{"id":898,"date":"2003-02-06T09:54:30","date_gmt":"2003-02-06T17:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2003\/02\/06\/developing-a-reading-plan\/"},"modified":"2009-06-24T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2009-06-24T23:06:12","slug":"developing-a-reading-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2003\/02\/06\/developing-a-reading-plan","title":{"rendered":"Developing a Reading Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just received an email from a friend named Earl Creps<\/a> <\/p>\n

land of plenty movie<\/a><\/p>\n

(he\u2019s the director of the doctoral program at my alma mater, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s all about how to read for personal growth<\/b>. I thought it was worth sharing an excerpt here. In case it\u2019s not obvious, he\u2019s speaking within the context of spiritual and organizational leadership.<\/p>\n

I think points 3 and 5 are particularly good.<\/p>\n

Here are some keys to maximizing the effectiveness of your reading\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

1. Read the classics: dial up amazon.com and search for the works of
\nJames McGregor Burns, Henri Nouwen, Warren Bennis, etc. While we can debate
\n\u201cwhat\u2019s a classic?,\u201d books of this sort will get you into the game in a
\nhurry. <\/p>\n

2. Read the latest and skip the middle: if you\u2019re just getting into an
\norganization forget what was written any more than 2 years ago [except for
\nleadership classics] and read from here forward. Most of the stuff in the
\nmiddle is derived from the classics anyway.\u2026<\/p>\n

3. Trust your life to guide your reading: When I\u2019m feeling fresh, I
\nread in my specialties [self-leadership, emerging culture, power ministry].
\nWhen I\u2019m tired, I read 90 degrees out from my specialties [, i.e.,
\nprofessional literature from other fields such as technology or psychology].
\nWhen I\u2019m burned out, I read 180 degrees out from my academic interests
\n[e.g., fiction, history]. Somehow, I always find more illustrations,
\nprinciples, and other ultimately useful material in this \u201cdiversionary\u201d
\nreading than just about anywhere else. I also find it hugely refreshing. A
\ntired mind cannot absorb much anyway.<\/p>\n

4. Any work is a \u201cleadership\u201d book if it\u2019s read by a leader: the leader
\nof the future must be an interesting, well-rounded person, not an
\nincompetent mystic or a corporate-clone technocrat. Younger adults
\nespecially are all about who you are, not just what you can do. <\/p>\n

5. Putting it together: Reading in your field makes you competent.
\nReading out from your field [90 degrees] makes you broad-minded. Reading
\nopposite your field [180 degrees] makes you interesting and creative. <\/p>\n

My major recommendation for left-brainers: develop a reading plan that
\nincludes 0, 90, and 180-degree dimensions. <\/p>\n

My major recommendation for right-brainers: start listening to your life
\nand read in response to it, dude.<\/p>\n

Blessings,<\/p>\n

Earl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just received an email from a friend named Earl Creps land of plenty movie (he\u2019s the director of the doctoral program at my alma mater, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary). Anyway, it\u2019s all about how to read for personal growth. I thought it was worth sharing an excerpt here. In case it\u2019s not \u2026 Continue reading \u201cDeveloping a Reading Plan\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-growth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-eu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1525,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/1525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}