Happy October!
What an exciting time of year… Spooky Season, Sweater Weather, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and so much Hocus Pocus going on.
As a chill starts to creep into the air and the leaves begin to turn, it’s the perfect time to cozy up with a good book.
Plus – for entrepreneurs and business owners, reading books is a fantastic resource. “Books encourage self-educating, self-improvement, and success. Entrepreneurs read books to reveal marketing secrets and get advice on business strategies, as well as develop necessary skills and get new business ideas and motivation.” – Source
But here’s the catch…as much as snuggling up with a good book sounds, how often do we actually do it? We might snuggle up…but let’s be honest – usually it’s with a screen.
Here are some simple tips on how to spend more time reading…and less time scrolling.
Be Intentional with Your Social Media
A common reason for not committing to a book is because we get sucked into the habit of scrolling. While we are not here to diss social media platforms, it is important to be mindful of how much energy and time we spend on them.
The majority of social media platforms are very strategic in creating a site that we want to stay on…Dare we say it? Social media can be addicting! We’ve all been there, right? A quick check on Instagram and 40 minutes later you snap out of it only to realize you just spent the last 25 minutes watching hilarious cat videos.
All that being said, being intentional with your use of social media or games on your phone can help free up not only some precious time, but also some mental energy to commit to other activities, like reading.
Join a Book Club
If you feel like you need a sense of accountability and community, try joining a Book Club! It could be with a local group that meets in person, or an online group that meets virtually.
There are a lot of great options out there right now. Whether you want a business owners book club, social justice, or any other specific niche, reach out to some peers to see if they can guide you in the right direction.
P.S. Of course, you could always reach out to us here at Haven Collective to get the inside scoop on any on-going books clubs!
Make a Ritual of It
Make reading an experience that you look forward to! Grab your tea, light a candle, snuggle up with a blanket and really sink into that powerful, slow me-time that we all need.
Don’t Make a Big Deal
On the flip side of making it a ritual, which could sometimes make the activity feel like another thing to have to prepare for, try making it not a big deal. What if you sat down and rather than instinctively grab your phone, you grab your book? No big deal, just readin’.
Find Your Transition Genre
While further along in this post, we talk about great books for business leaders, sometimes reading can just be for pleasure, not for business. So if sitting down with a non-fiction, educational book seems tedious right now, consider a compelling, page-turning thriller or romance novel. It can help you settle into the habit of opening a book rather than scrolling on your phone.
Once you feel steady in this new yet familiar habit of reading a fun story, then you can progress to more thought-provoking, educational reads, such as the ones listed below.
2022 Business Books to Bring to Your Book Club
When it comes to powerful business and leadership books, the list is endless and epic.
However, with the end of the year peaking over the horizon we wanted to focus on books that made their debut to bookshelves everywhere in 2022.
- A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness by Roger Martin
- Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them by Tessa West
- Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World by James D. White
- Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes
- When Women Lead: What We Achieve, Why We Succeed and What We Can Learn by Julia Boonstin
- Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth with High Expectations, Urgency and Intensity by Frank Slootman
- A New Kind of Diversity: Making the Different Generations on Your Team a Competitive Advantage by Tim Elmore
- Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara
- The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter.
- The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists by Richard P. Rumelt
- From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading by Marlene Chism
- The Bronx to the Top Nintendo by Reggie Rils-Aime
- How to Talk to Your Boss About Race: Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down by Y-Vonne Hutchison
- Charging Ahead: G.M. Mary Barra and the Reinvention of an American Icon by Dabid Welch
- Leveling Up: 12 Questions to Elevate Your Personal and Professional Development by Ryan Leak
Read up and tell us what you think!