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chapter 4

Reinvent Your Playlist

the secret: overspend on yourself

Over the past five years, I have probably purchased more than five hundred books. That’s an average of about two per week, but my buying is rarely that steady. Instead, I buy in bursts that usually coincide with some new project or book I am working on.

For me, starting something new inspires me to buy books. But when you buy that many books, there are a couple of inconvenient facts that you are forced to confront. The first is that you will quickly run out of space to keep all those books. The second is that it becomes nearly impossible to read all of them. In my case, the end result is that I’m routinely buying some books that I will never read and probably end up reselling or donating within a year.

Why would anyone buy books they don’t read? It may seem odd but think about the last five non-school-related books you’ve bought (not counting this one!). Maybe you can’t even remember them. But if you can, then how many of them have you actually read cover to cover?

People buy books they don’t read all the time, they just don’t usually admit it. Sometimes it is because they like the cover. Often it is with the best intentions to read them, but then life gets in the way and time gets short.

I see books as an investment, rather than a guilt-inducing reminder of unfinished homework.

I buy them for the ideas buried inside that I hope will emerge at the right moment to help me solve a challenge I have or change my thinking about a topic. And sometimes that moment never comes. Other times, it comes merely from reading the first few chapters of a book and never finishing the rest. I never put pressure on myself to finish every book I start.

why reading books is like building a playlist

Instead, I focus on finding the most valuable ideas that I can apply to my work or that change the way I think. Then I take those ideas and assemble them into my own “playlist” where I combine them together and start to make connections between them.

If you think about it, this is not so different from how most of us build a playlist for listening to music or watching videos online. We assemble songs, shows or ideas into groups and then enjoy them together.

I realize many teachers would disagree with this playlist-inspired advice for reading books (and sometimes not finishing them).

I believe your time is too valuable to waste finishing a book you don’t enjoy or find useful.

Not every book you’re going to read will be worth finishing, and that’s okay. Finally admitting this fact to yourself can be a huge source of mental relief. When you do give yourself this freedom, you will find that you enjoy the books that you do finish so much more—and you will probably read more books as a result.