1/ Seminary broke my love for reading.

But over the last few weeks, I’ve experienced a resurgence in my joy and excitement for reading.

Here's what's changed:

2/ Before attending seminary I was a voracious reader, consuming 50-100 books each year. But something about being forced to read books in school not of my own choosing messed with my love of reading.

3/ I’ve heard this is a fairly common experience for grad students. But it’s been over three years since I graduated and I’ve still had trouble relocating that love for reading I once had.

Here are two observations that are helping me to recover my love of reading:

5/
1. READ WHATEVER YOU WANT
After graduation no one was making me read certain books anymore. But I kept thinking I was failing to redeem the time when I read for pleasure.

There is wisdom in being choosy about what you read, but not if it keeps you from reading at all.

6/ Read what interests you and you'll see the spark for reading reignited.

7/
2. READ THE GOOD STUFF DEEPLOY
There are some books that deserve a deeper read.

Adopt a strategy for taking notes and reviewing these works so that their treasures aren't lost.

8/ This might sound like moving in the opposite direction from my first observation and turning reading back into a chore, but not if your way of taking notes isn't labor-intensive.

My note-taking strategy is actually quite fun!

9/ The method I've been using is called "Progressive Summarization" and I learned from @fortelabs.

It’s basically an approach to reading and note taking that takes multiple passes over the same work to reduce it down to principles.

10/ Throughout the process you are digesting ideas more and more thoroughly. Eventually you achieve a sort of "ownership" over the concepts.

It’s not as though you’re reading the same book multiple times. The whole process is very “light touch” meaning it’s not onerous.

11/ Following a method like this can make deep reading less of a chore and more of a joy. Especially as you see the pay off in how the books you are reading are actually changing your life.

12/ I'm personally experiencing this payoff right now, as I see the concepts from Ed Welch's book "When People Are Big and God is Small" start to permeate my life.

/13 I wrote an article on Relearning the Joy of Reading that explains these concepts further. https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/relearning-the-joy-of-reading/