April 18 2018

My 365 Day Challenge: Read a Book a Day!

I love books. The knowledge you can absorb from a good book is mind-blowing, it can literally change your life. Books make you see things from a different perspective, they open up whole new worlds for you. It’s because of my love for them that I’m starting a new challenge…to read one book every single day for one whole year or 365 days! I firmly believe that the universe has brought me to this idea:

1. My friend Kat just completed a 44 words of expression day challenge on Instagram. (I loved this one.) That got me thinking, I want to challenge myself, too!

2. In one of his 5-bullet Friday email newsletters, author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss wrote this:

“What I’m reading —
Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature — This book was introduced to me under unusual circumstances that I might write about another time. For now, I can offer this context: I ordered it in response to a therapist saying to me, ‘I suggest you explore art, music, and so on. The problem with most books is that there are too many words!’ If this exact book sells out, nearly all of Andy’s books appear gorgeous, and his Twitter account shares many examples of his art.”

Now I’ve been a land art fanatic since my days at My Modern Met. I firmly believe that no one does it better than Andy Goldsworthy. Here’s an article dated back to 2013 that shows some of his breathtaking art.

While reading Tim’s blurb, I wondered to myself, do I have that exact book he recommended? Hell yes, I did! I went home and saw it sitting right on my bookshelf. Now, what Tim’s therapist told him is absolutely true, instead of just reading book with lots of words, we should also appreciate books with breathtaking pictures. We should learn about different fields and expand our knowledge. That’s why with this 365 day challenge I’ll cover topics that I’m passionate about as well as ones where I’m interested in learning more.

(On a side note, if you’re not doing it already, I highly suggest signing up for Tim’s email newsletter. This man has experienced so much in life and talked to so many thought leaders, his suggestions on what to read, watch or even buy is always super cool.)

3. I had this epic, life-changing talk with my sister Grace on Sunday. I asked her to “life coach” me because I’m feeling a bit stuck as to where to take Skylar Yoo next. She gave me some solid advice and then told me about a “Tony Robbins“-type guy that she thought I’d love. Jay Shetty. Have you heard of him? He’s a former monk who calls himself a “host, storyteller, and viral content creator.” He’s got over 8.8 million followers on Facebook which is astounding given that he only started growing his own, personal brand two years ago. His tagline? “Make wisdom go viral.” Catchy, isn’t it?

Last night, I watched this video he created called “How I Read A Book A Day.” Jay gave some great tips on how to speed read and soak in knowledge.

So now that I’ve explained to you the inspiration behind this crazy challenge, here’s what you can expect to find.

1. Topics will include:

What I’m passionate about:
Entrepreneurship
Business
Marketing/Advertising
Art
Photography
Fashion
Mindfulness
Mental Health
Parenting

What I’d like to learn more about:
Feminism
Biographies
Fiction
History
Marriage
Cooking

The photo you see here consists of books I’ve already read (and plan on rereading) as well as books I’ve bought but haven’t had the time to read. They’re a small sample of the 365 books I plan on diving into.

Update: After thinking about it some more, I’ll include a few of the books pictured here in this challenge but, for the most part, I’m going to try to read new, life-changing or thought-provoking books instead.

2. How I’ll share what I learn:

Instagram: Here you’ll see which book I read the day prior and some of my favorite quotes from that book.

Adventures of Yoo blog: I’ll go into further detail as to what I learned. I’ll share a story that inspired me, a statistic, and my favorite quotes.

If you want to recommend a book to me, I’d absolutely love that! Please leave it as a comment either on my Instagram or my Adventures of Yoo Facebook page.

Wish me luck!

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