Back in the dark ages (when I was young and there were no personal computers, cable TV, video games or Internet), books were my best friends. I traveled the world, learned how to do things, exposed myself to new ideas and ways of thinking – none of which would have happened any other way in the little town where I grew up. As a kid, I easily averaged reading 300 books a year, and remember my mom “forcing” me to go outside and play during the summer.

All these years later, I’ve let reading time be overtaken by the demands of my life and work, and I really miss it. (This is one of the ducks I recently identified I was missing in my life.) See that bookcase in the picture? That’s one of three bookcases here in my office, and many, many of those titles are, as yet, unread. That’s going to change.

Are you with me?

One Book a Week – Ambitious But Possible

I can’t see myself making the time to read 300 books this year, even though I have that many right here waiting, but I can see myself making time for one a week, so that’s my plan. Here are the titles I’ve picked for January:

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Review From Publishers Weekly: Unabashedly inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling The Tipping Point, the brothers Heath?Chip a professor at Stanford’s business school, Dan a teacher and textbook publisher?offer an entertaining, practical guide to effective communication. Drawing extensively on psychosocial studies on memory, emotion and motivation, their study is couched in terms of “stickiness”?that is, the art of making ideas unforgettable. [...] Fun to read and solidly researched, this book deserves a wide readership.

The Power of an Hour: Business and Life Mastery in One Hour a Week by Dave Lakhani
From the Inside Flap: The Power of an Hour gives you the blueprint for making changes one at a time that add up to a big difference. Most books that promise to help you improve yourself and your business are too formulaic and too focused on one particular aspect of life to really work. But this book is different. It’s a holistic guide to the practical, everyday actions you can use to supercharge your personal and business development.

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
Despite my self-imposed book buying ban (because, as you can see, I have enough to keep me busy for the year and then some), this is a book I’ve wanted to buy since it was published. I’m happy to report I’m going to be able to read this book without breaking my ban, because one of my wonderful friends bought this for me because she loves me (or maybe because she was sick of hearing me whine about wanting it…lol) Either way, I get to read it this month! Woo-hoo! I’ve slated it for week 3 in honor of Barack’s Innauguration as President and President’s Day. Can’t wait!

The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls and David Weinberger
Review from Business Week: “For every retail or consumer-products company wondering why its Internet marketing doesn’t seem to be working, The Cluetrain Manifesto…offers fresh and sound advice, expressed in entertaining prose. Its oft-repeated premise – that markets are conversations – should be pounded into the collective brain of corporate executives.”

My Rules, a Surprise and My Hidden Agenda

One of the rules I’ve set for myself is not to limit myself to just the books on my shelves. I’ve got at least that many, if not more in e-book form here on my hard drive. They count. (And they don’t count against my book buying ban, mostly because I’ve got way more hard drive space than bookshelf space.) Which means I’ve already got one book under my belt: Todoodlist. You’ve already got my review of it.

Here’s the surprise: If you buy Todoodlist through this link by Midnight Monday, January 5th and forward a copy of your purchase receipt email to me at Suzanne at vAssistant Services dot com, I’ll enter you in a drawing to be held Tuesday morning where the winner will be reimbursed their $14 personally by me! Those of you who’ve already purchased Todoodlist through my link will be entered in the drawing, too, if you send me your receipt. (I know 4 of you have, but I don’t know who you are.) So, if you’ve been on the fence, go on and get it, forward me your receipt and you could get your first book of 2009 on me! (My self-imposed book buying ban does not include buying books for others, by the way. Besides, it’s an e-book, so it’s really safe!)

So, what’s my hidden agenda, you ask? It’s three-fold, actually:

• to promote reading books of all kinds. Reading is FUNdamental, remember? And it’s good to get off the computer every now and then. (Gasp!)
• to find out about great books. You’re going to leave me a comment and tell me what books have made a difference for you, right? (Don’t worry – I’ll add your recommendation to my Amazon wish list or get it from the library, if I can’t wait.)
• to hold myself accountable for my reading goals by blogging about the books I read. See? I’ve gone and shot off my big mouth and told y’all I’m gonna do this. So, expect to see a post each week, probably on Sundays, (oh God, am I really typing this?!?!) about the book I’ve read.

So, you’re going to read how many books this year? Leave me a comment…

…maybe it’d be good to see if you’ve got the right ducks?

It’s New Year’s Day and a good chunk of the world is making resolutions. I don’t do that. Making New Year’s Resolutions is far too linear an activity for me.

Instead, I do a duck inventory. I don’t worry too much about getting or keeping them in a row. (My ducks are too much like me for that.)

My Duck Inventory

First, you should know that most of my ducks have ducks of their own. So, I guess you could say I have families of ducks. And some of the ducks belong to multiple families, so you can see right away that getting my ducks in a row is an activity I can’t just jump into. I have:

First, I see if there have been any new ducks born or if any of my old ducks have died in the last year. (It’s completely normal to get new ducks and lose old ducks. Circle of life, ya know. Sometimes ducks appear to be still alive, but they’re really dead, so you might have to poke at ‘em a little to be sure.)

Second, I check the health of all my ducks…and not just their health, but my own with respect to their presence in my life. (This is sometimes the most difficult part for me. It’s pretty easy to determine if they’re doing ok. A little more challenging, sometimes, to determine if they’re good for me.)

Third, I check to see if I need to get rid of any of my ducks. (I did a LOT of duck firing and letting go last year. Sometimes just recognizing they need to go seems to make them leave on their own. Like it when that happens. I’ve finally learned, though, that the new, good ducks you want can’t come to you ’til you make room for them.)

Fourth, I look for which ducks I might be missing or new ducks I might want to add. (I have also learned that getting new, good ducks in my life is a process of allowing them to come to me. I’ve been really good at giving for long, long time. These last few years have been about learning how to get really good at receiving. I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.)

This is about as lined up as my ducks ever get, and I’m ok with that, because when I’m done with my duck inventory I’m ready for the new year. And that’s the point, right?

How do you get ready for the new year? Do you make resolutions? If so, how do you go about it? If not, do you do something else instead? Leave a comment below and tell me. I’m really interested to know.