I started doing exactly what I said I would not do.  I started reading a book on my Kindle then I received a physical paperback book in the mail.  I told myself I would not let myself read the paperback until I finished the book on the Kindle.  What did I do?  I grabbed the paperback and now I am reading 2 books at the same time.  Why, why, why?

There are no excuses, I knew not to grab the book and still did.  I was leaving for the weekend on a glamping trip.  No internet and no electricity and I wanted to continue my new habit of reading.  So, I grabbed the book and during my trip started reading it.  During that time, I was proud of myself for picking it up and reading.  I didn’t think too much of it and of course I did not finish the entire thing.

Content Cop where are you to ensure I don’t overwhelm myself.  Why did you decide to be out of office (OoO) when I needed you the most.

The paperback book is great, and I will continue to read it.  The book on my Kindle is great and I will continue to read it.  Yesterday, I had internet and electricity and started reading the book on the Kindle.  It started good but within 10 minutes of reading I started getting confused.  The topics of both books are very similar, the writing style is completely different.   

Due to the topics being similar and the connections I started making, my brain started running.  I tried to ignore but it was to fast too loud all at the same time.  I kept reading thinking I will come back and focus.  That did not happen.  I was not able to focus.  I was not able to separate one book from the other.  Everything started to blur into 1 and I started to ask myself was this thought aligned with the paperback or the Kindle.

I am usually pretty good at remembering action items assigned or meeting discussions and decisions.  Even with back-to-back meetings I can reset and transition to the new meeting topic.  It feels harder to remember or separate in my personal life.  In this case, I am not able to remember the details aligned to each of the books.  Almost feels like I been neglecting the same muscles outside of work.

Here is the new plan, I will finish the paperback then I will finish the one downloaded to the Kindle.  Then I will write a summary of my thoughts and how these 2 books with different writing styles became 1 in my brain. 

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I will pay more attention and document how much I have been neglecting my life outside of work.