I have never been a huge fan of new years resolutions. After all if somebody wants to change their life and the change is for good why the heck waiting. I’ve started a lot of good habits and quit several of the bad ones without waiting for the right time. I bet you’ve all heard the famous chinese proverb the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the second best time is now? Yes? Good! Now go print it, put it a nice IKEA frame and choose a visible spot so that all your guests can see it and feel motivated as well! Just kidding you don’t have to take such motivatiors for pure gold you don’t have to feel bad for not deserving your liberty and/or safety just because Ben Franklin said so. The latest tree I planted was:

Less TV watching more book reading

I have a friend, actually my first mentor, with whom I meet on regular basis to discuss life, technologies, business ideas and whatever comes up to our mind. He once told me an interesting story he read online about black kid from a poor family who became world class surgeon. In an interview he shared what was the key to his success. His mother challenged them: “Hey, I have an idea. Instead of watching TV all the time and getting dumber why not we both start reading books, discuss them with each other and become smarter?”. I know it sounds childish but it does make sense. And it’s simple as hell. Actually the idea is so simple that I’m surprised how most people (including me) are missing its brilliance.

So here’s my challenge:

• Read every day. Might be only for half an hour before bed time but read.
• Keep notes during reading.
• Finish every book with a mind map and …
• … write a blog post with a review of the book.

And in order to stay on track I decided to timebox it:

• Repeat the above steps fifty times this year!

Wish me luck (I’m already off-schedule) and stay tuned for the first round! (sneak peek: it would most probably be on Asimov’s Robots series)