Sometimes in life it all just comes together and you’re in the zone. Your schedule, your time management, your energy management or bandwidth, and all of the elements of your life are moving in a united direction toward your goal. Similar to a whole-life version of what Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi famously coined as Flow – these moments are special. But what about when you aren’t? What are the practices you try to sustain when you are just not in that state of total alignment. That was something I set out to answer in 2022. My current position and general time in my career brings with it a schedule and workload that required increased attention and bandwidth. Regardless of how much I wish they weren’t, my energy and attention are finite resources – more finite than I wanted to admit. With that in mind, I came out of 2021 and into this last year with the goal to minimize my focus to maximize my output. Put differently, I tried to do less, better. One of the areas that lost some of my time in this realignment was my reading. This was hard for me as someone who both loves reading but also approaches most things as if it were a competitive sport…to include how much I read. But the journey provided some important lessons that I will carry with me into future times when I return to a more balanced alignment.

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Recently, I received a copy of My Green Notebook: ‘Know Thyself’ Before Changing Jobs. Between all the self-help options, I have struggled to find a means to help me start a self-reflection routine. If you are looking for a way to jump start your self-reflection program and gain accountability, this guide is absolutely necessary. Over the course of thirty days the prompts help make self-reflection a quick and easy habit focused on daily improvement.

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In many ways, 2021 felt like a continuation of 2020. We entered with a deadly pandemic, national challenges, and a lot of personal struggles. As a nation, it might feel like we are exiting much the same. Individually, my hope is that you are not. Hopefully, you were able to accomplish some of your personal goals and professional development over the last year. I pray you found some mental and emotional peace. For me, part of that stillness comes through reading and reflecting. Below are the books I read in 2021, with a call-out of my top 10 books.

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We made it. We survived 2020. And putting all flippancy aside, many didn’t survive the year. This past year was not kind to individual physical, mental, and emotional health; small-businesses; employment; sports; family gatherings; and much more. But, let’s try to look at the glass as half-full. 2020 was a great year for reading. Below are my books read in 2020, with a call-out of my top 25 books.

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Experiences shape people and training is a form of experience. It prepares us for the rigors of war. But we can’t fully comprehend the hardships that combat brings until we are in it. War is an experience unlike any other. Thankfully, we aren’t bound to our own experiences. Leaders can, and should, learn from the experiences of others. Former Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis once said that, “[people] have been fighting on this planet for 5000 years and we should take advantage of their experience.” Col. Retired Jimmy Blackmon once again contributes to that grand tradition of storytelling and gifts us his experiences. His new book, Cowboys Over Iraq, is gritty, honest, and high-energy.

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My goal for this year was to read/listen to 100 books. Spoiler…I fell short of that goal. But it was a successful year of reading nonetheless. Studies show that tracking our progress and metrics helps to accomplish our goals. Tracking my own reading helps me in many ways that I discuss below. By sharing these books, I hope to provide some useful recommendations to others as well as gain more insights into my own reading plan to guide my 2020 reading goals. Without further adieu, here is my 2019 in books–a Reading List that includes a Top 10 list for your stocking or a nice gift for someone you love.

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In the post-World War II era, the United States has enjoyed a near faultless tactical dominance and overmatch against its enemies. And yet, in that time we have, at perhaps equal rate, failed to “win the peace” in the post-war/kinetic environment. In the Post 9/11 era this has become status quo, a constant in U.S. combat operations. The shift from Afghanistan in 2003, “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, and a whole host of other U.S. incursions overseas have left many scratching their heads. How can a global superpower win so spectacularly at the tactical-level and yet come-up short so often in the strategic ends? That is exactly what Lt. Col. Brendan Gallagher set out to discover in his recent book, The Day After: Why America Wins the War but Loses the Peace.

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