Report §

To be honest, I have no idea how I ended up in February so quickly. I remember it was January 8th, and I was typing stuff here. and then boom!

I just wanted to recap January, from the perspective of Read365 project.

First off, the mission of the journey has slightly changed. Initially, it was a self-experimentation of reading 365 books, sharing the insights with you throughout the year on this platform, invite you all to the activity of reading, and ultimately donate the books to a local high school. But it didn’t take long until I realized that the first (and the most daunting) half of it felt a bit dumb and MrBeast-esque, for two reasons:

1. Although obviously it is not impossible to achieve such a goal, it becomes fairly more difficult to do it if you predominantly read non-fiction books by experts in their fields, that are full of wisdom (and are central to the project itself). I love taking reference notes as I read, highlighting and jotting down and associating my thoughts here and there in the book. Such an interactive reading experience definitely sabotages the goal of finishing a book a day on average, and I didn’t foresee it initially.
2. Taking inputs is only part of the story. As I mentioned, the other half of the goal was to distill the information and to syntheize an output from the input I read. And as someone who’s building his own business full-time, I realized quickly that there was simply not enough time in a given day for me to fulfill the task in a quality manner.

So I just pivoted. (Nope, I never give up. I just pivot…)

What’s the New Mission Then? §

I still aim to get myself exposed to 365 books. But instead of trying to finish each book, I’ll use them as reference books, and take at least one atomic advice from each, that I could apply in my own life.

We should all prioritize doing over having (ideas). And instead of a mere reading experience, I decided to invite anybody who discovers here to applying the theoretical knowledge that is trapped inside books. What ultimately matters is the ability to pick a source of knowledge that is relevant to your deepest desires and your highest aspirations in life, combined with the ability to experiment with the wisdom packed in any source. And going back and forth between different sources to effectively navigate your life.

We’re not short of information. We’re short of action.

PS: And then there’s also the School365. But I will elaborate on it later.

January Statistics §

Now that the big update is officially out of the way, we can talk about the statistical meat. Or should I say meaty statistics?

• Started 12 books in total.
• Finished 5 books.
• Applied pieces of wisdom from only 4 books onto my own life. (And this is actually the primary goal of Read365, so I am way behind the numbers I aimed for.)
• Published 20 journal entries.
• Streamed 31 Reading Together sessions on our YouTube harbor.
• The harbor gained 10 followers in total. (Hey there!)
• 4 people subscribed to the synthesis letter. (Okay, one of them is me. Well, I wonder the letters as much as you fellas do…)

Takeaways §

• This project is composed of many tiny subroutines I had no idea existed. And like a thousand small cuts, lack of each tiny task, or habit caused the program to halt in its first month. To be honest, I was expecting it to be an overall smooth experience, even though I had no prior experience of blogging, streaming and many other parts that complement the reading itself. Heck I didn’t have a habit of properly implementing what I read into my own life, prior to this self-experiment.
  • I should be taking each part more seriously in February and have a standard before I even start improving each part.
• I really haven’t officially announced the project yet, let alone promoting it. Even to my own friends and family (except you). I guess I will wait a little bit more, until I’m okay with the idea that there’s enough meat of wisdom that’s immediately accessible.