2019 Intentions - Part 3 Reading

My continuing effort to clarify my intentions for 2019. This is the third post in the series and I'm guessing that there will be may 10 posts all told to clarify my intentions for this year. If you were curious, I do have a bullet list of handwritten goals and/or intentions for this year but writing these out help me clarify what I'm actually trying to achieve with each of them. In some cases writing them out is simply that I already know what I'm intending. In other cases I have an very general, vague idea of what I want to do and the blog posts will help me figure out the details.

Next up are my intention for reading in 2019.

Spiritual Readings

In 2018 I succeeded in making reading for 10-20 minutes after meditating a daily practice. Of course, like anything, there were days I just didn't get it in because I got up late or whatever, most days I read. In fact, the reality is that I enjoy the process of meditating then reading.

For the most part I was reading yoga books, including the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, The Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. Also general mindful books or recovery books like Refuge Recovery. For example I am currently reading Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach and next I'll probably read My Gita by Devdutt Pattanaik or Empathy Deficit Disorder by Jackie Acho my friend and fellow yoga teacher.

<Sidebar>: Jackie is an incredible human being, beautiful smart, empathetic and making a difference in the world. Not only is she a yoga teacher and written this book, but she has been driving a program to encourage Cleveland Police Officers to take yoga and learn to meditate. It's an awesome program that I hope gets taken up by Police Officers.</Sidebar>

I will continue this practice as is. Reading daily for 10-20 minutes in the morning after meditation. The above picture shows the books that are on my "To Read" list.

Adding Work-related Reading

One of things I have never really done is read to become better at my jobs. I learn on the job or if it's forced at work which has been sufficient but hasn't really stretched me. So this year I want to learn more about Agile topics as well as general management topics. For example I have already read Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell. I also have Agile and Lean Program Leadership: Scaling Collaboration Across the Enterprise by Johanna Rothman> I also just ordered Radical Focus by Christina R. Wodtke to learn more about the OKR process we use at work. My current thinking is that I will start blocking off parts of my week to read and go somewhere not at my desk to do so. Or perhaps the first thing in the morning since that's when most people will leave me alone...

Comment on General Reading

I have found that I just read less these days. I'm enjoying the spiritual,self-help, self-discovery books at this point in my life. That may change and I still do read some. I find myself looking for the shorter ones that are these massive books that will take years to read because one they almost never finish and are ever really worth the wait - the books get worse the longer the series goes on, losing its shine. SoI am not making any intentions for reading for "fun" but I certainly expect I will.

Next up: Yoga Learnings