Launching the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge

Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge, is it possible to read 30 books in 30 days? Yes, but you have to change your definition of what it means to read a book.

Have you ever challenged yourself to do something you were so sure you couldn't do? If you answered ‘yes,' good for you. If you answered ‘no,' would you love to have such an experience? A few days ago I wrote about how to read 30 books in 30 days. Well some people took it as a reading challenge to participate in. Since I've created several reading challenges, I decided to create one for this.

I think that many people are missing the point of reading 30 books in 30 days. They see ‘30 books’ and they completely shut down. The first thought is that, no way can I do that. And the response in my mind, is that oh yes you can totally do it. The other thing they see is read and that throws them for a loop. Forget about the old way of reading. It’s not good use of your time to read a book from cover-to-cover. Will you take a chance on yourself to participate in the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge.

You want to dip into the books and get what you need from them. No less and no more. What do you want to learn? Why do you want to learn it? Which books in your to-be-read pile will change your life if you extracted the important bits from them? What do you hope to be doing at the end of the challenge that you cannot do now?

Repeat after me, “A book is a tool to get me to where I need to be to achieve success.” That’s it. Focus on that. Now for over four months I’ve been writing about reading books across disciplines. And I’ve also written about going broad and deep. What does that look like for the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge?

Have you read?

6 Books to Read to Benefit Your Career During and Beyond Isolation
Read 30 Books in 30 Days: Use the Unexpected Downtime to Benefit Your Career

There are three kinds of books that I’d like you to focus on if you already own books in the categories. Remember I recommend that you read six books that will impact the way you read other books now and in the future. To recap, here are the six books:

1. Lifetime Learner’s Guide to Reading and Learning, Gary Hoover
2. Teach Yourself How to Learn, Saundra Yancy McGuire
3. The MacGyver Secret, Lee Zlotoff
4. The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan Holiday
5. Opportunity, Eben Pagan
6. Non-Obvious Megatrends, Rohit Bhargava

The three categories to focus on for the other 24 books to read during the next 30 days.

1. Biographies: Who has done what you’re now trying to do? Whose head are you trying to get inside?
2. Specific skills you’re trying to develop: Do you want to learn problem solving? Critical thinking? How to code? Interested in painting or drawing?
3. Success, whatever that looks like to you: Do you want to develop habits? Want to become more productive? Want to learn more about happiness or mindfulness?

I’m interested in Elon Musk and how he thinks. I own Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, so now is the time to read that book. I’m interested in learning the skills the World Economic Forum says you need to thrive. And I’m also interested in learning even more about reading, learning, and memory. So I’ll be digging into the books I own that cover those topics.

What does success look like for me? Being happier and more productive are important. But for me personally, it goes back to going deep and broad. Going deep is important and I’m already on that journey and have been for a while now. Going broad is moving across disciplines. And that has served Musk well. I want to understand the big ideas in a few disciplines so that I can use them. This helps you to be more creative. 

I own a few books in the Big Ideas series. In my to-be-read pile are The Literature Book, The Ecology Book, The Astronomy Book, The History Book, and the Psychology Book. Therefore, I have a starting point to continue going broad.

On Friday, April 17th, I'm launching the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge. It will be taking place in the Reading Rocks: Read a Book, Discover Solutions, Change the World Facebook Group. If enough people show an interest, I'll create masterminds of two to three people to support each other.

The intent of this reading challenge is to get professionals to focus on information they can use now and beyond isolation. Let’s say that you managed to read only 15 books, you’re still a winner. You read 15 books that you might not have read. There are a few people who will be journeying with you. I’ve already uploaded tools and resources to help you to succeed.

What do you have to lose? Think about how much you can gain when you participate in the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge.

How Avil Can Help You!

If you do not want to gamify your reading, I invite you to Join the Performance Accelerator Plan that walks you through the process of learning key skills and more. You’ll be reading books to build skills and develop intercultural awareness.  Get more reading and learning tips here.

In December 2020, I published two books on Amazon. I would greatly appreciate your support if you bought my two short e-books Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon and Performance Accelerator Plan: Guide to Learning and Mastering Key Skills for the Future.

Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon is not about speed reading. It’s about approaching every book differently and reading only the sections that align with your purpose.

The Performance Accelerator Plan book is a stripped-down version of the paid reading challenge of the same name. Obviously, you won’t get all the resources that come with the program that I sell on my website. But if you are a self-directed learner, it will help you tremendously.

If someone clicks on a link and buys something from Amazon, the company will pay me a small commission.