Extreme Reading Challenge Month One, Read Broadly, Read Africa

Introduction: Extreme Reading Challenge Month One, Read Broadly, Read Africa

Have you ever participated in a reading challenge? I call this challenge an extreme reading challenge because you read just over a book each week – five books each month for a total of 60 books in a year. It’s a little bit different from the other reading challenges – even the popular ones. When you officially sign-up, you receive email prompts from me, reminding you to read. And you also get tools to help you to get the most from the books you read. So this is the extreme reading challenge month one.

When you read a book, I encourage you take notes while reading, preferably by hand. It’s been scientifically proven that you remember more of what you read when you take notes by hand. I also ask you to extract the five big ideas from each book you read, then when you have read about four books, it’s time to have fun. You get to combine and blend ideas to form something new. It takes one right idea to transform your life.

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During Month One of the Read the World extreme reading challenge, you get to visit the continent of Africa. Although there are 47 countries in Africa, Morocco and coastal islands – Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Madagascar, the Comoros, the Seychelles, and Mauritius – are considered African countries as well, which brings the total up to 54. Because it is a global reading challenge, one of the books have to be by an African author. I have been hosting the extreme reading challenge for a few months now, and one of the questions I get asked a lot, is to recommend books for participants to read. At the end of this post, you will find books that are often recommended on the LibraryThing website. Because people are always asking me for book recommendations, I have included book recommendations (and their Amazon buy links) that are relevant for the extreme reading challenge month one.

Requirements: Extreme Reading Challenge Month One, Read Africa

1. Read a book written by an author, born in an African country.
2. Read a book about your industry/niche that will allow you to develop skills or give you a new understanding about the way the industry works.
3. Read a book that will help you to develop your personal brand, and position you as an expert.
4. Read a book for entertainment.
5. Read a book to improve your writing – written communication is a prized workplace skill.

A big part of the extreme reading challenge is for you to develop cultural awareness, which will serve you well in your life. The author, Jean Rhys, once said, “Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.” And there is a lot of truth to what she has to say.  But another aspect of the extreme reading challenge, is for you to work on your career. That means that you get the opportunity to read books to help you to future-proof your career.

I’ve said it countless times that the Read the World Challenge is my response to the violence in the world, and the increasing pace of automation. By being proactive about your career, I cannot guarantee that you won’t lose your job, but you can bet that by updating your skills, acquiring new skills, and creating a personal development plan, will allow you to increase your value and marketability.

Extreme Reading Challenge: Read a Book by an African Author

If you are not accustomed to reading global fiction, you might not know where to go to find the top books by African authors. A good place to find really good global fiction to read is at LibraryThing, a community of book lovers. Find African book recommendations below.

Library Thing African Literature Reading List

 The Joys of Motherhood The River Between  God's Bits of Wood July's People Nervous Conditions So Long a Letter Cry, the Beloved Country The Dark Child: Season of Migration to the North  Beasts of No Nation 

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These are a few of the books by African authors that you will find on LibraryThing’s website.

Extreme Reading Challenge: Read a Book about Your Industry/Niche

You work in the industry/niche, so chances are, you know who the major players are. Do you have a solid understanding of how the industry works? Do you have the foundational knowledge to succeed? Who are the innovators? What are they doing differently? Is there a clear leader? If you are not quite sure which books you should read to learn about your industry/niche, talk to friends, colleagues, managers and a librarian at your local public library.

Extreme Reading Challenge: Read Book That Will Help You to Develop Your Personal Brand

To learn how to develop your personal brand, a good book about social media is a great bet. The Art of Social Media, The LinkedIn Code, and The Power of Visual Storytelling are excellent books to read.

 The Art of Social Media The LinkedIn Code The Power of Visual Storytelling

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Extreme Reading Challenge: Read a Book to Improve Your Writing

There are lots of really good books about writing. For Month One of the Challenge, I read Several Short Sentences about Writing, and it’s one of the best writing books I have read. You have to unlearn a lot of what you think is true about writing. I have been applying some of the techniques and my writing is easier to read. I can tell by the Flesch Score. The Elements of Style, Everybody Writes and Hypnotic Writing are some other excellent books on writing.  Choose books, based on what areas of your writing you are trying to improve.

 Several Short Sentences About Writing The Elements of Style Everybody Writes Hypnotic Writing

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Extreme Reading Challenge: Mini Case Study

I am writing about myself to demonstrate how to use the reading challenge to achieve your goals. I am in the process of creating my personal professional development, or stretch assignment in corporate speak. Social media wasn’t quite working for me. I looked around me, and there are many people getting hundreds of shares for their blog posts and status updates. That tells me that if one person can get those results, then others can do so as well. You just have to figure out what they know that you don’t. I decided not to ignore social media because it’s an important component of marketing your business and yourself. I decided to explore how ideas spread.

That seemed like a logical first step for me. I knew of some of the books to read – Contagious, Hooked, and Non-Obvious – but as I delved into the topic, I realized that learning about how ideas spread was even more involved. Even if you already know how ideas spread, you also have to write well, and you also have to learn about search engine optimization. The first month of the reading challenge, I also read Creating Fat Content and Several Short Sentences about Writing. For your posts to go viral, you also need to know who your target audience is. The LinkedIn Code is a good book to help to figure that out.

 Contagious  Non-Obvious Creating Fat Content  Hooked

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Conclusion: Extreme Reading Challenge Month One, Read Broadly, Read Africa

I read some excellent books in Month One of the extreme reading, but I would have been more effective had I created my personal professional development plan first. I am reading a few books so that I can develop easy steps for you to create your personal development plan. Yes, it’s important to develop cultural awareness, but it’s also important to make sure that you remain relevant in the workplace. Join us on the extreme reading challenge month one.

If this sounds like it’s something that can benefit you both personally and professionally, join the extreme reading challenge today. Sign-up for the Read the World Challenge, the extreme reading challenge. Participate in the Read the World Facebook Group!

Please take the conversation to my  Facebook page.

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