Postcards From My Life

Dear Reader,

As part of my end-of-the-year process, I’ve been looking at how I spend my time. I’ve always fancied myself a “creative” but when I look at how I spend my time, a lot of it is spend sitting in front of a TV. I find myself Tivo surfing a lot these days under the guise of “winding down”. Watching re-runs of sitcoms takes a lot less effort than sitting down and reading a good book so I tend to be lazy and do that. One of my goals for this year is however to read more though. This means I have to cut something out. Given that “big media” has declared war on me by penning SOPA, I think this is a good opportunity to re-evaluate my support for them and their sponsors by reading more. (Yes, I am aware that most major book publishers are supporters of SOPA/PIPA…baby steps.) So I’m starting my reading list. Hopefully, I’ll post about each book as I read it.

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  Ok, I’m cheating because I’m about 25% through this one already. Like Marketing White Belt: Basics For the Digital Marketer before it, I am reading it “purposefully”. I am taking my time, and taking a lot of notes. So far, it is fantastic.
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: 10th Anniversary Edition
  I read it when it first came out but I’m re-reading it to refresh myself. This one is a great read. If you are in Social Media and haven’t read this book, stop what you are doing now and read it.
• EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
  This is at the top of my list to read next but I have to finish “7 Habits” first. This is another one I want to read purposefully.
• Brand Against the Machine: How to Build Your Brand, Cut Through the Marketing Noise, and Stand Out from the Competition
  I follow John on Twitter and he has some interesting things to say. When this book was released, the marketing echo-chamber went gaga over it. It looks like an interesting read and since Marketing is my hobby, I hope to learn a lot from it.

Reading inspires me to write, every time I read, I have to keep a notebook handy to jot down the ideas for new blog posts or chapters for “Avoiding a Goat Rodeo“. TV, on the other hand, just lets me veg out. I’d rather be inspired than just shut down, so for me this year, more reading.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

p.s., yes, those are Amazon affiliate links. Not the reason I wrote the post but if they bother you, go directly to Amazon and search for the titles.