My Tower of Intention

Most people usually have a book on their night stand that they are currently reading. They’ll take it out and read some before bedtime. It’s a good ritual. Read a little each day and you’ll make progress. If you are really into the book, you’ll spend more time on it and eventually finish faster.

I, of course, am not like most people. I read a lot. Mostly what I read are current events, articles of interest in my profession, sports and entertainment. I read a great deal, but when it comes to books, I get started and quickly lose interest. It is true what they say about attention spans and focus. I have to work hard to get through a book.

Several years ago, I started to build a new feature in our bedroom, well actually my nightstand. I said I’m going to make an effort to read more books. I took one and started reading. I’d read a chapter, put it on the nightstand and go to bed. I wasn’t very consistent about it. Then someone would recommend or give me a new book to read and I would start that one. When I read a chapter, I’d put that book on top of the one that I had also read a chapter of. I wasn’t consistent and someone else would give me a new book.

Not too long afterwards, I created what my wife Jeanann named my “Tower of Intention.” This stack of books are the ones I really want to get to read. But alas, another book gets placed on the pile. She would make fun of me on how the stack was growing. What you don’t see are the audiobooks (you can’t stack those). I have a carousel of books on my Kindle account, ready to be heard.

You see, I’m a visual person. I spent a good portion of my life and career watching TV. I will watch an hour of TV before I spend it reading a book. The last entire book I think I read was by Michael Crichton. I was a fan of Andromeda Strain and his work engages me. Most books I read I will only get a quarter or half way through. It’s not that I don’t want to read them, because I do, it’s being consistent enough to follow through. Like I said earlier, I read a lot, but today’s articles are made for short attention spans.

I realize I have to read more books. Last year I made a New Year’s resolution to read 36 books (three per month). Blahahahahahaha! As Dave Ramsey would say, “how’s that working for ya?” I know all about commitment, willpower, dedication, accountability, etc, etc. Something has to give and here’s why.

The Town of Apex (NC) runs a program for entrepreneurs called LaunchApex. I’m in the 6th Cohort class and we finished classroom training. We now go on to the mentor/mentee phase and we had a “speed date” night with four possible mentors. At this event I met John Hiester, the owner of several car dealerships in the Triangle, Sanford and Lillington. 

In my professional opinion, I think John has one of the best tag lines in all the car advertising in the Triangle; “Get off your keister and come to Hiester!” He asked me what I did and I told I was a speaker. He said he was a speaker too. With the conversation now extended, we exchanged contact info, but he went one better. He went to his truck and brought me back a copy of his book, “Why Jacob Matters”, about how great leaders decide what they want. One chapter in and guess where the book is.

I saw him the other day at another event and told him that his book is at the top of my Tower of Intention. He told me I’d better hurry up because he has another book coming out this month. I need to get the wheels in motion.

2023 will be different. I have plenty to do but I am publicly committing here on paper my new intention to tear down the Tower! I reassessed the books I will read in 2023. Let’s face it, I had to delete some books because it’s like sleep, once you lose it, you can’t get it back.

I am not committing to 36 books because I’d be setting myself up for failure. I’m committing to 18 books for 2023 and there are currently 14 on the list with four to be added during the year. I think this is doable for a book and half a month. I’m even giving myself a head start with getting “Why Jacob Matters” by John Hiester read this month before his new book release.

If you would like a copy of my reading list for 2023, drop me a text or email and I will gladly share it. An intention is an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result. Now to make it happen…