3 Short Reads on CHANGE

CHANGE is the only constant in life and yet we struggle to cope with it when it occurs. Most of the times, when we struggle to adapt to the change, the reason is our refusal to move out of our comfort zone into something new and unknown. Here's sharing in this post about 3 easy-to-read and interesting titles on Change. These reads are like a joyride for the readers, as they embark on their journey to understanding and embracing change.

WHO MOVED MY CHEESE by Spencer Johnson - An all time bestseller on the subject of CHANGE, the beauty of the book lies in its simple approach to connect with the readers. This parable/ fable is about 4 characters - 2 mice, Scurry and Sniff and 2 "little people", Hem and Haw, who are living happily in their maze, regularly getting their supply of "cheese". Things get tougher when one day they find the cheese missing. This is precisely where the things get interesting and the book traces the journey of each of the characters in how they respond to this unforeseen situation. The book may be a short (sub 100 pages) but has immense lessons for us regarding dealing with change. For me, the biggest lesson was to always be ready to adapt to the situation and be willing to move out of our comfort zone if it leads us to better and/ or favourable opportunities. The "cheese prompts" in the book act as wonderful pointers that guide us during the process of change. 

THE SHARK AND THE GOLDFISH by Jon Gordon - Here's another wonderful, though ultra short read on CHANGE. Imagine yourself being forcibly pushed out of your comfort zone by a wave of change, how would you respond ? Would you crib and play the blame game or would you try to adapt to the new situation as fast as you can by learning the tricks and tips of surviving ? This book is precisely about provoking us to think whether we tend to become a goldfish or a shark, when pushed into unknown territories. This fable is about a goldfish, a freshwater fish, who lands up in an ocean and is scared about how to survive in salt water. This is when an elderly Shark handholds and guide the Goldfish about what surviving in an ocean entails. The book is interspersed with pieces of advice that the Shark provides to the Goldfish. The key message of the book is to stay positive even when the going gets tough for us. 

OUR ICEBERG IS MELTING by John Kotter - If the above two mentioned books are about individual change, here's a one that talks about addressing change at an organisational level. This book is a fable about a colony of penguins who discover that the iceberg they are living on is melting. The book beautifully captures the dilemma that different team members face while confronting change. The fable in the book captures the emotions of fear, confusion, indecisiveness, and the similar very nicely and the readers can easily draw a parallel with their workplace. While reading this wonderful i almost started mapping the characters against the Innovation Diffusion Curve and it was real fun. The book is a must-read considering that the author, John Kotter has spent years researching the topic of change and flashes of the same can be found in the book too, with reference and mapping done to the 8 Step Process of Successful Change. A thoroughly enjoyable read and quite visually appealing too. 

Hope you like the above recommendations and here's ending this post with a wonderful quote on Change by Mandy Hale 

"Change can be scary but you know what's scarier ? Allowing fear to stop you from growing, evolving and progressing"

Book List - Three Books about Life's Lessons

There's something special and unique about certain books that instill in us that extra bit of courage to take on life's challenges, even the unforeseen ones, in the right spirit and be grateful for everything that we possess. Many a times in our life when tragedy strikes us, we get stunned and get stuck, unable to move ahead with our life. These precisely are the times when we seek solace by drawing inspiration from people who have been there before and have bravely overcome these adversities. These 3 amazing books are my personal favourites when we think about human courage and resilience. These 3 books are not only full of wisdom but are a testimony to the fact that nothing is bigger than the opportunity called life. However grim the situation may be, life always provides us with plenty to feel good about and cherish. And the most important lesson is to embrace life'e unpredictability.

• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - This is about the author's tryst with life after being detected with a terminal pancreatic cancer. The book captures the lecture titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" delivered by Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007. The book provides immense learning as the author recollects the memories from his childhood to the present and the lessons he learnt. He further shares about how living life and enjoying every moment is much more than anything else and how, after getting aware of his illness he started valuing every moment of it. The core message delivered by the book is to enjoy the life to its fullest and cherish every shades in it because one never knows when life may end.

• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom - Here's another gem and this book is all about the lessons and learnings on living and dying that the author(Mitch Albom) gathers from one of his university professor, Morrie Schwartz, who is suffering from ALS(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a disease characterised by death of neurons controlling voluntary muscles. After watching his college teacher on a TV program, the author connects with his professor after a gap of 16 years and visits him. The author spends 14 Tuesday's with his professor and every meeting is about lessons and learnings on living and dying.

• Enjoy Every Sandwich by Lee Lipsenthal - This book is another masterpiece about reality of life. The book details out the life of the author post diagnosis of esophageal cancer. Inspite of being a medical doctor, how the protagonist deals with the vagaries of life is the central theme of this book. With a 90% chance of dying within 5 years, the book traces the author's journey of realisation and his ascend by accepting mortality, finding purpose and mission in life and appreciating every moment of life. 

So, to be fully alive and live well

• Accept Life's unpredictability
• Accept mortality and 
• Always exhibit gratitude for what you have always  

The Art of Reading Better and More

Every book lover has this inherent wish to read more and more but this wish is undone by the chaos and distraction prevailing in the times that we live in.  "More Time = More Reading" is the easiest solution but what to do when we feel hard pressed for "self-time"and can't find enough time to read.

We keep searching for that magical strategy/ strategies that could help us quench our thirst for reading more.

The motivation doesn't seem to be a problem as with great enthusiasm we enroll ourselves in various reading challenges. But soon we realize that motivation alone won't take us as far as achieving the unrealistic target that most of us set. This is when we start exploring strategies to help us keep pace with our reading target.

I have been through that phase where i struggled with my quest for reading better and more and tried many strategies, a few of which i will share in this post. For all the passionate readers (including myself), reading is an experience and the idea behind picking any strategy should be to ensure that the "experience" is not compromised upon. This post is not about speed reading techniques at all (though i tried many of them in my quest to read more) because if a passionate reader starts focusing on "quick reading" then the entire essence of reading is lost. The strategies mentioned below comes entirely from my own experiences at becoming a better reader - someone who could read more without losing the real essence of reading.

Few of the common sense/ smart techniques that can help any of us read more (these techniques have worked for me !) are as mentioned below:

• Be Selective - Each one of us is hard pressed for time and therefore it makes sense to be selective about what we pick up to read. First and foremost, let's identify what genre we enjoy reading the most. Once we have identified our favourite genre, then we must go through the preview/ review of books in that genre (based on popularity, recommendations, preferred sub-topic/ theme, favourite author, preferred style of writing) and then finally do the selection.    

• Follow your Interest - While picking a book for reading, we must always follow our interest rather than the herd

• Multimodal Reading - Be open to reading books across different modes and formats. Even if we are a die hard paperback/ hardbound fan, we should get accustomed to reading on e-readers and other gadgets. Building this flexible habit will help us twofold
• even if we are not carrying the paper books, we can still utilise those tiny, little free time slots that we get during the day. 
• we can never be without our preferred stockpile of books even during travel as e-readers (kindle, etc.) and gadgets (smartphone) can carry ample of books 

• Cross-Reading - Parallel reading in terms of picking books from different genres will retain the motivation and excitement. This not only broadens our thinking but also brings more variety in our reading habits   

• Read the Original - Never compromise on reading the original.An abridged version or a derived version may not do justice to the thoughts and ideas contained in the original edition.

• 3 by 5 Reading Rule - To learn about any subject, i follow the technique of identifying the 5 best books on that subject/ topic and then reading any 3 out of that. And i don't forget to read the earliest one on the subject.

• Chunking - The days when i was experimenting different techniques for improving my reading habits, i tried skimming and scanning but these did not achieve my goals of reading more and better. I discovered Chunking and that suited my objective. Chunking is all about reading a group of words (usually 3-5 words) rather than word by word.

• Make Reading a Habit - Building reading time in our routine will make us more disciplined and regular     

Hope applying few or all of the above mentioned simple and common-sense tips help you read better and more.

N.B.: Reading is fun as along as it is immersive, so retain your passion for reading and not get lost in the quest for quantity instead of quality !