I have a confession to make — I started working on this blog, hoping that I’ll get to show off my expertise in leadership, coaching, change management, and organizational psychology to my prospective clients and employers. But that intention changed to something I never thought I would do — documenting my thoughts as an observer of the signs of our times. Or perhaps, just my time as an evolving human being.
Sure, I do post quite a few highly specific posts now and then, but it’s hard for someone like me to stay limited to just a few topics that are deemed “professional.” I’m a curious being, so exploration is what I do every single day. If I don’t document my experiences, this blog is just another website with words that don’t mean anything to anyone, including myself.
One of the most daunting experiences for me is to summarise a book. I know I should be doing it, but I don’t, primarily because I’ve convinced myself that I don’t have enough time. While that’s partially true, summarising books after reading is an excellent opportunity to share your thoughts on some other person’s work and go a level deeper (than merely reading and highlighting) to learn concepts that the author wanted to convey.
The other day, I bumped into this fantastic video by Ali Abdul that dives deep into the art and science of note-taking and remembering the books that you read better.
The video gave me quite a few ideas on reviewing the books that I’ve already read, but the one that’s stuck out was how I could effectively summarise the books I’m reading. Yes, it takes a lot of time to do so, but the effort is highly rewarding. And since I’ll get an opportunity to document my learning — in Evernote and on the website — it’s all the more worth it.
I guess I’m at a stage that I’m carefully considering what my body of work should look, feel, and sound like. And why not? The idea is for this asset (the website) to last way longer than I will live.