The Leadership Book Shelf

The importance of pouring into three buckets in order to live a life that you love is crucial. I know, I talk about this all of the time, but this is so important!! In case, you are new to my ponderings and discoveries, I often talk about the importance of pouring in three buckets every single day in order to live a life and have a career that you love. The three buckets are connection (family, colleagues, friends, etc), mindset/wellness, and business/craft.

Well…guess what…your bookshelf also needs to reflect the three buckets in order for you to feel fulfilled. If all that you have on your bookshelf are Harlequinn romance novels, or a shelf full of professional reading, that’s ok too, but have you thought of having a combination of the type of books that you are reading? If you are only drawn to a certain genre or style, have you ever thought about what you may be missing? Think about inviting in other types of books. Give it time, really explore them, and see what happens. Stay with me here, because I was that person who had only fiction books on my shelf at home and professional reads on reader/writer/math workshop at my office. My rule was to only put books on my shelf that I have read or am reading currently. One day I decided to go through my books and I realized that I was reading the same book with a different title over and over again. I wasn’t really pushing myself to learn new things or find new interests and I also realized that my ‘reading books for fun’ pile was very shallow. My book shelf reflected my life. It was all about work and learning the ‘next best thing’ and I seemed to had forgotten why I loved to read and who I was as a leader. I was overwhelmed in my life and a ‘go getter to learn the next best thing’ and my book shelf screamed people pleaser, overworked leader, and my ‘try everything style but get nowhere fast’ style of leadership.

I decided to do an overhaul on my bookshelf and take inventory of what I wanted on that shelf and what I wanted in my own life. Now, I also want to mention that actually reading the books on your shelf is very important…because that is key! I began to use the three bucket system as my ‘go to’ for deciding which book gets to live on my shelf.

The first bucket I focused on pouring into was craft and business. First, I went through all of the books that I had and gave away books that did not go with my new found clarity in my leadership. Where did I get that clarity from, you may ask? Well…from books, podcasts, mentors, and colleagues that all had the same type of leadership style that I wanted and aspired to be. Most of all, I found my clarity through taking action by action steps rather than just learning about them in the books and podcasts. This clarity came from my bookshelf too! I looked at all of the books that I had read that did not light my heart on fire in my profession and those became give aways. I did the same thing for my fun reads and fiction books. I looked at what was missing and realized I wasn’t taking wellness in account as part of my leadership style. This was something I was passionate about, why wasn’t it a part of how I lead? Next, I made a roadmap of my vision. I created one vision with three mile markers that required action to get there. And I took action…

Some of the books that I decided to keep came from Sandra Herbst and Anne Davies collection on Transforming Leadership and Schools Using Assessment for Learning, Matt Glover’s books on Reader/Writer Workshop, Jennifer Lemp’s books on Math Workshop, Leadership books on making connections and modelling (ie. Kids These Days, the Energy Bus), and Douglas Fisher’s series called the PLC Playbook. I kept a few more but these were some of my all time favorites. I then made a ‘next list’ for what I was going to read next and chose only one to two books to add to my shelf because, like I stated earlier, it is important to actually read the books on your shelf. My next list includes a book on Collective Efficacy by Jenni Donohoo. When I consider my next book to read, I need to be very specific on my purpose for reading it. I have learned to make how I spend my time a priority and therefore, I was done with reading things because it sounded like a good title or someone told me I should read it. I needed to read for a purpose and dive deep into the books that I chose rather than reading a few pages here and there. I chose this Collective Efficacy book because our focus with our teacher leaders is on leadership so I thought this would be a great place to find ideas and inspiration.

Next, I moved on to my next bucket, connection. Connection meaning connection to myself, my family, friends, and colleagues. Like I stated earlier, my book shelf did not have very many fun reads. I went through the same process and got rid of books that did not speak to me anymore. I then figured out 2 ‘next’ books for me that I thought would help me get lost in a book for the sheer fun of it and no other reason. We so need that type of stimulation for our minds too. We can’t always be reading to fill our brains with new information. Sometimes we need to just sit back and enjoy a good Harlequinn romance! So….my next reads? Well…they are not Harlequinn romances although I have been known to knock a few of those back! But just not this time…My next reads are going to be The Hate U Give and Little Women. My purpose for choosing these two on my ‘next’ list are for the sheer enjoyment of a book push from a really good friend and a desire to go back to a classic (plus I am raising three of my own little women…).

Now the connection bucket on your bookshelf might not just reflect your own personal reads but it might reflect how to make connections with others. I feel like Jodi Carrington’s book Kids These Days, that I have read and is still living on my shelf, pours into this bucket. I also have a few books on how to connect with my kids and some culture books that really reflect the importance that I have placed on connection as a leader. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown is another great connection book that is all about getting uncomfortable and using vulnerability as a strength.

The third bucket is all about mindset and wellness. This area has been a pivotal point for me in my life! I never read these types of books…like ever….I realized this when I was giving my bookshelf a makeover. It made me see just how much of myself I was forgetting. I was too busy trying to work hard for everyone else that I was losing myself in that process. I bought my first wellness book only a few years ago. It was called the Happiness Project and I loved it! I read it from start to finish and tried all of the tricks only to realize that I could only keep up with some of them but that was ok. I realized I was gathering more happiness and energy in the process. I began to read more and more of them and they have become a part of my morning routine daily. I even started to infuse these reads into our professional development within our professional learning communities and meetings.

If you are not taking care of yourself, you are really missing out my friend. You really are. It is not just your bookshelf that will be sad but you may be feeling that way as well because you are constantly learning, running, and doing for others. Find time to grow yourself through reading, exercising, meditating, resting. If you do all of these things for a really long time (like every day) you will light up. Rejuvenation, more energy, and renewal will surface. Guess what! Your bookshelf can help!! You just have to stock it with some must reads that will show you how to design a life that you love. My bookshelf already contains books like Girl, Wash Your Face, Bring the Joy, High Performance Habits, the 5 AM Club, Daring Greatly, Everything is Figureoutable and so many more (which I have read all of them from start to finish)! My ‘next’ reads are You’ve Got This Boss Mama and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Now, remember when I said I choose books for purpose now? Well, my word of the year is Clarity and boy do I need clarity with my time management. Therefore, my choices of books probably speak for themselves as to what my reason for choosing them are…..time management, productivity, and most of all, joy.

I have included an AMAZING FREE GUIDE ON HOW TO CULTIVATE A THRIVING CULTURE USING THE THREE BUCKET SYSTEM for you to download! You can follow this to organize your leadership book shelf too! Happy organizing!

Seriously, this whole ‘book shelf revealing what is happening in your life thing’ really does work! Once I took a good look at what was on my shelf and the mess of it all, I began to find some clarity and streamline my next steps for taking better care of me. Oh and one last thing that I did with leadership book shelf….I color coded it…Yep! The purpose? It made me really really happy because it looked like a rainbow of information….and I loved to look at it every day…and of course, read the rainbow!