January 2025 - Mandi Stanley

Our theme in January is Keep Reading Alive in 2025!

Last week I shared my first two secrets to help us all achieve our reading goals this year:

SECRET ONE.

I don’t watch a lot of tv.

SECRET TWO.

I keep two books going at once.

This week let’s look at two more simple yet helpful tips for staying on our reading track in January.

SECRET THREE.

Set up an account in Goodreads.

Goodreads is fun! It allows you to keep track of the books you’ve read, follow friends (I learn a lot from my friends’ reading lists), and stay on top of new releases from your favorite authors. You can check it out at www.goodreads.com. I’d love for us all to become reading friends.

SECRET FOUR.

Always keep a book in your car.

I know a lot of you have gone digital, so you always have a book close at hand and ready to read on your phone or Kindle. Still, there have been times I’ve gotten somewhere and realized there’s going to be a long wait. I keep a book in my car for such occasions. I can chip away at it a few pages or chapters at a time, and I can finish an additional 12 books a year on average just by reading while I’m waiting. It often comes down to deciding if I’m going to read or if I’m going to scroll.

What about you? I invite you to state your 2025 reading plan in the comments along with the book you are currently reading or are about to begin. For those of you who have gone digital, I’d love for you to talk me into it and bring me into the current century. I still walk around with a book in my hand like someone from the 1990s!

To customize a keynote or professional development session that will have your audience laughing and learning, contact Mandi Stanley.

Certified Speaking Professional Mandi Stanley works with business leaders who want to boost their professional image by becoming better speakers and writers through interactive high-content keynotes, breakout sessions, workshops, technical writing seminars, and fun proofreading classes.

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I’m excited about this focus for our first five weeks, and I hope you’ll accept the challenge to read more books in the new year.

It doesn’t matter how many you read last year; add one more to it this year. If you read two books in 2024, strive to read three in 2025. Reading shouldn’t be burdensome or make you feel guilty if you get behind schedule. Rather, I’m encouraging all of my seminar clients to simply READ ONE MORE.

In 2024, I set a goal of completing 75 books. I finished the year having read 82. My goal for 2025 is to read 85.

For the next five weeks, I’ll use this space to share my secrets for finding the time to read this many books. We’ll begin with the first two today:

SECRET ONE. I don’t watch a lot of tv.

Don’t get me wrong: I do have my favorite shows and streaming series. Lately, Bob and I have gotten caught up in shows like “Elsbeth,” and “Matlock,” and “Tracker.” And, we’re awaiting the new season of “Will Trent.” (Hey, don’t judge me for my taste in television.) However, while I’m counting the months until season five of “Only Murders in the Building,” I’m going to read as many books as possible.

SECRET TWO. I keep two books going at once.

Listen, this one is harder for me to suggest than you may realize. For years, I could read only one book at a time, and I wouldn’t begin a new one until I finished the current one. I was a stickler. I sought closure with one storyline before I could even consider another one. Audio books have been a game changer. I keep an audio book going during road trips, and I have a hard copy of a book I can pick up and read any time.

And, I’m aware there’s an ongoing debate about if audio books count as reading. Purists say no. However, I say they most certainly do count toward our reading goals, and to hear certain stories narrated elevates them to an entirely new level. For instance, I could listen to Robert Bathurst of “Downton Abbey” fame narrate Louis Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache’s adventures all day, and indeed I have during 11-hour road trips to Kansas City.

It also helps if the two books represent different genres. Usually, I listen to fiction in the car while reading the physical version of a business or professional development book. I’m about to begin Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.

What about you? I invite you to state your 2025 reading plan in the comments along with the book you are currently reading or are about to begin. I also invite you to opine on your side of the audio book debate.

To customize a keynote or professional development session that will have your audience laughing and learning, contact Mandi Stanley.

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