Leaders are learners. Leaders are readers. Speed of the leader, speed of the team.
We've heard all of these. A recent post by Bob Franquitz on How to Be a Bookworm was an excellent read that I shared with our staff team and reminded me of conversations I've had with others about my reading. So, I decided to share my discipline here. But, unlike Bob who was very clear that reading has become a learned discipline for him, I've always had a love for reading since early childhood when Dad stressed it so much. And, I read very quickly. So...for many of you, you'll need to develop your own plan and it might involve lots of listening (yea God for technology that helps us grow more!).
But, here's my plan of reading, in order (e.g., since I'm a structured person, it is rare for me to read books until I have finished the regular magazines) :
1) God's Word...I read His Word daily (and when I don't, I know I've missed it!) in the Old Testament and New Testament...right now, I'm following a plan which gets me reading 30 minutes every morning. This does NOT include any studying time for weekly teaching responsibilities. Just as an fyi, my general practice is about 6-10 hours for a 30 minute weekend teaching...but I've been speaking for roughly 27 years straight, so my experience with others is that it takes longer.
2) Newspapers..I read our two local papers every day and USA today 5 days a week
3) Magazines...I read TIME, Fast Company, Leadership Journal, and Christianity Today
4) Books....I typically read about 50-100 books per year. Most of my reading is concentrated in the fields of my strength and gift mix. Similar to Bob's post above, I try to vary that over time. Most of my reading is therefore in the area of leadership, church growth and health, spiritual life, Biblical studies, biography, finances and wealth management, and some historical fiction/narrative. I rarely read fiction, but have gone on spurts when I devoured Clancy or Grisham.
I try to read to our boys (ages 8 and 10) most nights...we recently finished the entire Chronicles of Narnia series and now we're reading a series called, "Home Ranch" by Ralph Moody that I read to the girls when they were young (yes, the reading is probably more for me than them!)
KEY TIP....over the last 3 years, I've been having our office staff do "book notes" after I've read a resource that is kept in an indexed file for me..really helps my speaking and writing ministry.
I'm also fortunate in that I'm not much of a TV watcher except for occasional sports. I do love movies, and I am a fanatic "24" fan...BUT ONLY when it comes out on DVD so that I can watch the entire season without commercials and without a break...and it is coming out next week...so I'll be GOING FOR IT!
