I must admit, I’m very proud of myself. I think that this is probably the most books I’ve read in a year since I was in college and I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I think I did somewhere between 8-11 books in 2011. The funny thing is that I’ve been incredibly busy this year with starting up Illuminate and picking several new speaking opportunities. So, what changed?

Reading for a purpose:

There were several books that I picked up because I really needed to brush up on something or learn something for a breakout I was going to lead. Reading for a purpose seems to provide much higher motivation for me than just reading a book because someone said it was good.

Reading on the iPad allows me to multi-task

It was in April or May that I installed the Kindle app on my iPad and I started taking it with me to the gym while on the treadmill. I spent several months in the spring preparing to hike some mountains in Colorado and I found that the Kindle App allowed me to read while exercising. I love it. This alone helped me read more and kept me motivated to keep working out. Many times I went to run just because I wanted to read.

Here is the list of books:

Tomorrow I’ll share with you my top 5 favorite books of 2011 and why. I’ve written reviews of several of the books already, but those I haven’t reviewed, I’ll do so in the coming weeks. Maybe one of these books will end up on your 2012 reading list.