Hi, it’s been a while. For different reasons, I stopped writing for some time. This week, on 23 of April, it was World Book Day, so I decided to tell you a little story. 

At the beginning of every year, I make a resolution (which is private of course) of the things I want to achieve by the end of it. I am sure many of you have done something similar at one point. You have sat down, took the notes, put on some entries and then… completely forgot where they are. That’s the problem, it not easy to accomplish everything on that list (and we usually create long ones). 

Let me walk you with some of the items on my list:

  • I was trying to learn a new programing language – FAILED( excuse: I know some Java so that’s enough 😉 ); 
  • I wanted to build an app all by myself – FAILED( excuse: it required me learning a programming language – so I crossed this one from the list 😛 );
  • I wanted to go to the gym regularly (actually my girlfriend wanted that 😛 ) – Failed Big – but that’s a LESSON: don’t put something on the list that the others want.

One of the challenges I put on, was reading 24 books by the end of the year. Two books a month, that’s a fair and reasonable amount, and … you would say that he finally did it, well guess again – by the end of the year (it was 2016 I think) I had only read 10 books (come on, it’s better than nothing 🙂 ). 

Last year I did something different, I posted my challenge online, in the hopes that maybe it could push me to accomplish it. Let’s be clear here, I don’t have an army of fans that follow me, or are dying for my updates. In any case, nobody would care if I did or not. But putting it online strangely worked. I read all twenty-four in a year, 24in365 that’s what I called it. And now I am doing it again.

I started reading regularly. And it helped me a lot. There are a number of reasons why I recommend reading books. It makes you a better communicator – as a lecturer, I think I am continuously improving. It helps to broaden the horizons. As Einstein said: Imagination is more important than knowledge. On the other hand, it helps with concentration, reduces stress and improves your memory;  It’s like a workout – for the brain – not the body ( I told you I failed in there). 

What genres should I read, you may ask. My advice is all of those you can understand: science fiction, drama, romance, travel, history, economy, biography, etc. Don’t stick to one type or two. Grasp them all, trust me: they all will be good to you. This is my list of the books I read in 2017 and as you see its all kind of different genres:

  1. The Power Of Habit – Charles Duhigg
  2. The File On H – Ismail Kadare
  3. Cain And Abel – Jeffrey Archer
  4. Daughter – Jane Shemilt
  5. Aeschylus, The Lost – Ismail Kadare
  6. Broken April – Ismail Kadare
  7. The Wedding Procession Turned To Ice – Ismail Kadare
  8. Zuleika Dobson- Max Beerbohm
  9. Seven Brief Lessons On Physics – Carlo Rovelli
  10. Steal Like An Artist – Austin Kleon
  11. We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  12. I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb
  13. The Blinding Order – Ismail Kadare
  14. The European Identity of Albanians – Ismail Kadare
  15. The Last Templar – Raymond Khoury
  16. Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins
  17. Dating Game – Danielle Steel 
  18. Deception Point – Dan Brown
  19. Free Verse – Migjeni
  20. Novels Of The Northern City – Migjeni
  21. Enver Hoxha: The Iron Fist of Albania – Blendi Fevziu
  22. Of Love And Shadows – Isabel Allende
  23. Elon Musk – Ashlee Vance
  24. Zero to One – Peter Thiel

Another thing I learned in the process is that if you have something in mind, start it. Don’t wait for the right moment because it will never come. Along with 24in365, I completed some other entries on my list that were important to me; not all the list though – still a loser in that direction but partly is my fault. There were too many entries in there. I tend to fill my time with so many different things, and some of those naturally will be left aside( you see –  a nice excuse I got here 😛 ). Putting too many entries maybe it’s a good thing after all. You get to complete some of them. 

In the end, it’s up to you. Too many and finish some of them or too little and finish them all it’s your choice. My simple advice is: Don’t be a one task/job man. Set different goals, occupy time with different things. Trust me, at some point in life, they will come handy. 

NOTE: From now on I will be writing the post either in Albanian or in English, based on the topic that I want to cover. 

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