When I started considering this question, the answers began falling through my mind like an avalanche and I felt buried under the chaos! I had to create an organizing principle or two… I decided to make categories. My thinking centered around how I interact with each of the mediums rather than the content of what I was reading. Let’s see if I have made it comprehensible or… not.

I landed on a few key areas: “reference” books, books I’m actively engaged with, Kindle reading, Audible selections, magazines, newsletters, a podcast, and a recent video. I begin to wonder how I finish anything when I start to look at the number of sources I tackle in a month—and these are just the work-related sources. I have a friend who reads one book at a time… I can’t imagine it!

The reference books that I have at my side all the time, to share with colleagues are:

• UZMO—Thinking with the Pen by Martin Haussman
• The World of Visual Facilitation edited by Joren Blijsie, Rachel Smith, Tim Hamons (and last minute, silent editing partner, Jill Greenbaum)
• Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman
• A Leader in Every Chair by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea
• Appreciative Living by Jackie Kelm
• Dynamic Relationships by Jacqueline Stavros & Cheri B. Torres
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam

So maybe these qualify as “standards” for me and not active reading…

I am actively engaged with these books

3-minute drawings with both hands simultaneously (on the right) and with my left/non-dominant hand

Making Comics by Linda Barry—This one is going a bit more slowly as I am drawing once a week with my friend and colleague Julia from Tasmania. Here are a few of my more recent humorous drawings.

Appreciative Coaching by Sara Orem, Jacqueline Binkert, and Ann Clancy

Happiness is an Inside Job by Sylvia Boorstein

and the audiobooks

Real Happiness, Sharon Salzberg

Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller

The AI facilitator certification process that I’m engaged in has had me working with the textbook, Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination by Jane Magruder Watkins, Bernard Mohr, and Ralph Kelly

Magazines by the couch  

Mindful subscription and special editions too

Daily and weekly newsletters that I make an effort to keep current with are:

• Daily Good, www.dailygood.org (And here’s a good read, http://www.dailygood.org/story/2449/erich-fromm-s-six-rules-of-listening-maria-popova/)
• Awakin Weekly, www.awakin.org

Podcast

Staying Power Podcast with Phyllis Cole-Dai,  www.phylllis.cole-dai.podbean.com Here’s one I really liked, ”On my 58th Birthday: 58 Pandemic Prayers.” This might seem more personal than work-related—though that’s the overlap in my life and coaching circle work.

(Gosh I love to listen to podcasts, though my slight learning disability (less than stellar short term auditory memory) steers me away from this medium for work-related issues. You may ask, so why do you listen to audiobooks—good question! I listen to them as I racewalk daily—and pause them to record audio notes to myself on occasion… or buy the book, if there’s so much juicy stuff!) 

Recent video

TedX— Celebrate What’s Right with the World, Dewitt Jones, https://dewittjones.com/pages/tedx-dewitt-jones

It’s clear that I have a love of Appreciative Inquiry and positive psychology—they are the foundations of Roots of Resilience, my coaching circle for women that begins on September 21st. I hope you will choose to learn more here

What will you read, watch, and listen to

in this month of September?

I plan on finishing up some of the goodies I have listed above. If you’re reading any of them and want to chat—I’d love it! Lmk!