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Ever since 2006, I’ve attempted to read a few books a week, with the best periods being when I’ve been travelling on work when I average a book a day. Most weeks mean 3-4 books read.
This has meant a few things have changed in my reading habit
I read faster now (well, duh!) The books are far less weighty. More genre fiction, less difficult reads, so overall a dumbing down of my diet.
As the year comes to a close, there’s a lot to look back at.
Professionally, this was my first year where I was primarily a manager rather than an engineer. I can’t say I liked it (I didn’t), but I did learn a lot. It also helped me understand that there are some ladders that are not mine to climb. No matter what rewards exist at the top.
It was also a year where I saw significant growth in parts of my team.
I’ve tried meditation before a couple of times, but it didn’t stick. I found it very hard to still my mind or focus on my breath, and ended up feeling that the exercise was a waste of time.
A group session at work changed my feelings completely. It was a 30 minute guided meditation session, and it left me feeling calmer and recharged.
Since I was flirting with the idea of habit stacking to get me to kick off a set of good habits all at once, I added meditation to it.
I’ve not been having the best of times at work these days. I feel like I spend my day majoring in minor tasks and doing little deep work. Add to that the fact that I live deep in the suburbs of Bangalore and my commute is around 3 hours a day, my frustration levels are, shall we say, not inconsiderable.
I’ve spent a good amount of time in the last month and a half listening to audiobooks that I feel might kick me out of this rut and help me feel in better control of things.