You don't have to read it

Don't feel guilty about that unread stack

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that reading magazines or blogs or books,
it's probably not your job. If any form of undone

(00:25):
recreational reading sparks guilt for you, just abandon it. You
don't have to read it. I hear from a lot
of people about how they use their time and how
they feel about their time. People with demanding careers and
personal lives sometimes report feeling behind because they have unread books,

(00:46):
unread magazines, and blog posts hanging over their heads. They
feel pressured to get caught up on their reading. The
stack of books and magazines by their beds, or the
newsletters in their inbox, the needs from their favorite blogs.
They become like nagging tasks on their to do lists.
But you know what, they really don't have to be.

(01:10):
There are a lot of things we have to do
in life, but pleasure reading is not one of them.
When you are reading something that is not for your job,
it is supposed to be fun, and that means if
you stop enjoying what you are reading, you should probably
stop reading. It turns out that unread magazines don't have

(01:31):
to be read, blogs don't have to be visited. Newsletters
can be deleted. Unopened books can be returned to the library,
even if you've never cracked them open. Magazines, blogs and
books are intended to be a source of pleasure or
a diversion. So if undone reading makes you feel guilty,
you need to find a way to remove it from

(01:53):
your personal list of expectations as soon as possible. Now
Here is a perspective that might help. There are close
to infinite amounts of content out there. You are only
one person with exactly twenty four hours a day, no more.
If you managed to read a book a week, which

(02:14):
is a lot, that is fifty books a year. If
you are going to live for forty more years, that
is only two thousand more books in your life. There
are generally more books than that, and even the smallest
of branch libraries. You are never going to get through
all of it, let alone all the blog posts, magazines,

(02:38):
or dare we say it, podcast episodes out there. Now,
I know that is one thing to know rationally, that
doesn't change that many people feel the weight of their
own unmet expectations. I mean, you really do like the Economist, Hey,
so do I You would, in theory like to read

(03:01):
it cover to cover, to say nothing of all the
amazing novels and helpful blog posts and yes, podcasts out there.
So that leaves the question, if you do feel guilty
when you see unconsumed material piling up, what should you do? Well,
if you have the space for physical things here, one

(03:21):
option is to just let it pile up and accept
that there will be a big pile there waiting for
you to glean the finest bits during a future time
when you might create a little more availability. Whenever we
go on vacation, my husband and I take a stack
of about a dozen issues of The Economist with us
and plow through them. You can then do a purge

(03:44):
every few months or so, dumping anything that is more
than a few months old. If there was a really
important article for your industry or that mentioned your company,
guess what somebody would have told you about it. You
might carve out a few hours on a ken to
peruse the unread pile and read anything you are particularly
drawn to. One story per issue should do it. If

(04:10):
nothing looks good on the cover, well into the recycling,
then it goes. Then you can also consider whether you
might be better off unsubscribing to things. If you don't
seem to read an email newsletter anymore, we'll go ahead
and get off the list. If a particular magazine never
quite catches your eye when it comes, or hit constitutes
most of the bulk in that unread pile, well maybe

(04:33):
better to let it go. If you find yourself continually
putting off starting a book, give it to someone else.
If you desperately need to read it in the future.
I'm guessing you could get it back, or you could
buy it again. And much as I love book clubs,
if you don't really enjoy having to read books, co
find a bridge club or a running group, or a

(04:55):
book club where no one actually reads the book and
you just drink wine judgments. For me, few kids like homework,
and guess what, few adults do either. So when something
that is supposed to feel like pleasure starts feeling like
homework or even just a source of guilt, dispatch it.

(05:16):
Pleasure reading is supposed to be about pleasure, which means
a lot of it is to some degree interchangeable for
that purpose. After a while, the pleasure is the point,
not the content, of the particular article itself, you probably
won't know what you are missing, and you will be
just as happy reading some future magazine article that comes

(05:39):
in as you would be reading one in the pile,
a magazine spread featuring a gorgeous garden, or let's say,
an article about innovations in business class seats on planes.
Both can be interesting when you've got some downtime, so
it doesn't really matter if you read one or the other.

(05:59):
Your favorite blogger will probably keep posting, and if you
find yourself with a little extra time some night, you
can go back through and read what you missed or not.
You are in charge of your time, so fill it
with experiences you value and enjoy. No need to feel
guilty about this. Expectations are infinite, but time is finite.

(06:25):
We are always choosing. That's just the way of the world,
not a reason to feel bad at all. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

(06:51):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at before for Breakfast pod. That's b the
number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

(07:14):
with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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