Make 2026 the Year to Rediscover Reading

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Are you ready to Rediscover Reading?

Below is a copy of my recent op-ed in the Palm Beach Post encouraging people to take part in the new Rediscover Reading.

Rediscover Reading helps locals realize the benefits of books

When was the last time you read a book for sheer enjoyment?

If you are like most people, it has been a while since you cracked open a novel. You may think that reading for pleasure is simply one entertainment option out of many. However, reading for pleasure is more than a possible pastime. It’s a story driven public-health prescription. That’s the rationale behind the Palm Beach County Library System’s 2026 yearlong initiative, Rediscover Reading.

As our communities wrestle with loneliness and frayed social ties, returning to pleasure reading, and the libraries that sustain it, offers an affordable, evidence-based path to improve lives. The scale of the challenge is striking. A 2025 study of more than 230,000 Americans found the reading for pleasure dropped from 28% in 2003 to just 16% in 2023. That decline isn’t just a worry for the publishing industry. It has public-wellness concerns. When a large part of the population stops reading for pleasure, we lose a simple, low-barrier route to better mental health.

A growing body of research finds that reading for pleasure delivers measurable benefits such as reduced stress, better sleep, enhanced empathy and improved cognitive well-being. At the same time, shared reading like book clubs and read-aloud sessions activate regions in our brains tied to social cognition and emotional connection. This helps counter feelings of isolation and distrust.

That’s where Rediscover Reading comes in. The Library is inviting Palm Beach County residents to pick up a favorite book, sample a new novel, and set a reading goal for the year. What would happen if we all committed to reading one book a month? How much more restful would we feel by exchanging 15 minutes of mindless scrolling before bed with the narrative delight of a story? The sense of wonder, escape or solace found in the written word can bring peace of mind, greater life satisfaction, and a more empathetic understanding of the world.

Reading for pleasure combines the best of both worlds: the private delight of losing yourself in a narrative and the social lift from shared reflection. Libraries, with our welcoming spaces and community activities, transform solitary reading into a communal experience. As research suggests, the path to improved well-being doesn’t require expensive interventions. Instead all we need is a book in hand and a comfy spot to read it.

The invitation is extended. Dust off that old beloved title or pick up a new bestseller, be it a physical book, e-book or audiobook. Rediscover Reading isn’t just about books. It’s about opening your mind to a world of unlimited possibilities through the simple, but powerful ritual of reading for pleasure.

Grab your library card and visit your local branch of the Palm Beach County Library System or a municipal library to access free materials. Check out free e-books and e-audiobooks online through our website: www.pbclibrary.org.

This year, reclaim the joy of literature as a daily act of self-care and community building. Join us as we invite you to Rediscover Reading.

Organizing Your Priorities

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What do you want to accomplish in 2026?

The start of a new year is a traditional time to think about desired goals. However, to be successful in achieving those goals it is important to have one’s personal priorities in order. The right mental approach is vital to success. So, how do we get organized enough to create the conditions to make it happen?

For helpful advice on how to organize priorities, we turn to Marie Kondo. Her KonMari Method™ has helped many people organize their belongings. This year she gives advice beyond tidying a closet. Instead it starts with tidying your digital life.

One of the tenets of the KonMari Method™ is to always tidy first. We can only fully organize when we’ve let go of what’s weighing us down and holding us back. 

Before layering on new goals or routines, take a moment to tidy the items and techniques that support your daily routine, weekly schedule and year-round priorities. 

Kondo recommends focusing on getting the calendar in order, emptying the inbox, and then organizing the digital desktop. These non-physical items can easily be forgotten or seem unimportant. Yet, maintaining them is an important first step for getting priorities in order.

Next, she suggests creating on a set of clearly written goals.

Your goals are the guideposts that bring clarity to your path. Take some time to identify what you’d like to accomplish in the coming month, six months, and year. 

  • Short-term goals anchor your weeks, like completing a project or trying a new organizational tool.
  • Mid-term goals sustain your momentum, like improving a skill or cultivating a new habit.
  • Long-term goals inspire you, pulling you forward toward a vision of your ideal life. 

Write these goals down, either in a journal or planner, to bring them to life. Studies show that putting pen to paper significantly increases your likelihood of achieving your aspirations. For more, read our guide to setting joy-sparking goals. 

To discover her remaining three suggestions for organizing priorities, please read the rest of her posting.

Time for a Yearly Review

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With 2025 coming to a close, have you taken the time to review the entirety of the past year?

A core component of the GTD methodology is the weekly review. This is an ongoing opportunity at the end of your workweek to review what was accomplished, identify unfinished work, and to look ahead to the following week. In fact, David Allen, GTD’s Creator, has always stressed the importance of this habit.

“The Weekly Review is the time to: Gather and process all your stuff. Review your system. Update your lists. Get clean, clear, current, and complete. You have to use your mind to get things off your mind.”

A yearly review is the logical extension of the weekly review, but on a higher level of focus. This is an opportunity to consider the status of your larger goals and update your long-term vision. It is a chance to bring clarity to the big dreams and ambitions that provide forward momentum. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to focus solely on your job. The yearly review can cover all aspects of your life, including personal goals, health concerns, financial plans, and relationships.

Where does the yearly review start? It can begin with the following questions:

  • What were your wins?
  • What are you grateful for?
  • What risks did you take?
  • What is your unfinished business?
  • What was your biggest surprise?

After evaluating the past, the yearly review shifts to exploring the future. Again, focusing questions help with this task.

  • What would you like to be your biggest win?
  • How are you planning to improve your financial situation?
  • What are you looking most forward to learning?
  • What will be your biggest risk?

Are you ready to take on this challenge? If so, then dive right in. The steps to do a yearly review can be found on the GTD website.

Happy 2026! I wish you all a great new year!

Give Yourself a Gift – Take Time Off!

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With the holiday season fully upon us, no doubt you have made a gift list for the loved ones in your life. However, what do you plan to gift yourself? While new clothes and fancy toys are always fun, why not give yourself a gift that improves your health and leads to greater connection opportunities. It is the simple act of taking time off.

In an article for Psychology Today titled, The Importance of Taking a Break from Work, clinical psychologist Monica Vermani explores the reasons why taking time off of work is a health care prescription. She starts the article with the sad fact that most Americans fail to take their allotted vacation time.

According to a recent Pew Research survey, 46 percent of employees take less time off than their employer offers. In 2022, according to Qualtrics research, American workers left an average of 9.5 vacation days unused. Recent Canadian statistics paint an even bleaker picture, with just 29 percent of employees taking full advantage of paid time off.

That’s not all. In a 2023 ELVTR poll of 2,300 North American employees, most reported working while on vacation. Many also reported that weekends and nonworking hours are far from off-limits.

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This failure to disconnect from work can lead to burn-out and other health issues. Therefore, Vermani advocates for taking a true and complete break from work. She points out that doing this is vital to your mental health.

The value of taking that postponed vacation and setting reasonable boundaries around minimizing communication with work colleagues outside of working hours are many, including stress and burnout prevention, gaining new perspectives on workplace stressors, improving mental and physical health, and improved sleep. Furthermore, vacations can be especially effective at raising levels of happiness, making time to reconnect with family and friends, and exploring locations and activities that foster joy and inspiration. Vacation time is also known to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Time away from the daily grind also expands our creative abilities.

She then shares why setting heathy boundaries is important to everyone.

Our time and energy are valuable—and finite—assets. At the end of the day, it is our responsibility to build healthy boundaries around our finite resources. Building healthy boundaries is all about prioritizing our mental and physical health, well-being, and needs, and building awareness of the causes and signs of workplace burnout, including trouble concentrating, exhaustion, irritability, a decrease in productivity, and physical symptoms, like headaches, muscle aches, gastrointestinal issues, and changes in sleep routines.

To learn more, including her six steps to creating a healthier work/life balance, please read the rest of the article. In the meantime, it is not too late to schedule that holiday vacation. Whether it is a trip out of town or staying home, either way make sure you enjoy some much-needed downtime.

How to be a Great Gift Giver

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It’s the holiday season once again!

While it is time to enjoy seasonal delicious food and the sparkling lights, there is one thing that many people dread: picking out the perfect gift. With a wide range of options, it is easy to get overwhelmed and default to boring gift cards. If you have experienced this problem, have you ever tried to figure out of there a way to become a great gift giver?

An article in Vox may resolve this yuletide tension. In a piece titled How to become a truly excellent gift giver, journalist Eliza Brooke shares insights from several gift giving experts. The first piece of advice is simple. Not every gift has to be life-changing, and a meaningful gift doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

“We often give ourselves this challenge of being like, ‘What is the gift that only I could give them? What is the gift that proves I know them so well?’ And that’s kind of impossible,” says Erica Cerulo, who runs the recommendation-filled A Thing or Two podcast and newsletter with her business partner, Claire Mazur. (Cerulo and Mazur previously co-founded the retail destination Of A Kind, which shut down in 2019.) A great gift doesn’t have to change someone’s life, Cerulo says: It can just be something that’s fun and nice and comforting.

Photo by Karola G on Pexels.com

The experts Brooke speaks with also provide a simple three-point strategy on gift selection that helps narrow down options quickly.

Because creativity thrives with constraints, Cerulo offered the following three-point framework for thinking about gift-giving: “Can I introduce someone to something they might not otherwise know about? Can I get them a nicer version of something than they would buy for themselves? Or can I make them feel seen?” If you can check one of those three boxes, you’ve probably got a good present on your hands.

Also, Brooke points out that gift giving doesn’t have to be an end of year cram. Identifying potential gifts across the entire year rather than just in December is a useful stress reliever.

Almost universally, great gift-givers are doing legwork throughout the year, not just in the weeks leading up to a birthday or major holiday. Many keep lists of potential gifts for their friends and loved ones, which they update every time someone mentions an item they’d love or when their internet travels turn up a particularly great present idea. You can do this in any way that suits you: Cerulo has a single note in her phone dedicated to gift ideas, Mazur keeps individual notes for individual people, and Rosner uses friends’ contacts as a place to log food preferences, birthdays, and present ideas.

Learn more useful tips on how to be a great gift giver by reading the rest of the article on the Vox website.

The Important Thing That Kind People Do Differently

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In case you missed it, November 13 was World Kindness Day. It is a special time to remind everyone that being kind does not cost you a penny. In fact, when people perform an act of kindness, they not only benefit the person who receives it, but they themselves and everyone who sees it happen all feel better as a result.

Of course, you can, and should, be kind every day. Yet, people often underestimate the power of kindness. They believe that in this cruel world only pure self-interest will make a person successful. Therefore, is kindness a form of weakness?

The Kindness Extremist Shola Richards would say firmly that kindness is a strength. In a recent blog post, Shola shared the main thing that kind people contribute to the world.

Here’s something that kind people do, that the rest of the world does not:

They give a damn about issues that don’t affect them personally.

In our increasingly polarized world, this kind of expansive empathy has become not just uncommon, it’s damn near revolutionary. he shared the main difference that kind people have over others.

Why is this important? Shola starts by pointing out why selfish people offer very little to the world.

When we only care about issues that directly affect us, we create a world where problems persist because the people with the power to solve them don’t experience the pain of those problems personally. (Please re-read that sentence).

He then shares why approaching the world through the lens of kindness makes a huge difference not only to others, but to yourself as well.

Here’s what I know for sure: kindness isn’t about creating a world that works just for me and people like me. It’s about creating a world that works for everyone.

And to be painfully clear, this isn’t about unnecessary guilt or performative activism.

This is about recognizing that our individual wellbeing is connected to the collective wellbeing of our communities and our world.

Read the full blog post on Shola’s Kindness Extremist website.

FLA Needs Your Input and Support

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Below is an important message from the Florida Library Association. Whether you are an FLA member or not, your input and support are most appreciated.

The Florida Library Association (FLA) is in the process of updating the Florida Public Library Standards. This document is used to help guide public library service across Florida.

Work in a Florida library? Please take a few moments to fill out this survey to help us in the process. Your feedback will help identify items to update and change to keep our standards relevant.

The survey is open from Monday, November 3 to Sunday, November 30, and we are seeking feedback from all Florida library workers, not just FLA members.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

FLA STILL NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT

Your donations support the work of the Florida Library Association, a 501(c)(3) organization. Gifts to FLA are deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Support FLA by making a donation toward its general operating expenses. Donating to the General Fund allows FLA the most discretion and flexibility in allocating your contribution to our greatest financial needs.

The healthier FLA is financially, the better able we are able to support and advocate for Florida libraries and library staff.

DONATE HERE

Thank you for your generous donation!

The Winner’s Curse

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Can you win and yet still lose?

It is a common assumption that winning is a positive thing and most of the time that is true. However, are their situations when being the winner is actually a net negative experience? According to Nobel Prize winning Behavioral Economist Richard Thaler, this happens more often than you think.

In a recent Planet Money episode, host Greg Rosalsky, explores Thaler’s concept of “The Winner’s Curse.” This idea arose from Thaler’s pushback against traditional economics.

In column after column, Thaler shined a spotlight on anomalies that didn’t fit with the tidy, mathematical portrayal of humans in popular economic models (“Anomalies” was actually the title of the column.)

One anomaly Thaler highlighted was what he called “The Winner’s Curse.” The winner’s curse refers to the winners of auctions. That includes the classic auction with auctioneers speaking really fast, selling antiques or paintings or whatever. But it also applies to markets where people competitively bid against each other to buy something, which includes things like bidding wars over buying a house, companies competing to acquire other companies, and sports teams fighting to sign star rookies in a draft.

Richard Thaler

What Thaler challenged was the idea that winning is everything. In his view, sometimes it was better not to win because the economic benefit of the item in question is outweighed by the cost of acquiring it in the auction.

In the standard economic way of seeing auctions, the winner is someone who values it the most after a careful cost-benefit analysis of what they’re bidding on, using the best available information. Presumably, the winner is, well, the winner. But what if the winner is, more often than not, actually the loser? What if winners, systematically, are the ones who pay too much for what they’re buying?

In one of his columns, Thaler suggested exactly that. That, actually, in competitive auctions, the winner is often the one who makes a mistake and overpays. That is, the winner is someone who — perhaps irrationally — buys something for more than it’s worth. Hence the curse.

The Winner’s Curse is not limited to auctions. Think about the number of times you have rushed to buy the last item on sale and later discovered it wasn’t worth the money. Or consider the game show contest who wins a prize yet is now required to pay high taxes afterwards in order to claim it. We see it in professional sports teams who trade away too many players and draft picks in order to claim on supposed superstar who then flops.

So how does one avoid The Winner’s Curse? Thaler has a simple answer.

Thaler told us: “The way you have to think about bidding in an auction is: if I win the auction, will I be happy?”

To read more about The Winner’s Curse and how to avoid it, please read the rest of the Planet Money article.

Boundary Intelligence: The New Smart

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Have you ever misplaced an important document and felt less smart because of it?

Whether it is a computer file or a piece of paper, items that we have to invest time searching for limit our ability to make effective use of that information. Contrast this to files that are readily available at our fingertips or through an easy computer search. That information can be retrieved at a moment’s notice and is therefore much more useful. This distinction forms the basis of a new approach to understanding how we process information, known as boundary intelligence.

In a recent article on his website called Boundary Intelligence: Why What You Can Access Matters More Than What You Know, Tiago explores why boundary intelligence is a vital concept to understand, especially in the age of AI. He starts by referencing another writer, Venkatesh Rao.

Rao proposes a new definition of intelligence in the age of AI: intelligence is defined by what information can be accessed under constraints of cost, availability, and time.

The reality is that storage is now cheap. Computation is even cheaper. What’s expensive is short-term memory access – the ability to keep the relevant details “in mind” for a given problem.

You might think that the amazing computational power of AI would render this a meaningless problem. However, Tiago believes even the fastest computers run into trouble with deciding what information is important to keep close at hand.

Thus, a computer’s “intelligence” is now constrained not by the power of its processor, but by its ability to keep the right fragments of the past (and the imagined future) close enough to inform the present. In other words, the bottleneck of a system’s intelligence is how cheaply it can remember.

If you look at how modern computers perform, you can see this principle at work. A CPU can perform billions of operations per second, but is often stuck waiting for the right information to arrive from memory. Storage is cheap and computing is abundant, but what remains tremendously expensive is getting the right data to the right place at the right time.

It’s not the price of knowing that limits intelligence now, but the price of remembering.

This brings Tiago to the definition of boundary intelligence.

Rao calls this “boundary intelligence” – the ability to make good decisions at the boundary about what information becomes “knowable” at any given time.

How does this end up working practice, whether it is a person or AI model? In the end, it often comes down to practicality.

They are not retrieving the ideal memory; they’re retrieving the affordable one. Intelligence in this view isn’t about optimizing across all known information, but optimizing for accessible information under constraints.

A deeper study of boundary intelligence leads Tiago to an interesting understanding. He believes intelligence is no longer about what one single person or computers knows or has in storage. Instead, it is about knowing where to get the information at in the right time, no matter if you are a person or an AI model.

This means that boundary intelligence is fundamentally social. It isn’t just about what to retrieve, but from where and from whom. You have to know who to trust, what information or resources they possess, on what terms you can acquire it, and what is expected of you in return.

How can one use the power of social intelligence to improve their boundary intelligence? Read the full article at the Forte Labs website to learn more.