A well-curated reading list is the quickest way to not just reading more books, but reading better books that have the power to change your life. Literature, in general, has been proven to be a powerful form of therapy, and when chosen wisely, the books we read can inspire, empower, and guide us through our personal life and business.

Ready to dive headfirst into your reading challenge?

Here’s how to make sure your choices pack a punch.

Step 1: Define a time frame

It’s easy to overcommit when it comes to reading — simply because we tend to focus on what we want to achieve rather than what is feasible. The best way to set yourself up for success is to begin by determining how much time you can actually devote to reading — per day, week, month, or whatever works for you. Only then should you decide how many books will make it onto your list.

Think about reading as any other hobby you might be pursuing — yoga, hiking, football, or language classes. All of these activities require scheduling in advance, booking time off, and showing up every single time. If you’re serious about crossing every book off your reading list, then you need to realistically assess your availability and start planning from there. This means that once you’ve estimated the number of reading hours you can set aside, you’ll be able to craft a reading list for the next month, the summer, or the entire year.

Defining a time frame for your reading list will help you set achievable goals and avoid disappointments. I’ve defined my reading time by taking 45 minutes during lunch (to reset my mind) and 30 minutes before I go to sleep. Defining my time frame ensures that I get reading in every single day — even if my day is hectic.

Step 2: Determine your goals

Whether you’re reading for pleasure, for work, or for self-improvement, attaching a goal to your reading list will give it a clearer direction. It doesn’t have to be a high-level strategy — even a seemingly broad goal, such as “read five books written by women,” will give you a better chance of staying on course.

You might choose to educate yourself on the latest climate change research, try a new genre, or pick up the first book that grabs your eye at a local bookshop. That’s fine; combining a few different goals will help you keep the reading journey more exciting.

More important, working through a reading list that’s built with a purpose will give you an immense sense of achievement every time you reach the last page.

Step 3: Create categories that matter to you

Similar to setting goals, the idea of creating categories is another neat way to give your reading list a bit more structure. Reading without a plan can actually limit our potential to discover new ideas and learn new things, as we tend to stick to genres and authors we already know well, rather than challenging ourselves to try something else.

As humans, we are hardwired to avoid risk.

The easiest way to come up with ideas for book categories is to note a few things that really excite or intrigue you as well as things and values that are dear to your heart. Still vague? Here are a few popular ideas to put you on the right track:

• Books that I was supposed to read in school but never did
• Something new and acclaimed (modern bestsellers and award-winning titles)
• Books that will make me better at my job
• Books that will help me be happy
• Something that I would never read otherwise
• Something that was recommended to me
• One of the classics

Try to tie your goals to your categories to optimize your reading list without making it too dry and boring.

Have your plans ever fallen through for reasons that were completely out of your control? It’s worth keeping in mind that a reading list is just a plan, not a binding contract. If life changes in a flash, you’ll need to adapt on the fly.

Whether you write your list in the order of reading priority or leave a few empty slots on it for books that will wind up on your nightstand, you can find a way to craft a future-proof list that plans for the unexpected.

It’s much more satisfying to start less ambitious and surprise yourself on the way than it is to overcommit and waste the joy of reading in the process.

3 curious methods for choosing the next book to read

It’s a great feeling to finish a book that really resonated with you, but a lull and sense of loss often comes after. Do you find it challenging to decide which book to read next? Give one of these methods a try.

The double-booking method. Based on the concept of double-booking dates, double-booking reading refers to the common practice of reading more than one book at a time. It could be that you’re reading an ebook on your Kindle, listening to an audiobook on Audible, and devouring a paperback before going to bed. That’s fine! Diving into a few books at the same time increases the odds that you will find the right match.

The Goldilocks principle. Remember the story about Goldilocks and the three bears? A curious little girl stumbles into a cottage in the forest, goes inside, and makes herself at home — tasting porridge from different bowls, sitting in all the chairs, and trying out all the beds. She’s looking for something that’s right for her.

In the book world, applying the Goldilocks principle means you can have a book tasting session. Gather a bunch of books you want to read, decide on the “tasting sample” — whether you’ll read the blurb, the first page, or a random page from the book — and give them each a chance to impress and compel you.

The summer fling method. Appealing to your wild side, this method is a call to let yourself go and enjoy the kind of spontaneity and excitement that’s best described as a summer fling. Have you ever felt an occasional desire to pick up a romance novel or a fantasy book? The summer fling method allows you to indulge yourself in the kind of books you never usually read. Who knows? Maybe it will give you a completely new perspective on your life.

Thanks for reading.

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Originally published at www.jotform.com.

Why crafting your reading list is important was originally published in Jotform Stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What makes for a good wine?

We’ve been asking this very question since wild grapes were first fermented in the Areni-1 cave in Vayots Dzor, Armenia.

(That was 6000 years ago).

You might believe the best wines sit on the highest shelfs, with the highest price tags.

But a wine’s quality has nothing to do with money.

Taste matters, obviously. And a good wine will to be balanced between flavors and aromas — raspberry, or cinnamon, coffee, chocolate, citrus…

Taste is both intuitive and complex. Sniffer, swirler and all-round vino connoisseur Tim McDonald captures this well when he says:

“The taste is confirming what you sense. Good is the combo of all of it, the sum of the parts.”

Yes, a good wine must be flawless.

Yes, a good wine must be well-balanced.

But more importantly, a good wine must have a story behind it.

(That’s what we experience when we taste it).

As you take your first sip, an old locomotive passing through Aegean plains flashes behind your eyes: pouring an honorable black smoke, ripening the flavor of the old wise oak.

An old farmer is carrying hay at his farm; children are playing blind man’s buff.

Once the first sip touches your soul, it should taste like your hometown.

Startups are no different

It’s their story that makes them. And often, that story will remind us of home.

You know how some parents frame their children’s nursery sketches on their wall, or can’t resist talking about the college their 18-year-old got into.

It can be irritating, I know (RIP George Carlin).

But I get it, too. Because it’s not just about showing off, and being proud (although that’s definitely part of it).

It’s also about children coming into the world, and growing up, and a narrative (of two, or four, or 18 years) culminating into something (a drawing, a place at college).

Part of what proud parents want to share is the richness of that story, the story of their home.

And I believe that startups are no different. Their creation and growth is a story, and they have stories embedded in them.

And often, startup stories feel similar to those of bringing up children.

Gross Domestic Product Inc founder Scott Bell points to that similarity:

“A new business or startup really is a child in the family, and if everyone isn’t onboard with the sacrifices it will take to raise that child, you’ll be a single parent/entrepreneur eventually.”

That’s why you see founders talking everywhere about their startups, like proud parents.

Some founders or collaborators do drop out in the course of the journey of a startup. But other startups continue to have many family members; and in some cases founders and employees will be eager to tell the stories of their company.

A story shared

JotForm is a company like that. Its story is not one of overnight success. But there is a lot to tell — the big story and many smaller ones.

More than a hundred posts were published on the JotForm Blog within the first half of 2018. Many of them were written by JotForm’s founder, Aytekin, but many others weren’t.

They were written by members of the JotForm family keen to share their experiences.

And it’s not all technical stuff, either. It’s about how to use music to boost office productivity, or about the importance of remaining optimistic.

I once met a guy who claimed he would jump to his thirties — sacrificing ten years of his youth — if it meant he would end up with a perfect life.

Is that what you’d want?

Me, definitely not.

Because think of all the stories you would skip. Your big story would have this huge hole in it. And for what?

A story is never about perfection. It is about what is, every single minute of every single day. The picture, or the college place, may look or feel perfect briefly — and then life goes on.

Minutes after doing that drawing, your wonderful four-year-old will probably have a big fight with her sibling. And 25 years later, that may be the germ for a novel, or the two siblings may have a brilliant idea for a startup.

In Every Breath Matters. Ursula K. Le Guin, the great queen of science fiction and fantasy, says:

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

The journey gives rise to the story. And the story creates the startup, or the wine.

So instead of just staying a follower of the JotForm story, I have decided to join the crew and be one of the writers that help chronicle the journey.

A journey that tastes like wine.

A good one…

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to hit that clap button 👏 to help others find it.

Originally published at www.jotform.com.

How to spot a good wine and a good startup: the power of storytelling was originally published in Jotform Stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.