The moment when I realize I had it right the first time is always particularly embarrassing. I had one of these recently when I was thinking about the TOA reading reviews. The process I’ve used for the past year or so hasn’t been the worst experience of my life but the problems with the approach are growing increasingly obvious. The most significant issue is turnaround time, the space between the start of the book and the final post. The turnaround time has increased steadily in the past few months and given the current backlog of reading reviews the trend isn’t reversing direction anytime soon. I’ve always operated by a basic principle that a great time to add structure is when there are clear problems yet no true emergencies. This is exactly where I am at the moment with TOA reading reviews.
As I noted at the top, I probably had it right the first time. The early days of TOA featured reading reviews under the somewhat (OK, overly) pompous label ‘life-changing books’. Ridiculous, yes, but let's temporarily ignore that and think instead about how well the original method captured the essence of my reading. Even though I read many books a year, only a small handful can be described as ‘for fun’. The majority of my reading is for learning and personal growth. The concept of ‘life-changing books’ (ugh) highlights the reading that has achieved this standard at the highest possible level – the book literally changed some aspect of my life. Does it get any better than that? These changes might be simple ideas (such as tipping more, a noble move indeed but one that has probably cost me thousands of dollars in the past decade) or more complex concepts (see above about ‘adding structure’, an idea I pulled from some long forgotten book). The point is, 'life-changing books' is a convenient way to explain how I became a marginally different person after I finished reading a particular book.
It’s certainly embarrassing to roll back a discarded method but I suppose what would be even worse is forging on with a bad idea. The newer style of reading review had many benefits, I'll admit it, so I'll try to retain some of its features. I’ll still share the bulk of my note taking with you, for example, by linking to my book notes for each read. I’ll also organize those notes in a cleaner fashion to make it easier for someone to jump in and look at the big ideas. I’ll still dedicate an extra post or two for books I thought had some really important ideas but I think the days of a ten-part breakdown are in the past. Finally, all of this won’t happen right away – I have some posts already scheduled to go up – so this will be a gradual change.
One of the big challenges in life is accepting agency for our own chosen path. It’s hard enough to look ahead and try to figure out where to go next. The road is always uncertain and the surrounding terrain is deep, dark, and uncharted. The next decision is almost always an active one involving a new task, tool, or activity. But perhaps the most difficult decision is turning around. Life narratives don’t flow so smoothly when we backpedal. The embarrassment of admitting that an exciting new change was the wrong move can sometimes stubbornly propel us forward.
It never hurts to pause every once in a while and think back – what was it like? What did I like? What was I like? Can I connect back to what I left behind? It never hurts to pause every once in a while and think about what we should stop doing, to assess the value of our new things, or to wonder if the new activity is only getting in the way of what we really truly value. It never hurts to admit we were wrong, once in a while, because in some ways that's the only way to ever be right.
