How to beat Tsundoku?

Do you have a habit of buying books and not reading them?

If this sounds like you, you might be engaging in tsundoku, a japanese term used to describe a person who owns a lot of unread books.

The speed at which I swipe my credit card is not the speed at which I read the books I bought. As a result there is a tsundoku around me at all times.

In mid 2020 I was frustrated with this habit of mine. When I was running out of space in my library, I had to do something about it deliberately. I tried all productivity hacks like speed reading, audio books at 2x listening speed and more. Some processes worked but I was surely stressed about finishing more books. In this process I accidentally stumbled upon an idea of book living.

It is not about just reading the book but take it one step forward and live the book. The idea is simple. Do not stop at just reading the book but take the actionable steps in the book and  just live it.

If it takes 8-10 hours to read a book, it takes about 80-100 hours to live a book. As a result I had to pick and choose books to live. I became very picky about it. So I read far less books in a year.

I ended up choosing my books very dilegently to live by. So there is no more FOMO of reading and finishing 50 books a year.

With book living as a habit, I am a far better person than before because I live the book and imbibe them as a part of me. So now I don't swipe my credit card that often. I have also donated a number of my unread books that I will not live this lifetime. The library is free, my wallet is free and my mindspace is free to a large extent.

Currently I am living The Artist's way and the process is 12 weeks. It is the best theraphy I ever had as a creative. I have chosen to live Seven habits of highly effective people next.

Try book living at your end and let me know your insights and reflections about living a book.

I can't wait to hear from you ❣️

🥂 to book living!