So it happens that I don’t thrive so well with written literature of all kinds. The good news is that I am actively striving to change that narrative.

In the not-so-distant past, I would rather spend multiple hours binge-watching Youtube videos than sit through an hour of reading – academic or otherwise. Of course, as a student, I don’t have a choice with studying academic materials, but that was about it for me.

In recent times though, I have come to realize the importance of non-academic literature and the treasures tucked away in them and over the past couple of years, I have consciously trained myself to read more of such books. It has been an interesting adventure I must say.

2020 Reading Goal

At the start of the year, in an attempt to push myself to read more, I set a very lofty goal – I planned to read at least 50 books. Well, for someone who isn’t an avid reader, that was pretty extravagant. For some reason, I had overestimated myself to go through at least one book per week and still have two weeks to spare. In retrospect, that was practically impractical, and as with many of my goals for the year, it was only good on paper. I did manage to get through about a dozen books in a haphazard manner though, and that is about the number an average reader manages in a 12-month window so it is safe to say that I fared well.

Over the year, I got my hands on great books like the popular Think and Grow Rich, and other amazing works such as Atomic Habits, The 4-Hour Workweek, etc. But of all the books that make up my list for the year, one unsuspecting fellow stood out. In the world of popular writings and bestsellers, it is rather unknown but in it, I found a gold mine.

I present to you…. (Drumrolls…)

Every Single Day by Bradley Charbonneau. His last name definitely sounds better when pronounced with a French accent:)

Book Review

Every Single Day (ESD for short) is arguably the best personal development book I got my hands on this year. It’s a relatively short read – about 170 pages, but unconventional in so many ways. I stumbled on the book in the summer and devoured it in a matter of days as I couldn’t stop until I was done with it.

Aside from the main idea communicated in the book — which I’ll talk about in a bit, the author’s style of writing is quite uncommon and highly captivating. If you enjoy humorous wordplay and you’re fine with some light sarcasm, you would definitely like this one as it is littered with a lot of those. Bradley managed to convey his idea in an interesting format, with very short and concise chapters of about 1-3 pages each – some of the chapters are only a paragraph long. Each chapter gives straight-to-the-point information on the subject matter and beautifully transits into the next making for an awesome read. It is difficult to express the reading experience I had with this book in words. You might just have to check it out yourself. Trust me, you will not regret picking it up if you eventually decide to. You’re welcome in advance:)

Takeouts

Bradley essentially teaches the art of building habits and gaining mastery in any given field by taking actions on it every single day — a practice he had lived out in his writing career. Having accepted a challenge from a friend to write and publish something every single day back in November 2012, he kept the momentum going even after seeing the challenge through, and as at the time of writing the book in 2017, he had written every day since then. This exercise transformed him from being a “closet writer” with dying dreams to a renowned author with multiple books to his name. Needless to say, he has gained mastery in the art as reflected in his writings and now preaches the message of showing up every day at whatever you want to get good at.

He not only tells you why you should show up every single day at your craft — that is pretty obvious, he also takes you through a comprehensive step-by-step actionable guide on how to show up every day against all odds. And he makes it look so easy that you might want to jump right into action immediately.

Admittedly, I haven’t particularly applied all I learned from the book, but I did take on some short 30-days challenges to act on certain things every single day, and I must say that the experience is one to covet. I am not able to keep up the consistency of every single day on most things, *inserts excuses*, but I surely show up more often than I used to. Keeping the momentum up is what is important.

Final thoughts on ESD

If you have followed through up until this point, it should be clear that I highly recommend this book.
It is indeed filled with insights as to the little things that help in moving the needle, especially for those that might be stuck in making their dreams a reality. Showing up consistently, no matter how little the input per time, activates the compound effect rule, and eventually, the little attempts will snowball into something big and you would be glad you took those first steps.

Fun fact…

This blog is in part a product of the impact of ESD.
As I stated in the very first post on here, the idea of putting out a blog had been budding in my mind for a while but I kept putting it off for later. Amongst other factors that led me to eventually act on the idea, this book gave me the final push that spurred me into action. Coincidentally – or fatefully, Bradley had a “Start a Blog Challenge” at the end of the book for folks who were interested in writing consistently. The writing challenge from his friend back in November 2012 had him putting out content every day to the public, and this was his special way of nudging other prospective writers to set the ball rolling. Well, it did get my ball rolling and the rest, they say, is history.

What is your “Book of the Year” and what books are you looking to read in 2021?