Skip to main content

Join a library

The last year, as I embarked on my entrepreneurship journey, I ended up buying a ton of books. Being a book lover, it was easy to justify all the purchases. All of them were important to my learning, my development and the development of a practice. 
But what happened - as I observed - was that the range of books I purchased was narrow cast towards my work. 
And my son asked me "You work and you read about work, why dont you read something else?" And that question prompted me to raid a few of his books - From Eragon to Wonder to Divergent (and this is a must read for anyone). 
And I must admit, it made a difference. A different perspective for one and an insight into different stories. One thing led to another and I read a travel book (Seven Sacred Rivers), a classic (Call of the wild) and then a few fiction books as well. 
And since I could not purchase every book that came along - I joined a library. Having been a member of two libraries in the recent past, it was deja-vu. Once you join a library, your book reading behaviour changes...Serendipity kicks in. You pick up books you would normally not buy. Since you are not buying, it is easy to pick up and read books you normally would not. And that enables you to read more, diverse subjects - and if you dont like the book, it is just a quick return away...
So, join a library...if you have one around you so your reading and your perspective goes up...Thats my lesson for January PS: I am tempted to say, adopt a library behaviour - but thats for later ;)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The power of jotting down ideas

 Long long ago, I always used to carry a small letterpad with me. To jot down ideas that might occur. Over the years, it has changed from a notepad to evernote to google keep, but the power of jotting down ideas is immense.  Small ideas go into keep.  Anything to be quickly typed goes into whatsapp as a self message.  Bigger or better formed ideas go into Google docs A few are still written, but I manage to copy them into a digital format sooner rather than later.  But the power of jotting down is immense. My google keep is an encyclopedia of ideas - most of which may never get implemented. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more