Invite new ideas into your life by letting go of books
My friends know that I am a pro when it comes to sifting and sorting through belongings. I have done it at my mother’s house in the past six years, I apply the same rigorous rules to my own apartment. A fan of Marie Kondo’s “does it spark joy?” approach, I am able to let go of objects.
I noticed that one way that is particularly effective is to sort through my books and decide which ones to keep and which to donate. I don’t know about you, but in particular my non-fiction books seem to reflect my main interests in any given period of my life. And as much as these interests may have served me two or three ago, they don’t now.
Two to three years ago, I completed an online course on venture capital (provided by TechStars). I devoured books such as “The secrets of Sandhill Road” (Scott Kupor), “Trillion Dollar Coach” (Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg) or “The hard things about hard things” (Ben Horowicz) and “Brotopia” (Emily Chang). And these books are business books. Once I have read them, I don’t need to keep them.
Quite the contrary, keeping these publications and letting them take up space in a bookshelf might keep new ideas (and opportunities) at bay.
I admit it is not always easy to sort through my books and decide which ones to keep. Marie Kondo’s question “Does it spark joy?” might sound very esoteric, and yet, it is effective. One holds the book, raises this question and intuitively knows whether it is a yes or a no.
At times, I feel a tinge of regret.
Most often, this is not associated with the book per se, but with the concept I had of myself and professional opportunities associated with it.
For example, when I read the books about Venture Capital, I seriously toyed with the idea of entering the VC world. So for me, sorting through my books can be likened to shedding layers of my personality and / or professional self that are outdated. They are no ME anymore.
What happens once I have made the decision to keep or give away a book? I feel lighter. I take the time to “smell the flowers” — I take a good thorough look at the books I am willing to part with. I usually also take a picture and keep it. This way, I can at least remember items that once belonged to me.
There is also a very positive effect:
Once there are less books on the bookshelf, I am able to identify which books I ordered and haven’t finished reading yet. For example, I purchased a copy of “No rules rules: Netflix and the culture of reinvention” (Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer) in March of 2022 and haven’t made much progress yet.
Decluttering books helps me focus on ideas that were floating around (in my living room) all along. I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to focus on them as there were too many other books (books I had already read). And when my space contains less objects overall, I feel a greater sense of calm.
Once I am done with decluttering, I have two options:
- Sell the books on a circular platform such as Momox, Ebay or Amazon
- Donate them — I tend to donate to my local library.
How about you? Do you give away books you have read? Do you keep them?
Sources:
Marie Kondo website. Link.
