As the last post of 2023, the topic that came to mind was reading goals. Every year, I’m encouraged to set a reading goal by Goodreads. And every year, I faithfully set my goal. I’ve never really put too much thought into the idea of a reading goal outside of picking an arbitrary number, but this year has me thinking more about even setting a reading goal for 2024.
Normally, I’m a super fast reader who has no problem reading what averages out to be at least a book a day. But in the last year, I haven’t been able to read as fast as usual. I’m suspecting I was in a low-level slump and am just starting to get out of it. Ever since the summer, I’ve been dealing with some pretty rough health issues and it has been really stressful. While reading is normally my escape from stressors, this time it just wasn’t. I haven’t been able to focus on reading as much as usual, and while I was still reading a little every day, the majority of my reading was coming from audiobooks.
Which brings me back to today’s topic. For the first time that I can remember, I had to adjust my reading goal down so that I could reach it. And I started thinking about how in a world with so much pressure that’s already placed on us which we can’t avoid, why do we place more pressure on ourselves?
It isn’t as if there’s a competition. No one is standing at the finish line, at 11:59pm on New Year’s Eve, handing out prizes if you have read the most books. Who are we measuring up against anyway? I always only ever measured myself against my previous years, but there’s something about it that is making reading start to feel like a chore instead of feeling like a hobby I do to unwind. Rather than stressing about reaching a goal that isn’t relevant to anything or anyone, I’d rather focus on enjoying a hobby that I participate in to reduce my stress.
I’m curious to see what you think about this. Are you going to be setting a reading goal for 2024? Why or why not?
Categories: Sunday Bookish Discussion
Leah's Books 
Nice post ✍️
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Thank you!
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I do set reading goals, but not as a competitive exercise. It’s usually something simple, like finding two new authors, or a specific genre. I prefer to savor the book. So sometimes it’s a long read.
But nevertheless, goals are important. 🙏
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I have set some, like reading more diversely, outside of my usual genres, and making sure to read nonfiction books each month, and I like those because they challenge me. But I’m not sure if I want to set a number goal for myself. Thanks for giving your input.
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Honestly, I don’t really set reading goals unless you count my GR ones and just reading the books from favorite authors they release. I don’t even care if I finish them the way I want. It’s kind of freeing.
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I think I might just set the GR goal for something low enough that I know I’ll reach it. I like the idea of freeing!
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I’ll be setting up a Reading Goal for 2024 because, to me, it’s interesting to keep track of how many books you’ve read in a year. When you look back at it, you can determine how and why you achieved or you failed in your reading goal. Sometimes, the reasons have nothing to do with the number of books, but the sort of books we read.
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That completely makes sense. I know I struggled this year because of nothing to do with reading, but these factors impacted my ability to focus on reading. You make a good point, though!
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I do set reading goals for myself, but they’re not for competitive reasons. (I’m too slow of a reader! LOL) Plus, they’re not unrealistic. I do it so that I stay motivated to read. I love reading, but as I’ve grown older, it’s fallen to the wayside. I always want to prioritize it more, so the goals help me to keep reading, even if I don’t make reach my goals.
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I wound up setting a goal of 52 books, one for each week of the year, but that’s one that I know I can reach easily. Mainly to keep me focused, but not stressed, kind of like you!
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