

SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What motivates you to read?
• How will those motivations affect your reading habits?
• Do you have different ways you could categorize your reading to help you use your time and energy more efficiently?

Seize the day!