Creative Reading Plan

Reading triggers your imagination.

A good book invites you to visualize, and these images stick in your mind. Over time these images set up ideas and feelings that form the background for your own creative ideas.

The best kind of reading takes you out of your comfort zone, engages your curiosity, enhances your openness to new ideas, and teaches you to take risks so you can try new ideas and explore new topics.

A Creative Reading Plan is basically a contract to yourself to read each day.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Start by keeping a reading journal. Write down what your read and any notes you want to remember. This will be handy if you want to go back and find something later to use in a project.

Read in small chunks. When you have a few minutes take a break and use that time to read and refresh your mind. Read what you can in the time you have, don't worry if you don't get finished. Enjoy the process.

Read from a variety of different sources. Magazines, newsletters, ebooks, blogs, you get the idea. The more diverse your sources the more you'll enjoy the process, and the more potential for ideas and knowledge.

Give it a try for a couple of weeks. See how these little short reading periods start to generate ideas. After a couple of week review your log and see how much new information you have consumed, and if you are feeling inspired by the process keep going.

If you have a favorite reading source, please share it in the comments. We can never have to much to read.