I Hereby Give You Permission To Read Multiple Books At Once

Ev Chapman
June 21, 2021

If you've heard me talk about Zettelkasten or my writing process you've probably heard me use the phrase 'Follow Your Interests'

I first heard this term in the book How To Take Smart Notes by Sonkhe Ahrens and it has stuck with me ever since.

👉 It's why I have several essays on the go.

👉 Several books on the go

👉 Multiple projects to work on at one time

I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day who has been in the recent Melbourne lockdown and I asked him, What have you been reading lately? He told me he hadn't been reading anything because the current book he had was quite heavy going and he wasn't in the headspace to read it.

Because one book was 'too heavy' the whole act of reading was too heavy for him. So, I suggested he just start another one. We've been conditioned to think reading multiple books is bad, but why? If it keeps you interested in the act of reading, then who cares how many you have on the go?

When you follow your interests around the act of what you are doing always remains interesting.

You won't associate reading with something boring, because whenever you dive in you are always reading something interesting. This is exactly why I have multiple things on the go to keep my interest.

👉 I always find reading interesting because I always have something interesting to read

👉 I always find writing interesting because I always have something interesting to write

👉 I always find my projects interesting, because there is always something intersting to do.

Contrary to popular belief you don't have to push through. This is your permission slip to just work on interesting things.

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