The Intentionality Factor

Launch Week | Intentional Behavior | Retaining what we Read

Oct 24, 2023

brown wooden blocks on white surface — Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

In honor of this week’s launch of The Books of My Life, I decided to provide something extra to get the conversation started.

When discussing books, I am often asked how I read so many books each year and if the volume of books impacts my ability to retain what I read.

Background

I have been an avid reader since childhood. The number of books I read each year has fluctuated through different seasons of my life. As a child we didn’t have video game consoles, home computers, cable tv, or cell phones. My free time was spent outdoors playing with my siblings or reading the biggest book I could find. As an adult, reading became less of a priority as I started a career. Marriage, children, and my work in the Navy, were the focus of my energies for years and reading took a precipitous drop during that time. Once my children reached middle and high school, I recognized that I had more time for reading but I had lost the habit. I knew that to make reading a priority it was necessary to become intentional about it.

Intentional Practice

The easiest way to increase the number of books I read each year was to prioritize reading over other activities. Less time spent watching tv or scrolling through social media on my cell phone opened up space in my day. My goal was a minimum of an hour per day. These days I have well established habits and read for an hour or two. However, I don’t read for two hours straight. I break it up into smaller parts throughout the day. After about 30 minutes I lose focus. On weekends I can normally read more with less constraints on my time.

Taking advantage of different reading formats also helped me to increase how many books I read. At home in the early morning or evenings, I almost certainly read a physical book. I am a tactile reader. I love the smell of the paper and the weight of the book in my hands. During the work week I take a book with me to read on my lunch break or during slow times. I also love a good audiobook. When commuting or going for a walk I take advantage of this phenomenal format. Most days I get about an hour’s worth of audio completed and I normally listen on 1.25 speed. Many people enjoy using e-readers. While e-reading has never been my forte, I encourage everyone to use what works best for them.

Most importantly for me, I developed a reading plan to keep me on task. Many people prefer to be spontaneous in their reading and choice of books. I found that if I didn’t have a new book readily available, I could easily be distracted to do something else. This led to sometimes having as much as a week gap between books. Using an annual reading plan, I always had in mind what was up next. I took advantage of having a great public library system that allowed me to request books in advance. No gaps meant no downtime and no distractions. Admittedly, this method does not work for everyone so go with what works for you.

Reading for Retention

Retaining what I read is situational. Not every book is written to have a lasting impact on my life. Some books I read only for entertainment. These are often formulaic, especially books in a series with the same characters that we love or hate. These books provide a lot of pleasure and potentially have some educational value but are not typically read with the intent of retaining the details forever. Some books I read with the specific intent of retaining information. Some of these are fiction but the majority fall into the non-fiction realm.

When reading fiction I am primarily reading for pleasure. I am exposing myself to new ideas, new vocabulary, and different writing styles. Some classic and literary fiction is more memorable but usually with fiction I want to remember an overarching theme. For non-fiction books they fall into two categories. Certain books I read to have a broad overview of a subject matter such as the U.S. Presidential biographies I am reading in chronological order. I don't expect or desire to retain minutia from each of their lives. Instead I am gaining a broad scope perspective of U.S. History and executive level decision making. The second category of non-fiction are those books where I really want to retain the information for the long-term. A book on wilderness medicine that I will put to practical use when I go hiking and kayaking meets this criteria.

I will have a future post where I talk about slow vs fast reading. There are different philosophies on this topic among readers. I read slower when the language or subject matter is challenging and when I am looking to retain information. In these scenarios I often re-read sections or whole chapters to ensure the information is engrained. More often than not however, I am looking for broad perspectives and concepts to incorporate into my life.

To Each Their Own

There are as many different styles of reading as there are readers. The methods in this article work well for me but may not work for everyone. The key takeaway here is to incorporate methods into your reading habits that will ensure the books you read contribute to personal growth and learning. One caveat to my message here is that a focus on the number of books is not always healthy. Sometimes reading less is more. Quality over quantity.

Reading should be an enjoyable endeavor. If you read the genres you enjoy in formats that work best for your life, then you are likely to read more. If you desire to grow in your reading, you must learn to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone. Tackle a book in a new genre. Read something by someone from a different country. Strictly a fiction reader – pick up some non-fiction, and vice versa.

In Closing

Time is the most valuable commodity we have. How we choose to spend it says a lot about where our focus is. I try to do my reading when it won't interrupt family time or other important activities. But I choose reading over other distractions or time sinks that don't bring as much value. Reading is an intentional behavior. If we want to be good at, it requires us to take intentional action on it.

I would love to know your thoughts on the topic and what you are reading that is adding value to your life right now.