Bottled Energy

A manager at the grocery store this afternoon suggested that if I could bottle my kids' energy, I could put Red Bull out of business. Despite my chemistry degree, I'm not quite sure how to create something to compete directly with Thunder Muscle. But if you're interested in acquiring the energy of a 4-year-old, here are my suggestions.

1. Eat well. I am far more disciplined in my kids' diets than I am in mine. Fruits, veggies, gluten-free, organic, it's all good.
2. Eat less. My kids aren't picky, but they do stop eating when they're full. Good advice for anyone.
3. Sleep lots. My kids get 10 - 12 hours of sleep a day. Give it a try.
4. Remove stress. If you don't have to worry about bills or promotions or the meaning of life, there's plenty of energy left over to hop down the grocery aisle on one foot. And back.
5. Do what you love. There are plenty of blog posts and books out there about how doing what you love brings energy. Whether that's playing the violin, being a doctor, or belting Backyardigans songs loud enough to drown out the meat department's daily specials, go for it.

I can't give you a bottle, but follow the ways of the masters, and you, too, may be able to exhaust everyone else in your home.

2010 year in review - literary edition

Fifty.

That was the goal, and on December 26, I finished Oil by Upton Sinclair, my 50th book of 2010.

I shared this goal a while back as a way to motivate myself to keep learning. It worked. I learned, for example, about

• The 14th Century (A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuckman)
• Running (ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer)
• Randomness (The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb)
• Lewis and Clark (Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose)
• Ebola (The Hot Zone by Richard Preston)
• Leadership (Next Generation Leadership by Andy Stanley, among others)
• Philosophy (Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar... by Cathcart and Klein)
• Social networking, childhood disorders, personal finance, communication, trans-racial adoption, evolving definitions of manhood, etc.

The fastest reads took only a day. The longest was about 10 months. The average, obviously, was about a week. Many of the books were in audio form, allowing me to make good use of commute time. One was on a Kindle. Most were borrowed from the library.

When I set the goal of 50 books, I wasn't sure if it was reasonable, or even possible, what with three kids and all. I'm a fast reader, though, and having the goal kept me focused on continuing to read. Like any discipline, just keeping at it is the most helpful thing.

The thing that struck me toward the end of the year, though, was how many more books I haven't read than those I have. 50 is a small number next to the 10 on my bedside table, the 87 on my library list, and the 130+ on my Amazon list. Taleb (in The Black Swan), talks about the importance of the unread books. So I'm OK with having more unread books than read ones, but for 2011, I am making more specific goals than a simple number. In the interest of public accountability, here are 2011's book goals:

• 25 books by dead people. This will force me out of my tendency to read fluffy business books and encourage a little more intensity of material. (Note that while this does allow me to count Peter Drucker and Robert Jordan, I am counting on my good faith to not abuse them for the sake of the goal.) Specifically, I'd like to include at least
• The Old and New Testaments (counts as 2 books, not 66)
• One Shakespearean play
• One classic Greek drama/tragedy/comedy
• One 19th Century British
• One Russian
• One Southern writer (I may not actually be able to stomach this)
• One famous philosopher
• One church father
• 3 books on personal finance
• 3 books on parenting
• 3 books on energy
• 3 books on marriage
• All the books currently on my nightstand

That totals to 47, though there will be some overlap between categories. The rules are the same, I have to "read" the whole book, and finish it during 2011's calendar year. Audio books are encouraged, and the Kindle will play a much bigger role now that I have one of my very own. The clock starts in 90 minutes. Game on.

This post has been pretty self-centered, and there's probably not much here for others to actually read. With a quarterly posting schedule, I don't count on many readers anyway. If you've made it this far, though, I'd love to hear what your read in 2010, what your plans are for 2011, and if you've got any recommendations for my list. Happy New Year, and happy reading.

PS - For those who are curious, the complete list in order of completion can be found here. I've put my top five recommendations in italics, though there are plenty of good ones on there (and a few I'd skip). If you'd like additional thoughts on any of them, let me know.

Spiritual Constipation

The human digestive system works on a simple principle. Food goes in, waste goes out. Along the way, the body is nourished. Sometimes, though, something goes wrong and constipation results. Food goes in, nothing comes out. Along the way, the body hurts. Pain is a clear signal of malfunction.

The human spirit works on a similar principle. Food goes in, fruit goes out. Along the way, the spirit is nourished. Sometimes, though, something goes wrong and spiritual constipation results. Food goes in, nothing comes out. Along the way, the spirit hurts, but the signal it sends is more subtle than physical pain...(more)

This article was written for Lucid Magazine. Click here to read the rest of it and check out the other cool stuff.

How are you learning?

50 books.

That's my reading goal for 2010. In addition to blogs, magazines, and whatever else, my goal is to read 50 books by year-end. No limits on the genre, length, or quality...just 50 books. With 13 to date in the 1st quarter, I'm on track.

I have chosen this goal because books open up new worlds to me. New ideas, new facts, new ways of thinking; they all come to me through books. I read for entertainment, but above all, I read to learn. Learning leads to growth, and without growth, there is only decay. So despite all the demands on my time, I read.

The point of this post is not, however, to impress you with my reading goal (many people read more). Nor is it to encourage you to read more (though I think that's always a good idea). Rather, it is a question of learning. Specifically,

How are you learning?

If not through books, what? How? Are you listening to Open University courses? Online training sessions? Attending lectures? Blogs, magazines, newspapers?

Life keeps moving. The only way to keep up is to grow, and without learning, there is no growth. How are you keeping up? How are you learning?

(That last question is not rhetorical. I know how I'm learning, and I'm curious...how are you learning?)