How To Set Reading Goals: My Experience Setting Goals for the First Time
As I take the time to sit back and look at 2022, the books I read, the books I’ve bought, and the goals I set, I’m also looking forward to 2023, to what I want the next year to look like and what I’d like to accomplish as a reader. 2022 was the first time I set a yearly reading challenge, so I’m looking forward to expanding on that in 2023.
I’d seen other readers set reading goals year after year, but I wasn’t sure if it was for me. I was a little worried that it would take the fun out of reading. That it would turn into an obligation rather than something that brought me joy, but instead, I found that my striving towards 100 books in a year spurred me on to keep reading. Whether that was a month like February where I only read 5 books (one of which was One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, so it was definitely a winning month) or June when I read 12 books spanning a young reader fantasy (A Taste of Magic by J. Elle) to must-read romances like Birds of California by Kati Cotugno, and Something Wilder by Christina Lauren, the idea of reaching 100 books and watching my bar get a little closer with each book had me reaching for each book.
You might be sitting there thinking “But Brittany, how do I know what goal is right for me?” That’s a great question to ask. I had the same question at the beginning of 2022. I decided to set a quantity goal, and I wondered how to make sure I picked an attainable number of books. I looked at what I had read the previous year, and then I upped the quantity of books by a few just to use this year as a baseline.
If you haven’t tracked your reading habits before and want to set a quantity goal, think about the average time it takes you to read a book. If you read books very quickly, pick a higher quantity, but if you’re a slower reader, set a lower one. Reading goals are all about YOU and your reading habits, so any goal that you set is a good one to have. Don’t worry about the aspirations other readers might have. Their life is different than yours, and it’s important to set your challenge with your life and existing habits in mind.
As I write this, I’m working on setting my reading goals for 2023, and I’m thinking about doing more than just a goal of the number of books I want to read (but based on my reading habits this year, I’m leaning towards a goal of 115 books). I think I want to set goals to read outside my comfort zone, to read a wider range of genres, and to set aside a specific amount of time each night to read.
To do this, I’m using The StoryGraph, an app I use to track my reading, and it has a great section of reading statistics. It breaks down things like the “mood” of the books, my reading pacing, the page number count, genres, fiction vs. nonfiction percentages, format, and authors I read the most books from (shoutout to Lynn Painter and Denise Williams). I want to use this breakdown to set goals.
For example, I can see in the app that out of the books I’ve read so far, 97% of them were fiction with only 3 books being nonfiction. So, I’m leaning towards setting a goal of reading 1 nonfiction book a month for a total of 12 in 2023. They’re not books I naturally gravitate towards, so this will be a challenge for me. I’m currently waffling between kicking that off with How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith, The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, or Spare by Prince Harry. I’m not sure which will win out (maybe all 3), but while wildly different, they all have piqued my interest!
So, when setting your own reading goals, whether they’re based on quantity or based on specific reading goals, I recommend evaluating your current reading habits and trying to make small adjustments from there! You don’t have to match everyone else or to set goals the same way, nor do you have to have huge lofty goals to get you through the year. Set smaller, practical goals that make you excited for the next year of reading.
Happy goal setting, and happy reading!