Something radical
This is a repost of the original from my previous blog at https://world.hey.com/jaran.flaath
I have done something radical. I have deleted my entire Goodreads “Want to read” list. All 164 books. Well, almost. I have 8 books left, but the rest is gone.
We keep making never ending lists. We create todo lists of everything we want to do, but never get around to doing. We create bookmarks of internet sites we will never look at again. We create vast list of films and series to watch which we will never get around to, and: Lists of books we'll never get around to reading.
We humans have a tendency to collect stuff we believe is, or will be, useful. And it makes us feel good. It gives us the feeling we're organised and doing something valuable. However, in most cases we're only setting ourselves up to feeling miserable and guilty in the end. I will never get around to reading those 152 books I found so interesting. Those 583 bookmarked articles you have saved in your browser will never see the light of an open tab again.
It's probably some form of FOMO driving this, and it may even turn into guilt for not reading all the works the authors has put so much effort into.
From now on, whenever I need something new to read, I will do the research for the next book there and then. No more piling up what I should read in 6 months time.
There will always be a new book from one of my favourite authors, there will always be a new topic I find interesting. What I want to read will have shifted by the time those 6 months has passed, so better leave it to future me to decide.
The only exception to this “No more Want to read-listing” rule is a couple of highly valued fiction series I want to keep up to date on, and a few philosophy books I don't want to forget. That makes 8 at the moment. Pretty radical.